Breabag - a Sunday afterthought

[malky_c]

Corbetts: Breabag.
Date: 23/06/2024.
Distance: 11.5km.
Ascent: 720m.
Time taken: 5 hours 20 minutes.
Weather: Hazy and sunny with a bit of a breeze lower down.

After turning Beinn an Eoin into a bit of an epic yesterday we opted for something more straightforward today to round off an Assynt weekend. I had hoped my next time up Breabag would be as part of a big circuit of the top of Strath Oykel taking in Cona Mheall, Ben More Assynt and Eagle Rock but I was happy enough to go up the short way. There is plenty of interest even on the most straightforward way up Breabag but it is not as spectacular as most of its immediate neighbours - difficult when they include Beinn Mhor Coigach, Stac Pollaidh, Cul Mor and Suilven to name just four!

Breabag_and_the_Bone_Caves.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Parking at the Allt nan Uamh carpark, we walked up to the caves. There were plenty of other folk around for this part of the walk. We then turned the corner at Creag nan Uamh and kept going south following a faint path, before aiming for a streak of scree on Breabag's crumbly western crags. I'm not sure why I pointed us this way - I just thought it was what I had done last time. The ascent was steep and there were some short sections of boulders to cross but it was reasonable to a point. When we eventually reached the edge of the plateau I realised that I had come up much further north previously - both shallower and less bouldery (not to mention also the route suggested by Walkhighlands which Jackie likes to check to make sure I'm not making things difficult for the sake of it - bet you wish you'd paid more attention to this one!)

Allt nan Uamh waterfall

Allt nan Uamh

Bone Cave

Across Allt nan Uamh from the Bone Caves

West flank of Breabag

Jackie on Breabag

Suilven, Canisp and Quinaig

Beinn Mhor Coigach, Cul Beag and Cul Mor

Conival from the slopes of Breabag

Fortunately now we were up there were large runs of grass through the scree and boulders - we passed a group of 3 guys descending here. Crossing a couple more scree-covered ribs we soon arrived at the summit cairn. Conveniently it was lunchtime.

Canisp and Quinaig

Summit of Breabag

North along Breabag to Conival

Although we weren't going to traverse the entire hill as suggested by Walkhighlands (too lazy and I knew how much angular scree and boulders there would be) I suggested we head north for a bit to a nice lochan that I remembered and then pick up the Allt nan Uamh from the top. Firstly we went over to the edge of Coirean Ban - not worth following the edge due to the boulders but worth a look down the more impressive side of the hill.

On the edge of Coirean Ban

Coirean Ban

Then we joined grassy runs together until we arrived at the lochan. Jackie went for a dip as ever but I decided it was a bit on the shallow side.

Conival and Ben More Assynt

Suilven and Canisp from a lochan on the edge of the plateau

Colours in the lochan

Allt nan Uamh is great to follow - there are various little falls and slabs of limestone before a much larger waterfall needs to be negotiated. The going is quite rough though and we were glad to eventually descend to the path opposite the caves.

Top of Allt nan Uamh

Slab on the descent

Waterfall on the upper Allt nan Uamh

Creag nan Uamh

Canisp

Almost back at the carpark

We almost made it back before Jackie decided to go for another dip . Although it would have been nice to bum around Assynt in a leisurely fashion for the rest of the afternoon and evening, we had another trip to prepare for with ferries booked so we managed to get home at a reasonable time of the evening.

Time for a quick swim

Suilven from Loch Borralan