free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
For as long as I can remember Torridon has always more than held it's own when it comes to Mountain ranges, Always a debate on the best place to climb in the UK. I remember going in for pals as a kid to be told on occassions that they were not coming out as there favourite programme was on...... Batman, Zorro or some form of cartoon. From an early age I was always intrigued by the great man "Tom Weir", No way I could tell my pals I wasn't coming out "Weirs Way" was on so I lied
Sorry lads can't come out "Space 1999" was on.
His show on Applecross/Shieldaig/Torridon has always stuck with me however it was after watching David Hayman does it Weir's Way that the plan kicked in, the shadow needed to fall in the areas I had watched him walk and hear him speak so passionately about.
Myself & my wife arrived in Gairloch (Gairloch Highland Lodge) on Saturday the 10th with the intention of climbing Bienn Eighe on the Sunday, the weather looked great for the following day so we relaxed in a local bar for a few drinks and some well needed pub food before retiring to the Lodge.
We were up at the crack of dawn for a full breakfast ready to face the climb that lay ahead, car packed, gear sorted and we were on our way, 40min drive to the car park where we decided to do the route in an anti clockwise direction preferring to take the scree slope in descent rather than the opposite. Boots were on the ground for approx 08:30.
We had a break about an hour into the climb when we came across a stunning part of the climb with us surrounded by plenty of green grass and views.
The route up the initial climb was fairly good going with some outstanding views, the track is quite clear and the walk along the road from the car park did not take long at all, we had a good laugh on the early stages of the climb reaching the first piece of flat ground in quite good time, it was at this point that I spotted the peak to my left, great pic opportunity with outstanding views however just as I reached it in came the cloud.
From here it was a gentle final push to the summit and the trig point where we decided to have our first bite to eat and take some time out to admire the views that surrounded us.
I was amazed by the scenery, the colours that surrounded us were outstanding, the sky, the rock matched with the intimidating mountains that circled us. It was everything you expect when you hear of stories regarding Torridon. Luckily I managed to film some of the route which has now been edited and placed on "youtube" we sat having our lunch however did not hang around long we knew the size of the task ahead of us however the temp was also dropping it it was time to keep the body warm by keeping the legs moving.
We continued to move however it is hard to move fast when you are constantly having your eyes dragged to the next amazing sight, I think Veronica got bored of "Stop" don't move shouts that kept leaving my mouth on a regular basis, I need to capture that.
In all the time I have been climbing I can honestly say that this day is one that will stay with me, we descended down the scree heading in the direction of the Lochan, it was one of those where every couple of seconds the head was turning to capture one last view before the sun left us. We had had the best day with picture postcard views all around, sights of the grey rock faces that have stood for thousands of years waiting for our boots to tread and our shadows to fall on them.
We are already planning and looking at our next visit to Torridon, so much more to see and so much more to climb, we have been back over a week now and it still keeps cropping up in conversation. We descended in the dark, head torches in full use, was such an eerie sensation, the sound of complete silence other than our own feet only to be broken every now and again by the sound of Stags reminding us that we were visitors on there dark, grey mysterious land.
