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The far north has always held a special place in my heart.The empty lands, far flung villages and remoteness is always magical.
- Above Talmine
Talmine & MelnessThe walk around Melness is described in Walkhighlands, but apart from following the full walk, we cut it into 2, which provided some pleasant walks exploring some lesser known areas.
- Talmine beach
- View back to Talmine and the small camp site which is located close to the beach
- Portvasgo village
- From Portvasgo looking back towards the sea
- A place to hang up your boots
- Midfield beach
- Pretty old ruined houses with the track over the hills towards Talmine just visible
Ben KlibreckLooking back I had fond memories of climbing Ben Klibreck. It had been a warm 25C warm afternoon and I still remember staying at the summit for ages, enjoying amazing views, warm sunshine before returning and wild camping next to the car park.
10 years later it was sad to see that the old car park had disappeared and was replaced by a newly build wind farm...a rather horrible eyesore in its current unfinished state .We left the car at the newly purposely build car park and walked along the road until a small track marked the starting point up hill.
The day was exceptionally cold for end of June and with the strong wind, the weather forecast had promised a wind chill factor below zero. The track up the hill was a bog fest. What a difference to the last time when I had climbed the hill after a prolonged period of drought .
To make the day even more pleasant, a drizzle of rain started to fall. We pulled our hoods deep into our faces and continued up hill .It's the time you really start asking yourself why you like hill walking.
Plodding along I was happy when we reached the first cairn. At least the first 540 m were bagged. The altitude also meant that it was time to put an extra layer of clothing on...back to full winter gear in June.
- The first cairn at around 540 meters
- View along the ridge with the summit hiding inside the clouds
The views ahead were not promising, but I was hoping that maybe we would be lucky and get a cloud free summit.
Dropping height to cross Cnoc Sgriodain, we continued towards Carn an Fheidh. Luckily the rain finally stopped , but a brutal northerly wind meant that the wind chill factor was close to -5C.
- Trying to keep the spirits up in the cold...Tataaa a hill
The narrow walk towards A'Chioch was pleasant, but it became apparent, that the weather was deteriorating.Once we reached A'Chioch thick clouds had rolled in and the visibility dropped to 20 meters.
The last part was steep and exhausting. We were now walking inside a wet cloud and moisture soaked our clothes. Needless to say we had no views and I was surprised to see that the summit cairn was destroyed. At least we found shelter within the rocks and our spirits returned after a bite to eat.
- Summit time
With no chance of views we packed up and started our return journey. The clouds had dropped even further, which meant that we had no visibility for the first half of the return journey. On the plus side, the wind now pushed us forwards until we were back at the car.
- The way back once we were out of the clouds
Needless to say I had better days in the hills, but there where more favorable days to looks forward to.
Arkle
- The beautiful sunset was the start to 7 amazing sunny days ahead
The cold front which had ruled the area was finally pushed away by a warm front.
Warm sunshine meant that the temperatures rose to 20C and blue skies made the north west into paradise.
I was keen for another hill walk and had picked Arkle which I had eyes up across the water for the past few days.
Staying at Scourie is a perfect location for Arkle and just over 20 min after leaving the campsite, we arrived at an empty car park. Considering how many people had climbed Ben Klibreck during a crappy day, I could not believe there was no one climbing Arkle but us.
- Beautiful Arkle
Close up, Arkle is a beautiful mountain and from the car park it looked picture perfect. I really could not wait to climb it.
We set off and the first few kilometers were a gentle warm up along a great track. The day could not have been even more perfect...20C, no midges, hardly any clouds and perfect visibility.
We passed the 'gateway' between some large boulders and walked through a small forested area. The cuckoo which seemed to be allocated to every single spot you visit in June was cuckooing in the trees above us. We tried to get glimpses of it, but the foliage was too thick.
Not being able to spot the bird, we continued along the path which had started climbing uphill.
We passed a cairn at the side of the track and came to a halt. Based on the Walkhighland route it wasn't the route, however having checked my OS map, it would also be a good alternative.
We did however stuck to the described route and walking a bit further along, we got to another cairn which marked the WH route up hill. The path soon frizzed out, however it was straight forward enough and we continued our uphill journey.
- The start of the climb, looking back to the path
- First glimpses of Foinhaven
From Meall Aonghais the first stunning views towards Fainhaven could be seen. From here it was another push to the first one of Arkles sumit.
- The rather stunning Allt na Dige Moire...it was dry, but the white quartz looked like water
- Looking back
A spectacular flat littered with millions of broken rocks with stunning views. From here things just got better and better.
Having reached the highest point marked by a small cairn. The impressive real summit of Arkle spread out in front of us.
It can only be described as dramatic,beautiful and spectacular. I loved it, if that view wasn't amazing enough, the views towards Foinhaven were absolutely amazing too. The pictures I took really don't give enough credit to this mountain.
- The real summit with Foinhaven
- Ben Stack
- How stunning is this...
- View towards the sea
We continued along the ridge and loved the views towards the Minch and Hebrides which were visible in the distance. The whole walk was simply a pleasure and the warm sun and gentle breeze made up for the freezing conditions we had on Ben Klibreck, which seemed like a dull comparison.
- The 'pavement' like ridge walk towards the summit
- Amazing rocks everywhere
- Us on the summit
We stayed at the summit for quite some time and met the only other hill walker we would encounter on the hill that day. A women who had set off after us and while we chatted we found out that she actually had stayed on the same campsite.
During our chats she asked us which way we would be returning. I mentioned that I have spotted a path down Coir Uairidh and having drawn a route on my GPS, it seemed doable, even if the path would frizzle out.
- On the way down
We set off and by the time we reached Coir Uairidh, a path was down the mountain. Doing a loop appealed to both of us and so we started the steep downhill climb.
Yes it was steep, yes there was scree, but in comparison to some of the scree gullies on Skye this was really easy.
- Looking back up the alternative walk
- The lovely walk back
- The return walk
- Another close up where you can clearly see the start of the track leaving down ill
We made good progress and lost height quickly and once some vegetation started to grow again, the path was lovely. At the bottom the hillside flattened out and the path continued along the Allt a Choir Uairadh for a good half a kilometer. The path started to disappear and appear, but once we reach the burn, all we had to do is to walk towards the small forest.
It was a really pleasant walk and I wondered why it was recommended to return the same way, this route made far more sense.
- Back on the path again
That night a beacon for the Queens Jubilee was lit up in Scourie, which provided a spectacular ending to a spectacular day
- Foinhaven, Arkle and Ben Stack from Droman
Climbing Arkle was fantastic and in the days to come I managed to keep on waving towards it from many different locations
