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Canisp - with someone else's eagle

Canisp - with someone else's eagle


Postby EmmaKTunskeen » Thu May 25, 2023 6:25 pm

Route description: Canisp

Corbetts included on this walk: Canisp

Date walked: 07/05/2023

Time taken: 4.5 hours

Distance: 13 km

Ascent: 715m

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I've got a bit used to seeing eagles every time I set foot on a hill in Assynt and around, so I had half an eye out for one on Canisp at the beginning of May. As it turned out, we did indeed see one, but this time it was far in the distance and only just discernible through the binoculars.

Canisp hadn't been particularly on my immediate list, but E suggested it and I was happy to go along with his suggestion. It's not so long since we'd walked in from Glenmore Lodge to climb Suilven, and I'd walked between the hills from Ledmore some years ago, so yeah, why not go up Canisp?

From Ledmore, Canisp had given me the impression of a sleeping lion, or a sphinx, viewed from behind, its back curved and its lowered head out of sight. From the A837, it wasn't really reminiscent of anything except a big, friendly lump.

Image001 Canisp and Quinag from the A837

I have a kind of fondness for Canisp, as though it has some kind of grace or modesty that lets Suilven steal the stage. Walking Canisp was to experience it another way - as the best seat in the house, but also as a calm, quiet hill with its own surprises, the quartzy slabs that I hadn't anticipated (and clearly hadn't read about - though I have now!)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First of all was the walk down to the footbridge over Loch Awe's outflow. I could hear a greenshank calling, and the edge of the loch was animated now and then with a flurry of wing as we approached. The footbridge is too far away though to really get a good view, so any waders there were going to be left in peace by us.

Image002 Loch Awe with greenshank calling

On we went, not really sticking to any path, as it seemed to come and go, but tripping over loads of lousewort all in bright and cheerful flower.

Image004 Lots of lousewort today

Image006 Cladonia coccifera or madame's cup lichen

Image007 Butterwort underway

Soon we came to the distinctive quartz pavement, which was bone dry today, and picked up some summer visitor company in the form of a wheatear.

Image008 Slabby quartz with BMA beyond

Image009 Wheatear

Until the cloud burnt off and while it was still hanging in the valleys, only the tops of Assynt's nearby hills were on view for a change. Fantastic to watch Cul Mor gradually reveal itself and dwarf Stac Polleidh in the process!

Image011 Good morning for Cul Mor inversion

Image012 Cul Mor and Stac Polleidh

Image014 Cul Mor and Stac Polleidh - less cloud

Other neighbouring hills started to come into view as we rose, but until we got to the bealach, the star of the show was still hidden behind Canisp's rounded flank.

Image015 An Teallach through the haze

Under foot it was lovely. We'll probably be back bashing through the tussocks of Galloway this weekend, so we were fair wallowing in the pleasure of just taking it easy on this dry, grassy, stony ground today!

Image017 Easy grassy bouldery ascent

And then - ta-daah - here was Suilven in all its extraordinary glory. The view stopped us in our tracks. It really does make a superb sudden and grandiose appearance, so we stopped for a little while to drink it in.

Image018 Suilven star of the show

Beyond the bealach, the ground steepened, and the views to the north opened up again. It took me a while to realise we were looking at Ben Stack, because I suppose I'm used to seeing it as a pointy pap rather than from this angle. But it was a good clear morning for views all around. The forecast was for it to much cloudier than this, and for it to get even more so and start raining in an hour or so. We were being lucky.

Image019 Ben Stack - Arkle - Foinaven to north

Image021 Canisp - Quinag - Arkle - Glas Bheinn

Image022 Canisp to Glas Bheinn pano

Image024 E with Suilven and Coigach

We were also being lucky to have the hill pretty much to ourselves. There was one other walker, who'd stopped near to us for a cuppa at the first main cairn, but he seemed quite happy after that to follow behind us at an out-of-earshot distance. Most folk overtake us, so that was a bit of a surprise. He was also stopping to take photos, and so I took advantage of 'person-for-scale' myself. :D

Image029 Cam Loch and Ullapool hills behind

Image030 From Canisp lumpy back to Cul Mor

Ben Wyvis came into view to the south, and after a short stretch of rockier ground, the summit cairns appeared.

Image031 SE to Ben Wyvis

Image032 Summit shelter cairn to Quinag and Foinaven

I'd happily have spent a fair while up here with lunch and views, but we were expecting it to start pouring with rain, and didn't fancy sliding our way down on steep wet grass. So it was a quick indulge at the top, a peer down to the Glencanisp path to Lochinver, and then a descent to the Suilven-view bealach before the sandwiches came out.

Image033 Suilven and Loch na Gainimh from cairn

Image034 E on top of Canisp

Image036 Looking back NE to BMA

Image037 NW track towards Lochinver

Image038 Suilven bothy

Image039 Quinag

Image040 Arkle and Foinaven ridge

On the way down, there was a sudden whirring commotion, and this handsome fellow landed, for a bit of a strut about.

Image041 Proud ptarmigan

Apart from him, and a wary stag far below us...

Image044 Young stag down below

..., I thought that was about it for the day. People had started heading up as we were coming down, and as I looked back up the hill to watch them on their ascents, there it was, a soaring golden eagle. Not the closer encounter we've been treated too so often lately, so I hoped that whoever was underneath it this time was looking up too.

Image045 Looking up at walker for scale

Image046 Walker and golden eagle above

What was a bit frustrating though was the weather. No rain, no need to rush off. It was just gorgeous!

Image047 Weather still good on descent

A good walk, unless Lochinver or Ledmore approaches are on the cards. For me, it was a nice surprise to walk Canisp from this angle. Not a route I'd have particularly gone for, but a good short one that I enjoyed.

Image048 Canisp - the white hill
User avatar
EmmaKTunskeen
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 383
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Joined: Aug 19, 2016
Location: was West Sussex, now Ayrshire

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