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A warm sunny clear day at the end of June saw us up in Assynt with a chance to walk Cul Mor or Cul Beag at last - rubbish visibility has stopped me so far, as I've wanted the views, so today was the day, and an out and back to Cul Beag was the choice. (Lots of looking at Cul Mor today, rather than walking it.)
001 Starting view Cul Beag and Cul Mor We parked in the generous layby, where there was one other car, so I fully expected to find ourselves in company on the hill, but happily we were to have all of Cul Beag to ourselves for the day - we and one very special bird that is.
One pleasure of an out-and-back (or a lollipop route) is knowing what you'll face on the walk-out. In this case, you know you've got a firm, easy track to look forward to
004 Lovely easy track to start with Soon we were at Lochan Fada, where having descended from the road, we realised this was the first 'up' of the day.
007 Lousewort and Cul Mor Then we were looking over the the bright sapphire blue of a sunbathed Loch nan (ear-lookin') Ealachan below the Cul Mor crags.
008 Loch nan Ealachan and Cul Mor The NC500 racket hadn't got going yet, so for a while it was peaceful to look back to Knockan Crag and the Assynt Munros.
009 Knockan Crag with BMA behind Back where I've fetched up, near the Galloway Hills, we'd been on our way to the Devil's bowling green on Craignaw when wind and rain drove us to make a hastier descent from the summit. There's it's granite, but up here we found a mini-bowling-green in sandstone. Well, a bit bumpier, and a lot less evocative. Maybe I just see devil's bowling greens where they don't really exist as a result of my being thwarted to date.
010 One of many sandstone bowling greens Anyway, there are, as the caption suggests, a fair few of these on Cul Beag
.
Meanwhile, raising my head from the de'il and his games, what an utter joy to see old familiars in such fantastic conditions, from Beinn Dearg and pals to the south-east to Ben More Assynt over in the north-east.
011 Over a Cul Beag rockery to Ullapool hills 
013 Conival and BMA beyond Knockan Crag Not only that, but you know you've got Ben Mor Coigach and Fhidhleir's superb prow, Stac Polleidh and Suilven to look forward to as you rise, and meanwhile, Cul Mor right in front of you, which was suddenly looking a bit...
012 Basking shark nose of Cul Mor - sort of (or is that just me...?)
As we got up on to the Creag Dubh, a beautiful vista opened up before us: the sea, beyond the lovely hidden valley of Gleann Laoigh...,
014 First view of sea from Creag Dhubh ... a keeking Stac Polleidh...
015 Stac Polleidh from Creag Dhubh 
017 Zoom to Stac Polleidh ... and the meandering Allt.
016 Cul Mor and the Isle of DogsIt's a beautiful walk, with lots of eye-candy on a day like this!
020 An Teallach and bog cotton 
021 Mosses and terraces - Iceland grown up 
022 Lochan Dearg below Culs Mor and Beag We stopped for quite a while looking down into the glen from Creag Dubh and enjoying the peace, when suddenly below us, out flew a golden eagle.
Bit quick for me to extract the camera, but here it is:
023 Golden eagle over Loch an Doire Dhuibh 
024 Golden eagle It must have been perched just below us, probably a bit miffed that we were hanging around, and eventually fed up enough to take to the wing. Despite our thrilled expressions, we really were sorry to disturb!
025 E on Crag Iolaire 
025a Euans photo of me on Creag Iolaire Anyway, onwards and upwards, to Meall Dearg next. With botany on the way.
028 Butterwort with midgies 
029 Heath spotted orchid and friends 
030 Looking back down on Creag Dhubh 
032 Sgurr Mhor and friends from Meall Dearg ascent This was the first steep bit of the walk...
034 From steep ascent of Meall Dearg ...but super-rewarding, because BMC and Fhidhleir suddenly and gloriously appeared
035 BMC and Fhidhleir from Meall Dearg ascent Up on Meall Dearg, the terrain changed again to a kind of wide sandstone-ridged pavement.
037 BMC through Meall Dearg pavements 
039 Cul Beag top ahead from Meall Dearg And soon we could see Ben Klibreck in the distance to our right...
041 Cul Mor - BMA - Ben Klibreck far right ...and other old friends to our left.
043 BMC - Fhidhleir - Beinn an Eoin - Sgorr Tuath As we dropped down briefly to Lochan Uaine, the solifluction on Cul Beag's top really stood out, making for lovely easy walking to the top, with Suilven gradually coming into view.
044 Sea view on descent to Lochan Uaine 
049 Suilven appears behind Cul Mor 
050 SE over Meall Dearg towards Carn Chuineag 
052 Over Cam Loch to Ben More Assynt 
053 Suilven beyond Cul Mor terraces 
054 Last pull to the top And as a last reward up at the summit cairn, a superb south-east to north-west view of Stac Polleidh.
055 Stac Polleidh from summit cairn 
056 Suilven with Quinag and Arkle behind 
057 Suilven and lochans from summit 
058 Summit cairn and Stac Polleidh What an utterly lovely top this is!
059 BMC with Beinn Alligin beyond 
060 Coigach - Torridon left - Skye in distance
061 Suilven - Quinag - Arkle - Cul Mor - BMA 
062 Coigach with Skye in distance (Summit snap, snappity-snap!
)
063 Sgorr Tuath tors too small to see 
064 Beinn Alligin - BMC - The Storr 
065 Euan relishing Coigach 
066 Euan relishing Ullapool hills (There was a lot of relishing going on
)
067 Suilven with Quinag - Sail Ghorm - behind 
068 Zoom to Foinaven and Arkle over Suilven 
069 Zoom to Conival and Ben More Assynt And a lot of making the most of being able to see further than the summit cairn or trig
070 Stac Polleidh and OH from summit cairn As if it wasn't surprising enough that we were the only ones up here, it was really surprising that peering through binoculars, I still couldn't see anyone on Stac P - this wasn't even a weekday!
071 People-less Stac Polleidh and Coigach peninsula 
072 Fiddlers Cairn Conmeall left to Stac Polleidh right
073 Beinn an Eoin and Sgorr Tuath focus It was really hard to calm down and eat some lunch, but we did eventually. And it was even harder to pull away and head back down. But needs must, via a little mosey out to the Meall Dearg cairn.
075 Meall Dearg summit with Cul Mor and BMA 
076 Cul Beag summit and SP from MD summit 
077 Recognising rocks on the way down And there we were, heading back after a ridiculously rewarding eyeful for barely any effort.
078 Knockan Crag Back east, where we were staying the night, even the seals were smiling
081 Oyc and seals on Loch Fleet