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A long weekend of good weather before Mummy & Daddy Clark were coming to stay with us - an excuse to get away with the tent for a few days. I was able to manage
some small hills, so off we went. I also can't do early at the moment so we had a leisurely start and headed up the west coast, making a few stops in Assynt for a few photos and a lunch stop. It was a beautiful day
Some lovely water at the bottom of the gorge (Allt Chranaidh)
Quinag
Stopping off for a view down Loch Glencoul and the Stack of Glencoul for lunch
Kylesku Bridge
Impressive Quinag again
Ben Stack from near Kinlochbervie
We parked up on the Kinlochbervie road just above Badcall, with views to Loch Inchard
We headed up a track which would hopefully gain us a decent amount of height before dumping us in the middle of nowhere
It was very hazy but we could see south to Quinag
It was slow work but we made it to the top of the track which dumped us onto a plateau. Our experience of the ground previously is that it's not as bad as it looked, and other than a slightly awkward burn crossing this seemed to be the case
Foinaven and Arkle
We plodded our way across towards the hill - there were traces of a path in places which we hadn't expected.
The final ascent of An Socach
We got ourselves onto the sort of ridge of crags on the left, before dropping down to a bealach.
Looking down Sandwood Loch
Down the coast towards Handa
The climb from the bealach was steep, but taking it slowly we were managing. Once reaching the top, we realised that it wasn't actually the top - we were expecting this from reading Weaselmaster's report, but hadn't realised how far away the summit was going to look
Fortunately there was a big bird to keep us occupied (species unknown!)
Loch an t-Socaich
Possibly the same large bird?
Closing in on the actual summit of An Socach - only 362m but making us work for it
Finally there!
To be fair to it, the views from An Socach were awesome. Looking north we could see the radio mast hill above Durness - the route that other people have taken to this hill
Foinaven and Arkle
An Grianan above Strathan bothy
Foinaven, Arkle, Ben Stack and Quinag
Summit of An Socach
Some lovely light on the sea
Time to go - we were getting hungry! To avoid any re-ascent, we traversed back around the hill, aiming to drop off the ridge on the front
This worked reasonably well. The ground was a bit rough in places but never dreadful, although there were some bogs and hags. We dropped back down to the burn (filling up some water) and discovered bits of a path which led us back across the moorland (but also some midges)
Back at the track
It definitely could have been worse, and when we arrived back at the car, it was - the midges were out in force and we dived in and drove off pretty quickly
We drove up to Balnakeil (discovering on the way that Malky had failed in his one task - Cocoa Mountain wasn't actually opening until Monday
No hot chocolate for breakfast after all
) There were hunners of folk camping near the car park and on the dunes. We were planning to walk a little further and would get away from them
Looking back across Balnakeil Bay
Faraid Head
We climbed up onto the cliffs and walked a short distance to find somewhere to pitch - it was pretty windy and it was a bit of a struggle
Views were out of this world though
The light was doing some incredible things
Although there was some interesting light on the horizon, it looked like the sunset would be a bit of a disappointment...
Until....
...suddenly the sun popped out the clouds and gave us an incredible show
Oooft...intense
Some incredible evening light
At some point throughout all this we had moved the tent around to behind a wall for a bit more shelter, and Malky had made dinner
Now a little more sheltered, we were able to sit out and enjoy the evening as the light faded
Birthday present from my brother of solar powered lights made for cool photos
We were just about to head to bed when the moon popped out and I took the tripod for photos round 2
What a night - we slept well in a sheltered tent
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The sunrise didn't seem to be up to much so I enjoyed extra hours in bed (I need all the sleep I can get at the moment) so when we got up and had a nice breakfast (but disappointing when we were expecting Cocoa Mountain hot chocolate
) the sun was well up and the beaches looking spectacular
Balnakeil Bay
We packed up the tent - a bit blowy but doable - and walked back down the cliffs and across the beach
It was a lot quieter this morning - most of the campers had gone
We had plans for the evening (concocted last night) but as it was a stunning day we decided to have a drive along the beaches
Whiten Head
Loch Eriboll
Cranstackie
Cranstackie & Beinn Spionnaidh
Beinn Mheadonach,
the hill we climbed twiceLooking down Loch Eriboll towards Foinaven
Ben Loyal across Loch Loyal
Tongue Bay and the Rabbit Islands
We had a wander down to the beach at Torrisdale for some lunch
Then we drove back towards Tongue for the evening's excitement...