Walkhighlands

Until the weekend, I had a 100% percent record of visits to Skye/crap weather/no hills. With it also being a long drive, I'd considered leaving the twelve munro summits here alone for a long time, possibly even my final twelve (if i ever get there).

However a combination of factors, ie my sister getting married at Eilean Donan Castle, and a frankly bizarre outbreak of good weather meant I folded like a cheap deckchair and opted for one of the few "easy" munros on the island on the Saturday.

We left Forfar at 9am on Friday for the long drive over, sensibly abandoning the ludicrous idea of a 4am start to get to my previously planned Friday hills of Gleouriach and Spidean Mialach. Three or four hours extra in the sack was a far better option, especially after wakening up to get the early Referendum results.

We took a leisurely drive over with a nice stop off at a Cafe in Roy Bridge (which appears to have since gone out of business It wasn't us, honest), then did the usual tourist thing, stopping off at the Commando Memorial:



After a while there we headed up alongside Loch Lochy and into Laggan Locks for a wander about. The water here was mirror-like. There were a few midgies about but it must be late in their season as they weren't any bother.



We then headed along the road, cutting off to Invergarry then the long drive up towards the almost redundant Glen Garry viewpoint. I love this stretch from Invergarry. Lochs Garry, Loyne and Cluanie are stunning. Passing Loch Cluanie and through Glen Shiel is simply awesome. I first drove through there over a year ago and the place has stayed with me. It's eerie, spectacular and awe-inspiring at the same time. Anne is a huge fan of Eilean Donan Castle, and seeing as my sis was getting married there the next day, we thought we'd get a few photos of it. Weather was a bit dull so I converted mine to monochrome.



Finally we arrived at our Accommodation, the superb Bijou Hideaway in Lower Breakish. It's only a couple of years old and the owners are friendly, helpful people (especially when providing a massive fry up for a chronic Sunday hangover).

Saturday arrived and I fancied a hill, armed with a good forecast, I chose Bruach na Frithe, whilst Anne wanted to spend the day at the Storr.

She dropped me off at the layby leading to Allt Dearg cottage. The route for BnF is almost foolproof, with an excellent path most of the way.



On approaching the cottage, the path is signposted, and slowly meanders its way gently up towards the foot of Fionn Choire. There are a few waterfalls on the way up. It's a hugely enjoyable stroll. After 3.5km the path branches off to head up the slopes of Fionn Choire. The path is decent and progress is easily made. The views ahead were poor, with a 600m or so cloudbase, but not bad in the other direction



As height is gained into the Corrie, the path disappears from time to time. However plough on straight ahead and it's soon picked up again.

The going gets rockier and soon Bealach na Lice is reached. Am Basteir looms ahead, with Sgurr a'Basteir, Sgurr a'Fionn Choire and Bruach na Frithe forming an impressive surround.



I was walking in pretty thick clag now and would have to hope for a bit of luck to get a clear view at the summit. There was the occasional micro-second of a glimpse of what lay around, and it looked good (briefly).



I traversed the path under Sgurr a'Fionn Choire and made my way to Bruach na Frithe fairly easily. I almost got the view i'd been hoping for





I hung around at the summit for half an hour, hoping for the clag to blow through, but it wasn't happening so headed off down, taking a bit of a scree-surfing shortcut and easily meeting up with the main path below the bealach. As i descended i met a good few people on the way up and had a few chats.

Looking back, there was a fine view of Sgurr a'Basteir.



I made pretty good time and realised i still had 2.5 hours to kill. I wandered down, taking it all in. The clag of course started lifting from the northern end. Pinnacle Ridge was now visible and looked like a toast rack and made for a dramatic view.



As i got further down, good views opened out of Glamaig and the Red Cuillin.



Time was still on my side so i spent a good amount of time at one of the more spectacular waterfalls.





Finally it was time for pick up, with one final late afternoon-lit view of Marsco and Bla'Bheinn to be had. what a fantastic place.





There was then a slight rush home to get changed and drive through to Eilean Donan Castle for the wedding. A fabulous end to a wonderful day.

Sunday was met with a sore head and general feeling of "meh". Luckily an excellent fry-up provided by our hosts. After a conflab, we decided to head to Uig and faff around in the Fairy Glen. What a place!!









What a fantastic wee place that was. We faffed around on the various mini-ridges and the "castle" for hours. Before heading back to the Hideaway. Thankfully my hangover was gone by now.

This was pretty much the last act of a truly awesome weekend.

Skye is amazing.

I’m glad your statistics of Skye have improved. But even if they hadn’t, what an amazing trip you had . Stunning pictures, as always.

great pics, JP.
Skye's just the best place with good weather

Fabulous photos even if you missed the views from the summit. But then you'll get it again when you do the whole ridge walk

Great job, glad you got the weather at last.
A real photography master class, amazing!
Chris

As others have said - some awesome photos. Thanks for sharing them.