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I don't have many photos for this one, for one thing because I'm on a very slow mobile connection and don't have the next 3 days to upload them all
.
I opted to start the walk up Slioch from the campsite in Kinlochewe because it's only a couple of kilometers from there to the usual start point at Incheril, and what's a couple of kilometers? (answer: a 4km round trip, you idiot).
It's a long walk in from Incheril, but an easy one. The path passes through some very nice deciduous woodlands with some trees that look like they've been there a long time and leads you to the eastern end of Loch Maree, from where you get your first good view of Slioch.
- Nice easy path
After crossing a bridge over Abhhainn an Ehasaigh the path turns off to the right and starts to head uphill. Shortly after this the path forks. The right-hand forks follows the river upstream and is the obvious path, but also the wrong one, as I found out. The (correct) left-hand fork is hard to spot but heads off towards Sgurr Dubh. If you find yourself in the river gorge, you're on the wrong path
The correct path then climbs slowly up over a few rocks following a burn.
What happened next was that it rained. Not hard, but that kind of rain where the cloud comes right down and it just spits at you and you can't really see where you're going. What I did was to fire up ViewRanger on my phone and follow an arrow. Technology eh? In the future we'll look back on the days when we used to look at our surroundings while we walked and think "Wow, that was hard". But anyway, as I don't have anything to say about the next section and no photos, I'm going to tell you a story about my socks.
I'd recently purchased some new walking socks. The lady in the shop told me they were pure Merino Wool. "Bit warm, probably?" I said. "Oh no," she replied, "these are
Smart Wool. They work
with your body, keeping you cool when you're hot and warm when you're cold". Sounds good I thought, and they are very comfy. So it was at this point in my walk when I realised that although it was a dank day and raining, I was extremely hot. The top of my head was a fountain and there seemed to be a thermonuclear reaction going on in my boots. I stopped to rest. After about 5 minutes I realised I was actually still getting hotter, so I took off my boots and socks. The socks were, literally, saturated in sweat. I was able to wring them out they were so wet. One minute later I was actually cold. So much for "smart wool". I did the rest of the walk with no socks on, a decision my toes didn't like very much but the rest of me was much more comfortable. So if anyone tries to sell you "smart wool" socks, poke them in the eye with a pointed stick.
The arrow led me up a slope to the banks of what was probably a pretty little lochan, if I'd been able to see all of it, and then up another slope to the first top of Slioch at 980m, where I knew I'd got there because a cairn appeared out of the mist. I took a little detour off the path to scramble up some rocks on the way.
Continuing on, down a slope and across a grassy section, then up to the main top at 981m. And the cloud even did its best to clear for me, offering up a couple of views.
Beinn Eighe through the clouds
- Fisherfield peaks
The walk continues along a ridge, which I could now see, towards the top of Sgurr an Tuill Bhain. A pleasant, easy walk and there was a nice view backwards of the route I'd come up round the rim of Coire na Sleaghaich, which was boiling with cloud like a volcano.
- She's gonna blow!
From the top of Sgurr an Tuill Bhain, I couldn't make out any obvious path down, although ViewRanger told me there was one. But the destination was obvious - the bealach at the foot of Sgurr Dubh that I'd come over on the way up. So I took a pretty direct route which was steep and very slippery. The walk back from there follows the route up, which seems much longer on the way back, especially the extra 2km down the road that I'd added on
A long day, but on a nice day the views would have been spectacular. An Teallach was visible for a few moments, looking dark and menacing, and enticing me over. But that one will have to wait for a better day
