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No photos I'm afraid - see below!
Sgurr on this site had said she had gone up Ben Shieldaig recently from the Balgy side and suggested I do the 4-tops route and write it up as there are no walk reports for this hill. Well, the forecast wasn't great but decided in the afternoon that the day was clearing up (it wasn't) and off I went. I started off at 16:20 and knew I had plenty daylight left to get back down to the road before the light faded.
Parked in Glen Shieldaig in a parking area consisting of a small section of the old road and got togged up in the rain. As my main camera had an accident on Belig on Saturday, I was using a different camera and when I tried to take a photo nothing happened. No battery - I had left it on the kitchen table charging
So no photos I'm afraid. However, I must say it was quite freeing not to be constantly stopping and less to carry. The GPS says I walked for 5 hours 15 mins and stopped for 33 minutes. My normal stopping is about a third of my walking time!
I went up by the waterfalls and then took a bearing for the first summit. I could only see a few metres in front of me and the rain was pouring down. By the time I got to the second summit, the rain had stopped and I could see the surrounding hills in a hazy kind of way but I could tell the views were astounding. The whole length of Beinn Damh was on my right and the corries of Beinn Bhan on my left - everything was blue, hazy and spooky as it was so dark due to the low cloud. There is a bit of a drop after the second top and a deer fence is crossed over a stile. It was raining again but amazingly the visibility was improving. From the third top you can see the fourth and highest top. It has a beautiful lochan beside it - there wasn't a breath of wind and the water was like glass. At this point the rain stopped and the cloud slowly lifted. The whole span of Beinn Alligin, Liathach and Beinn Damh appeared and Loch Damh and Loch Torridon seemed to be just a stone's throw away. (It hurts that I didn't have a camera!)
There is a stone shelter built down from the main cairn and from here you can look down right on top of Shieldaig village. I took a wee wander around but had a long way to go back so didn't hang about. The views had really opened up now and I could see the mountains of Harris changing colour as the sun dropped in the sky. Of course they were behind me but I kept looking back at all the action in the sky!
For some masochistic reason I revisited three of the four tops on the way back! Just made it to the car as the sun was setting enjoying a beautiful pink sky as I descended by the waterfalls.
This is a great walk and I'll definitely do it again on a good day. Be warned that much of it is quite boggy underfoot (but then with all the rain that my not be a fair judgement). There are also some great sandstone slabs that you can really zip over as they are pretty grippy.
