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Date - Mon 03/05/2010
Hills - Ben Loyal
Route - Standard route, start & finish near Ribigill Farm
Weather - Reasonable, overcast, a little chill at times from the Northerly wind. Only a brief 10 min shower as we set off from car
People - Me / Mike (Sid0995)
Time - 5 Hours
Distance - 14.5km
Ascent - 853m
Max Altitude - 765m
Bank Holiday Monday and Mike and I took a jaunt up North for an ascent of Ben Loyal - known as the Queen of the Scottish Mountains.....no idea why but it's definitely a fantastic hill. Set in the beautiful wilderness of the far NW it offers plenty of interest - excellent views to it's surrounding mountain neighbours and out to sea, the wreckage of a crashed 1943 bomber on the lower slopes, and on the ridge itself you're offered various crags and scrambling options on the various tops. The rock was a bit wet and even icey in some parts - made it a little more interesting
Looking at Ben Loyal from afar it looks almost impenetrable, with its vertical faces towering above. Setting out from the farm this remains the impression until you close in and the route opens up at the bealach between Ben Loyal and Ben Hiel where it's a simple sustained pull on to the ridge.
During our ascent we stumbled upon the wreckage of the crashed aircraft, having a look and taking various pics. On the way down we met a guy with a young child - they'd taken a small bit of wreckage on a previous visit but upon Googling it realised the place is a memorial - so laced with some guilt they returned to put it back.
It's a bit of a pull up on to the ridge, after which it's your choice of which tops to take in. We circled round the base of Sgor Chaonasaid before picking a line for a little scramble up - we got near the summit and dumped our packs for the final few moves to the high point of this top.
We came down from Sgor Chaonasaid and made our way toward the main summit of Ben Loyal - An Caisteal. When you first get sight of An Caisteal it shows a vertical face one side, and a steep/dodgy face on the other! On closer inspection there's a bit of a path up and a few bits of easy scrambling - nothing of note on a dry day - but it was wet and icey in parts so some care needed. It's a good summit - vertical cliffs some sides, random rocky ledges, a nice sheltered gully that offered a fine lunch spot. We hung around for a while eating and snapping pics before descending, retracing our steps back to the start.
A fantastic day and first time I've been as far up NW - love the place. A beautiful vast wilderness. Michelle and I hope to get a couple of days up there in a couple of weeks - camping and taking in some of the coastal walks
A couple of shots taken from the A836 road near Loch Loyal
Ben Loyal from the starting point of walk - car park near Ribigll
Ribigill Farm
A good track for the bulk of the approach - thereafter be prepared for a moderate bogfest (not too bad though...). Follow the track off to the left
A couple of lambs posed for a pic as we passed
An easy stream crossing. Summits still in cloud - but it appeared to be lifting
Or was it? Another crossing - easy enough with care on the day, fairly shallow.
I think we'd strayed a little from the faint path and by pure chance walked straight up to the aircraft wreckage
Skirting around the base of Sgor Chaonasaid
Ben Hope
Summits: Sgor Chaonasaid (left), An Caisteal (right)
Looking back out to Kyle of Tongue from Sgor Chaonasaid summit
Zoomed
Approaching An Caisteal
Summit
Lunch gulley
A lie down on the summit. Carn an Tionail in background
Carn an Tionail
Sgor Chaonasaid from An Caisteal
The descent was quite quick. Care needed at a couple of small craggy bits - easy enough to weave a line down
Looking from the bealach to Ben Hiel
A glance back to Ben Loyal as we rejoin the landrover track
Stopped on the way home for a snap of the nearby Munro, Ben Klibreck
