Wonderful, Wonderful Knoydart
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:05 pmI drove to Kinloch Hourn and parked in the small car park next to the farm and had a coffee and sticky bun in the coffee shop before setting off on the walk in to Barrisdale at 1115 with a very heavy pack. The path beside Loch Hourn is quite good but there are a lot of ups and downs and it took 3:30 to reach the bothy, much longer than I had planned.
- View from first wooden bridge
- Loch Hourn
- First Glimpse of Ladhar Bheinn
- View from near Barrisdale
- Barrisdale Bay
I stopped off in the bothy to get out of the sun for a while and have some lunch. After lunch I headed off crossing the river Barrisdale and heading up through head height ferns following a path which zigged and zagged before emerging onto open hillside. The path then dropped down a little into Coire Dhorrcail where I had a short stop beside the Allt Coire Dhorrcail before heading up rough grass slopes to gain the ridge picking my way up steep terraces before emerging on the well defined ridge. The ridge gave excellent views in all directions and I took loads of photographs.
- Near the summit
- On top of the world
The ridge led directly to the summit of Ladhar Bheinn (1020 m) where I stayed a while taking more photographs. From the summit I followed the rim of the Coire Dhorrcail before heading down towards Mam Barrisdale where I chose an excellent spot to bivvy. Following some dinner and a warm drink I settled down for the night. It didn’t really get dark but I managed to get a few hours sleep.
Day 2
- Early morning fog
- View from my bivvy site
- View from Mam Barrisdale
I got up and had a quick bite to eat before heading down from my high bivvy site to the Mam Barrisdale. All the valleys were filled with fog due to a temperature inversion which made for some excellent photographs. From the col I followed a wet muddy path beside some rusting fence posts before climbing steep ground to reach the summit ridge. I stopped briefly at the summit of Luinne Bheinn (939 m) and carried onto the subsidiary top (937 m) where I stopped and had a warm drink and some lunch.
- Brew time in the sun
From the summit ridge I dropped down on a good path and contoured round to the bealach before the long climb to the summit of Meall Buidhe (946 m) where I met a few fellow walkers. From the top I headed north before dropping down steeply to the east heading for the 2 lochans. It was quite tough going to reach the lochans in the heat, the water looked very inviting. From the lochans I again contoured round over very rough ground to the Mam Barrisdale.
- All the fog had gone!
From the Mam I followed the landrover track back to the bothy where I again stopped for something to eat before heading back along Loch Hourn to Kinloch Hourn. Today was a very tiring day in the hills due to the unrelenting sunshine and heat. I drove back to Invergarry and booked into the hostel.
- Thank you Knoydart for 2 unforgetable days
that is exactly what I am hoping to do next spring/summer for my completion 
