Walkhighlands

It didn’t look that promising when I peered out of the van: low cloud - all a bit dismal really. “I’ll just have another 5 minutes” I thought. When I woke up again 2 hours later the cloud hadn’t lifted much but I still had hopes of doing both Ben Hope and Ben Klibreck. Passing through Altnaharra my plans were dealt a bit of a blow when a sign indicated that the minor road to Hope was closed at Strathmore Lodge. Unfortunately I hadn’t got the OS map of the area so I wasn’t sure how near I could get from the south. I had made a last minute decision to do Ben Hope and had just printed out the route map from Walkhighlands! It is after all a fairly straightforward route. So I felt there was nothing for it but to drive all the way up to Tongue and then down from Hope to the start of the walk. This seemed to take forever (I love single track A roads!) but the bonus was that by the time I arrived at Ben Hope the cloud had lifted and it was another glorious day. Any chance of doing Ben Klibreck as well had vanished though.

A large sign indicates The Way Up. It is pretty boggy but there is compensation in the form of lovely waterfalls beside the “path” and views down the strath. Once on the broad ridge it was a straightforward walk to the trig point over grass and boulders with small patches of snow. A couple of ptarmigan croaked at me as I went past. As I sat eating my lunch clouds blew in and the temperature dropped but not before I had had chance to admire the views of the nearby hills and out to sea. I could even see Ben Klibreck but that was as close as I was going to get that day. Hurrying down to keep warm I quickly dropped out of the clouds and it wasn’t long before I was back at the car. I enjoyed the drive back much more as there was no pressure of time. The scenery up there is superb and I am looking forward to getting back to explore it further. Much better to take your time and enjoy the day rather than turning into an obsessive, time-driven Munro bagger.

Just love it up there, Iam going up to do the four in 2 weeks time hopfully so cheers for that.

Loved the photos
I lived up that way once upon a time.. Have to get back there soon..

nice report,hopefully going up in august to do the most northern 4 and then down to ullapool to do 6 over the course of 5 days,this report certainly helps,

cheers

Lovely hill.

Thats a power nap eh

We did do Klibreck the same day then round to Inchnadamph for Ben More Assynt and Conival.

We did do Klibreck the same day then round to Inchnadamph for Ben More Assynt and Conival.[/quote]

All four on the same day - that's impressive!!!!

bootsandpaddles wrote:We did do Klibreck the same day then round to Inchnadamph for Ben More Assynt and Conival.

All four on the same day - that's impressive!!!![/quote]Sorry - i meant the next day, we did the other 2...only Monty could manage all four in a day

..or maybe paddy_da_mighty_atom after his crianlarich effort!!!

We were here last Tuesday and also saw the "Road Closed" sign, but decided to chance it, met a campervan coming the other way, turns out the road was closed over a small hump bridge at the lodge?! We had driven all the way round the coast from Gairloch to Durness, so it was not a welcome sight! Ben Hope was lovely, views were amazing, not a cloud in the sky.

Nice! Every man and his dog seems to be heading up that way soon. Gives me something to look forward to when I go up there myself ....... in or around 2020 most likely!

Graeme D wrote:Nice! Every man and his dog seems to be heading up that way soon. Gives me something to look forward to when I go up there myself ....... in or around 2020 most likely!

It'll still be there!!

Thanks for the photos of those brilliant views, bootsandpaddles.

I was on Ben Hope and Klibreck in March and got the notorious Sutherland gales and clag in a week of otherwise fine weather. Not complaining though, Ben Hope's western cliffs wreathed in mist, and the wind roaring against them, was very atmospheric and impressive. And on the way down from Klibreck things cleared, and there was a magnificent view of Ben Loyal to the north.

All the enthusiasm on this thread for this area and Assynt is well deserved. Those who say you are coming here soon are in for a treat.