Slioch

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Made the drive from our cottage in Kinlochewe to the parking area at Incheril in just five minutes and was ready to set off at 7:50. I had been looking at Slioch from the window of our cottage all week and I was looking forward to climbing it, the weather was fine and dry and the sky was blue although patches of mist kept coming and going from Sliochs summit as I walked along the long path which was bordered by steep hills to the right and the Kinlochewe River to the left. Eventually the path comes alongside Loch Maree and cuts around the North shore before it crosses a bridge over the Abhainn an Fhasaigh which flows down from Gleann Biannasdail. After around an hour and a half of walking the path finally begins ascending the West side of Gleann Biannasdail and after an hour of climbing i emerged into the bowl of the Coire na Sleaghaich which is almost completely encircled by the high horseshoe of hills which make up the Slioch massif. Walked into the bowl of the corrie and then tackled the steep side at the far end emerging onto the ridge in the dip between Sgurr Dubh and the two wee lochans at the foot of Slioch itself. passed the two small lochans then steeply up eroded broken paths onto a summit at 933 metres and from here I could look across and see Sliochs summit. Here I got my first sight of the wild goats for which Slioch is famed, they were standing around in groups of two or three a few hundred yards in front of me and as the walk progressed I got much closer to them and saw a lot more of them, they didnt seem to be very wary of people at all and are probably used to seeing quite a lot of walkers passing by on their way to Sliochs summit. After 4 hours 15 minutes I reached the trig point and stopped there a while taking photos and taking in the views out East across Loch Maree and its islands and even though this is not the true summit which is a few hundred yards further North it makes a fine viewpoint all the same. after a bit I made my way across the summit plateau to the true summit atwhich at 3,218 feet is just 3 feet higher than the trig point, again I stopped here a while and took more photos and took quite a few of the main herd of goats which were gathered not far from here. Made my way off from the summit heading East along a fine ridge with great views North across Lochan Fada to the Fisherfield munros, after 45 minutes of pleasureable walking with fantastic views in all directions I reached Sgurr an Tuill Bhain which is a munro top and the end of the ridge, had another break here and could see a solo walker behind me photographing the goats at the top of Slioch and behind him another group of three or four leaving the 933 metre summit to make their way over to the trig point summit, these were the only other people I seen all day. Around 2 o'clock I made my way off the summit of Sgurr an Tuill bhain and back down into Coire na Sleaghaich, crossing it to regain my outward path back down into Gleann Biannasdail and to Loch Marees shores. On the way back along the path round the shore there were dragonflies everywhere of all shapes sizes and colours and I managed to get photos of some of them, it really was a glorious walk back and I felt very pleased with my achievements of the week having climbed all of Torridons munros and it was alll I could have hoped for. I arrived back at the car at 5:10 so a total walk time of 9 hours 20 minutes and made the short 5 minute drive back to Kinlochewe to spend the last night of our holiday at the cottage.