Ring of Steall
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:59 pm
Left the car at 9am it was brass monkeys cold and definitely starting to feel like winters on its way.Parked the car at the bridge so didn't have to walk the 2 miles along the road at the end.It was a nice warm up for the relentless slog that was to come
The next tricky section was trying to cross at the foot of Steall Falls with the rocks all very slippy and no clear way across spent around 10 minutes of head scratching we went for it and only a little water getting in the top of the boot I was happy we made it intact.
Hoping that was the end of the wet stuff and we could get making up some good ground we had a trudge through a massive bog with no simple ways to cross it ,so was a few times up to the shins a couple times but had to be done Eventually we were starting the accent of An Gearanach it was fairly steep but was finding it surprisingly easy although Deirdre was starting to fall behind which was fine as it gave us time to soak up as much of the surroundings and take plenty photos. We reached the summit around 1230pm and had our lunch on one of the best viewpoints you'll get looking across to the eastern Mamores and down into the glen filled with deer with the stags roar to be the soundtrack of most of our day. There was some nice scambly bits along this ridge but nothing to difficult and in no time we were down to the bealach looking back it looked impossibly harder than it was We reached the summit of Stob Coire a'Chairn at about 330pm and the legs were starting to feel a bit weary time for some more fruit and and energy boost before tackling the Devils ridge ahead. The Ridge was narrow and very exposed in places would definitely not want to be here on a windy day but with plenty care and taking our time we all made it along with Steve taking the high route and myself and Deidre taking the lower yet still exposed route. We had a quick rest on Sgurr a'Mhaim but had to push on and down what felt like the longest decent I've encountered to date.Making it back to the car in 10 hours with wrecked feet and knees The Ring of Steall will go down as one of my most memorable days in the hills ever
. After coming through the gorge and emerging from the trees it opens to a beautiful glen and with the sun just coming over the top of An Gearanach looks amazing About an hour we made it to the rope bridge that some of us had been worrying about .Would be a nightmare to fall in so near the start .The water is mostly shallow but at the far side its a lot deeper and if you fell in there would most certainly write the day off. It was a little tricky especially in the middle when the rope starts twisting but with a little care we all made it across successfully The next tricky section was trying to cross at the foot of Steall Falls with the rocks all very slippy and no clear way across spent around 10 minutes of head scratching we went for it and only a little water getting in the top of the boot I was happy we made it intact.
Hoping that was the end of the wet stuff and we could get making up some good ground we had a trudge through a massive bog with no simple ways to cross it ,so was a few times up to the shins a couple times but had to be done Eventually we were starting the accent of An Gearanach it was fairly steep but was finding it surprisingly easy although Deirdre was starting to fall behind which was fine as it gave us time to soak up as much of the surroundings and take plenty photos. We reached the summit around 1230pm and had our lunch on one of the best viewpoints you'll get looking across to the eastern Mamores and down into the glen filled with deer with the stags roar to be the soundtrack of most of our day. There was some nice scambly bits along this ridge but nothing to difficult and in no time we were down to the bealach looking back it looked impossibly harder than it was We reached the summit of Stob Coire a'Chairn at about 330pm and the legs were starting to feel a bit weary time for some more fruit and and energy boost before tackling the Devils ridge ahead. The Ridge was narrow and very exposed in places would definitely not want to be here on a windy day but with plenty care and taking our time we all made it along with Steve taking the high route and myself and Deidre taking the lower yet still exposed route. We had a quick rest on Sgurr a'Mhaim but had to push on and down what felt like the longest decent I've encountered to date.Making it back to the car in 10 hours with wrecked feet and knees The Ring of Steall will go down as one of my most memorable days in the hills ever