Tour of Kintail (Day 2) - 5 Sisters and no lift
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:56 pmAfter a hard day in the sun yesterday this was another difficult slog in scorching temperatures; once again I was quickly out of water and dreadfully thirsty for most of the walk.
Our high camp the night before meant that it was a mre hop, skip and a jump to Aonach Meadhoin and a relatively straight-forward continuation to Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg.
Saileag was even simpler, and I was baffled that it achieves munro status.
couldn't say the same for the next section which was a long pull along a rocky ridge up and over Sgurr nan Spainteach, before the pull up to Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe.
Pressing onwards the views out to Skye opened up and at Sgurr na Carnach we stopped for a quick photo.
The climb to Sgurr Fhuaran was hellish in the mid-day sun and with absolutely no water left, so it was a real relief to top out and look forward to getting down to road level (and water, food and shade).
However, we took a truly dreadful route down through steep boulder strewn gulley, with broken ankles threatening at every step under the weight of our expedition packs. the gulley narrowed as we got lower down and started to follow a small stream. eventually this led to a short waterfall that was impassible and we had to climb up the steep side of the gulley to escape and continue our descent. Eventually we reached the bottom and just had to cross the river Shiel before we got to the roadway and hopefully a lift to civilisation (well at least to a shop).
But first we couldnt resist the opportunity for a bit of skinny dipping in the river, hopefully far enough away from the road not to shock anyone on a passing coach
We agreed to change our plan of sleeping out every night and opted to walk into Shiel Bridge to pay for the comfort of a bunkhouse. A long and very hot walk along the A87 followed with feet on fire. Even though we had our thumbs out all the way, but no-one offered us a lift (maybe after two days and nights in the hills we could be smelt from inside passing vehicles).
Called in for a drink at the garage entering Shiel Bridge and asked how far it was into the village, to which the proprietor said "There is no village" - (mmm - should have researched this a bit more before leaving home).
Arrived at the Kintail lodge after about 7 hours on our feet and were extremely pleased to find that there was still room at the innn (bunkhouse)
.
Now that we had conceded on the self-privation we decided to go the whole hog and headed for the restaraunt where we ate like kings - it was so much better than Bachelor's super noodles
The combination of a hearty meal and a good night's sleep meant that we were raring to go next morning to take on day 3 http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15460&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
Our high camp the night before meant that it was a mre hop, skip and a jump to Aonach Meadhoin and a relatively straight-forward continuation to Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg.
Saileag was even simpler, and I was baffled that it achieves munro status.
couldn't say the same for the next section which was a long pull along a rocky ridge up and over Sgurr nan Spainteach, before the pull up to Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe.
Pressing onwards the views out to Skye opened up and at Sgurr na Carnach we stopped for a quick photo.
- Loch Duich to the rear
The climb to Sgurr Fhuaran was hellish in the mid-day sun and with absolutely no water left, so it was a real relief to top out and look forward to getting down to road level (and water, food and shade).
However, we took a truly dreadful route down through steep boulder strewn gulley, with broken ankles threatening at every step under the weight of our expedition packs. the gulley narrowed as we got lower down and started to follow a small stream. eventually this led to a short waterfall that was impassible and we had to climb up the steep side of the gulley to escape and continue our descent. Eventually we reached the bottom and just had to cross the river Shiel before we got to the roadway and hopefully a lift to civilisation (well at least to a shop).
But first we couldnt resist the opportunity for a bit of skinny dipping in the river, hopefully far enough away from the road not to shock anyone on a passing coach
We agreed to change our plan of sleeping out every night and opted to walk into Shiel Bridge to pay for the comfort of a bunkhouse. A long and very hot walk along the A87 followed with feet on fire. Even though we had our thumbs out all the way, but no-one offered us a lift (maybe after two days and nights in the hills we could be smelt from inside passing vehicles).
Called in for a drink at the garage entering Shiel Bridge and asked how far it was into the village, to which the proprietor said "There is no village" - (mmm - should have researched this a bit more before leaving home).
Arrived at the Kintail lodge after about 7 hours on our feet and were extremely pleased to find that there was still room at the innn (bunkhouse)
.Now that we had conceded on the self-privation we decided to go the whole hog and headed for the restaraunt where we ate like kings - it was so much better than Bachelor's super noodles
The combination of a hearty meal and a good night's sleep meant that we were raring to go next morning to take on day 3 http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15460&st=0&sk=t&sd=a