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The Reluctant Ramblers came into being in the early eighties when I invited skiing friends on walking weekends in my Lake District holiday lets in early May and early October when they were usually empty. I soon found that the "whinge factor" fell significantly if there was a Pub for lunch, and so planned the walks accordingly
Alas age has taken its toll:
Some are rambling in the hereafter while others have simply given up, but together with my two most determined companions Boo and Bill, we coopted Alec - a very old friend of mine who lives in Vancouver (and a Highland dancing fanatic ) into the fold to form the FOF - Four Old F-------s total age 317 - and counting.
We decided to have two weeks in the Highlands - probably our swansong - the first at the Tigh an Eilean at Shieldaig and the second at Viewfield House Portree. I booked both hotels around a year in advance
.
Coming into ShieldaigTigh an Eilean - We couldn't fault it in any way 
The weather in Torridon was cold all week (8-10 degrees) with rain showers, but we managed to get a few things done
Sgurr a' ChaorachainMaybe the easiest of the Corbetts and a good starter. We headed down towards Kishorn and up to the Bealach na Ba - the last few hairpins a missionaries and cannibals exercise
- but we eventually reached the car park and set off up the track in dull but dry conditions
Setting outAt the top of the track, we chanced by error to wander into the TV mast enclosure where some small time Hitler shouted at us to get out
. Just outside was a large cairn.
Assembled at the cairn Boo examining the route with the Summit behindStarting the descent to the low pointfurther downStarting the climb back upOn the ridge leading to the summit - looking back to the TV mastAnd further L from the same point - across the Corrie na Ba From the top - zoomed view across the Sound of Sleat to Rassay - the Skye hills behind and Rum in the distance On returning to the low point we noticed an obvious cairn up to our L. Beyond it we were able to traverse directly back to the track about 500m from the start saving a bit of time We survived without getting wet
The next day's forecast was dire and we drove to Gairloch and on to Poolewe where we resisted the temptation to pay £13 each to wander through the wet vegetation of the Gardens. I've been in a couple of times and they are quite special
Diabeg to InveralliginWe drove to Inveralligin, parked one of the cars continued to Diabeg and followed the WH route back. There were patches of sunshine but also frequent rain showers so the photos are only from the sections between them. A lot of people have clearly done this walk since it was published in WH as we had no trouble following the route
Across the sea to the Outer IslesBill climbing through the jungleBack across the lovely bayAt the top of the steep gullyOnwards and upwards towards the 150m Bealach MorNearing the Bealach: it marks the high point of the walkBoo emerges at the top The section leading to the two little lochans was BOGGY! The two lochansDescending towards the little white cottage near the seaThe cottage - which is clearly visible across the loch from Shieldaigmoving on across a flat sectionThe track continues above an old ruin (centre pic) and up this gullyLooking backSomewhere up here I tried to do a dynamic move across the Alltan Labhar, but my clingy waterproof overtrousers held me back and I ended up sitting in the bed of the burn
. Fortunately same waterproof trousers prevented me getting anything like as wet as I might have done and by the end of the walk I was pretty well dry.
Nearing the last ridge - the weather in upper loch Torridon looks threateningNearing the end - the white cottages of Alligin Shuas appear in the distanceAfter a short section thru woods, we reached a road, followed it for a few hundred metres or so and were then directed on a path to the L which after a slight error brought us down to the shore by the village.
We drove back to pick up the other car, but on the way back to Shieldaig were assailed by a mega rainstorm - thank heavens we encounterd nothing as severe during the walk
The next day was another washout i think
Beinn DamhThis was much our longest and toughest walk of the week, but our fitness was improving - at least in theory
A cold cloudy day with a bit of wind, but not a lot of rain forecast. We managed to park by the bridge a hundred metres or so below the point where the route crosses the road, and followed the excellent path up through the pinewoods
We could hear the waterfall long before it came into view The path traverses right at the top of the woodsThe excellent stalkers path continues beyond the woods and up into the corrie: Alligin behindOn the ridge just after we joined it. After the stalkers path ends, the final two hundred metres or so were hard steep going: the rest of the ascent is much more gentleLooking back to Loch Damh and Ben ShieldaigThe route continues on the R of the ridge below the 868m subsummit which we opted to omit and we reached the flat area below the final climb to the 903m summit of Spidean Coire an Laoigh
Loch an Eoin sits below Moal Chean Dearg with the Coire Lair Munroes behindLooking up to the topAt the little bealach - it was pretty windy but we weren't going to turn back nowFrom the top looking back down the nicely curving ridgeNorth to Liathach in shadow and Beinn EigheLoch Coire an Ruadh staic sits delightfully between the munro and the corbett: on my first ascent of Beinn Damh around 35 years ago we followed the track round to the back and came up from this side - it looks very steep now After a while at the top we returned the same way: Maol Chean Dearg in the evening sunlightNext day it was goodbye to Torridon and off to Skye - and a big change in the weather
