Orval and Ard Nev

[tall-story]

What can I say about this wee walk, the day started with a glorious sunrise.

What a gorgeous sunrise :-)

Jura sunbathing.........I think ?

Low tide in the sunshine

As It was the last day on this beautiful island I had to do something to wile away the 8 or so hours till ferry time Well this was the plan, a wee jolly up to Orvil just to finish my grand couple of days on Rum. At first I wasn't sure if I would manage it or not before the ferry at 4 but as I had walked the first 2.5ml in less than 1.5hr I thought this is a definite goer

The early part of the walk passing through the Kinloch Glen plantations

An old mine winch ??

The second piece of "wild" life I saw all day!

Take the left track when you get to here !

The first piece of wildlife.

Ars Nev and part of Orval

The books all have you following a path on the right side of the burn at Malcolms Bridge but if you go on a bit there is a very obvious quad track that goes exactly where you want to go and a little bit further if you like, and it wasn't too wet at all

Track around a 100 Mts further on from the Bridge

Rather than follow this track all the way I opted to take a left turn half a mile or so into it and head straight up the North West flank of Ard Nev , which is fairly steep after you leave the soft grassy flattish approach but soon enough (20mins) you will find your self at the summit with fantastic views of the Rum Cuillin (which I finished the previous day) , for me it was hellish windy so there was no point on stopping for any longer than needed (photos)

Jura on the summit of Ard Nev

The Rum Cuillin from Ard Nev

Orval 20 mins away

I was lucky and it was clear so it was an easy walk just following the obvious ridge NW down to the col and then swing W around the crags then NW for a bit and your there, first its a trig point then a fairly substantial cairn.

Orval summit cairn and trig point

I then went East to the 559mt point (just for photos) of my route

View of where I have been and where I will be again !

then you have to go N for around 0.5k heading for Fionchra being very careful of the dramatic cliffs over looking Sandy/Canna at end of a fairly flat section

Dangerous cliffs as mentioned

then going NE heading for the Bealach a` Bhairgh Bhig then its a straight forward matter of following the aforementioned quad track back to the estate road at Malcolms Bridge, while passing very close to Loch a`Ghillie Reamhra.

Loch a` Ghille Reamhra

A pano of the Rum Cuillin from Orval

Then its a straight forward if tedious walk back to Kinloch and all in 4.5hrs

The stats, add around an hour as I forgot to switch it on !

and I still had plenty of time to tidy up my tent etc ready for the ferry at 410pm ( which turned out to be late anyway) and of course that messed up my chippy plan in Callander on the way back as they would be closed But still on the way back on the ferry most people were inside but I stayed out and as a result I saw my first Minke whale and a wee while later we were joined with some dolphins for a while

I`ve been there !

Not the best photo, but we all know what that is ;-)