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We awoke to bright blue skies with nary a cloud to be seen, not the weather a person usually thinks of for the Isle of Skye. After packing a lunch, filling water bottles and removing the unneeded rain gear from the backpacks we were ready for our short drive to the Sligachan Hotel. We were on the road early with minimal traffic on the A855 and A87 which allowed us to be parked and booting up before 7AM.
We crossed the A863 to begin the LONG walk to Sgùrr na Stri. Just after crossing the stone bridge, I was stopping for the obligatory photograph of the bridge with the Cuillins behind it. That out of the way, we passed through the gate with the sign marking the way to Loch Coruisk to begin the walk. The path initially is paved with stones but shortly becomes a normal path.
The walk up Glen Sligachan seems at times endless, but what great views for the long walk with the Cuillins on our right the entire way. On our left we passed Glamaig before balancing on stones to ford Allt na Measarroch. The sun was warming the day nicely when we entered the shadow of Marsco as the path followed close to its base. On our right we passed to two small lochans before reaching the cairn that marked the split in the path with the right path leading to Loch Coruisk and Sgùrr na Stri.
The path up Druim Hain is easily visible on the hillside. In my opinion, the worst of this long walk is walking up Druim Hain. The loose large rocks make the short path more time consuming and energy draining than expected. Upon reaching the crest, Loch Coruisk and Loch Scavaig came into view, which we enjoyed as we took a short relaxing break at the base of the large cairn.
We followed the path to the left below Sgùrr Hain toward Sgùrr na Stri. As we passed Captain Maryon’s Cairn slightly below us on our right the path becomes less distinct. We began the ascent up the stream gully and finally just worked our way up the rocky field to the summit area. The grabbo rock has fantastic grip for moving confidently up the slabs when needed. The views are said to be some of the best of the Cuillins which I can wholeheartedly agree with. We settled on a spot with a great view to relax and enjoy our lunch. While Barb continued to relaxed, I wandered around the summit area taking photos of the views.
After enjoying the summit area and its views for an hour or more we decided we should begin the long walk back. We went back the same way we came with the Sligachan Hotel coming into view over an hour before we would finally reach it. The walk back to our car was nearly 3 hours long. Our reward for the walk, in addition to the great views we had on Sgùrr na Stri, was a few pints and a whisky soaked salmon in a restaurant while we overlooked the harbor in Portree.
