Slioch with SE England summer weather

[al78]

I have recently been up in Kinlochewe attempting to walk 100km and climb 10,000m in 10 days fundraising for Shelterbox (horizontal distance I smashed but I only managed 8,000m vertically). My trip started off with some unusually good weather and on the 21st awoke to beautiful clear blue skies so decided to do one of my bucket list hills, Slioch.

It is a short drive from the hotel to the car park at Incheril and it was a straightforward and pleasant walk in along the river to loch Maree, if a little warm. Took close to an hour to get to the footbridge and the left turn up Gleann Bianasdail. From here there is a clear path up the side of the glen and into the wide corrie which offers a walker's back door route to the summit via a moderately steep path traversing diagonally up to the broad ridge and two lochans. Nice views back to Kinlochewe. The clarity of the air was noticable and it is very unusual to get such clear conditions to the horizon on a sunny day in the UK. The vast majority of the time I climb hills in sunshine there is a notable haze which restricts visability.

After another moderately steep climb to the summit area I soon reached the summit and was blown away by the view along loch Maree. I was equally blown away when I turned left and saw the view across Fisherfield and the two lochs towards An Teallach and I could identify the two very remote munros of A’ Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor which are also on my bucket list. This really was an incredible viewpoint in such clear visibility. Once I had lunch I followed the horseshoe round to the subsidiary summit which again provided great views towards the east. From here it was a straightforward descent along a path although care was required as there are loose stones (poles very useful on terrain like this), then on reaching the head of the corrie took a direct path across pathless terrain to the incoming path, which I imagined would normally be quite soggy in places but the ground was very dry with minimal boggy sections, May has been a dry month up there.

I then simply followed the path back to the car park with the long but pleasant section following the river.

[Sunset tripper]

Glad that you got some decent weather. Good to adjust your plans to the weather, and not make the 10,000m, than push the boundaries.

Great pics, great mountain.

[Mal Grey]

Great mountain, and your photos and text remind me I should go back to see those views in summer conditions; only done it in winter and didn't get full summit views...

It sounds like you had a great trip anyway, who cares whether you hit the 10k ascent or not.

[al78]

It sounds like you had a great trip anyway, who cares whether you hit the 10k ascent or not.

Nobody but me cares. The local Rotary group who, after I had the idea of turning a normal highland hiking trip into a fundraising opportunity, suggested Shelterbox as the cause and helped me set up the JustGiving page. They were happy I had reached the fundraising target. I still would have liked to have reached 10,000m ascent as I know I am capable of it, so can't help feeling a little disappointed. I was initially wondering what the rules are with fundraisers if you set a target but despite best efforts fail to reach it.