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A double hangover from both the previous day's toils and the subsequent night's drinking left us feeling somewhat sluggish at breakfast. Luckily, as we were staying at Inchnadamph lodge, we did not need to drive anywhere to reach our targets for the day - Conival and Ben More Assynt, the area's only munros. Forecast suggested cloud would clear by midday, but a blustery wind would continue throughout high up. That turned out to be somewhat inaccurate and somewhat of an understatement respectively. A hat trick of 'un's would be completed by a fair degree of underestimation by these two idiots:
starting off by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
The walk starts on an undulating track for a few kilometres, over the River Trallgill and past an attractive holiday cottage, with Conival peeping out behind Fuarnan nan Each, eventually forking on grass - left to the hills and right to the caves. We decided to take a detour and have a look at the caves first.
cloud-covered conival, right by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Canisp by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Fork by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
We should have studied the maps in more detail beforehand, as we only found 2 cave entrances and, after looking for others furthers north (and failing), we cut our own track back over the river, with decent views back to Loch Assynt. Euan came a cropper leaping a burn, jarring his knee. Some anti-inflammatory gel thankfully soon put paid to this.
Caves by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020470 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Loch Assynt and Quinag by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Before by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Ouch by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
There was a path next to the river, however after consulting our map and the WH route, we realised the hill path must be higher up, so clambered up steep lumpy ground to try (and again fail) to find a path to the valley to the west of Conival. It seemed there was no path to be found, and after consulting the GPS route, it seems WH would rather you walk over lumpy undulating stuff than follow a gentle path along the river then climb? Oh well. Across this moorland, the wind suddenly picked up, flapping our clothing and chilling our bodies. This was the start of a wind that would not relent for another 6 hours
We saw a family of roe deer nearby, however I managed to delete the one good photo of them (a likely story I know).
windy by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Large grey boulders herald the arrival of the path alongside the burn, which rises steeply over stones and bog. It's a long way up to the bealach, but does provide a lot of fun in picking a line, if you are that way inclined. There is also a fun wee scramble up the back of a hanging valley just before the bealach is reached. Coming over the top, the wind picked up still a few knots further. Views behind were still good, but Conival remained shrouded in dense grey cloud.
P1020494 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020495 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020501 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Canisp and Suilven behind by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
From the bealach by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Walking into the gloom, the route hangs right and zigzags up the stony flank of Conival. The wind continued to batter us, with sleet slicing our faces intermittently. With some relief, the stone shelter at the summit appeared through the mist and we stopped, frozen, for lunch. It was at this point that Euan decided to deploy his group shelter, in a somewhat unorthodox fashion
In any case, he smelled terrible, so I decided to stay outside. We were not quite in mortal peril yet.
P1020513 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020514 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020518 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020519 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Mingin by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Summit by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Group shelter fail by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
My feet were somehow wet and getting pretty cold, so I wanted to keep moving. As we approached the top of the ridge to Ben More Assynt, the cloud miraculously cleared and we had 15 minutes of half decent views all around. The ridge is great fun, with a couple of little knife edge bits, some steep descents as well as ascents, but it was a bit of a slog into the wind. We met a couple of Scandinavian lads down here who were staying at our hostel, who advised they had had approximately zero views at the summit. Oh well. Managed to spot someone back on the approach to Conival who had turned back (either that or our paths had somehow not crossed). We would see a few more turn back before the end of the day.
ridge from Conival by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Na Tuadhan and north by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020548 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020553 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020554 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020557 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020560 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
onward by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Quinag by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020577 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
last snowfield by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020585 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
By the time Ben More Assynt was reached, the cloud again began to roll in, and after a fun game throwing stones and an apple core (which lasted far longer than it should have for two supposedly mature adults), we started to beat our retreat. 4 hours in, the exertion against the wind to this point meant we just wanted to get down. Climbing back over the ridge seemed harder than going the other way, with one particular steep snowfield causing some difficulty.
BMA summit by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
backward by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020601 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
Past Conival we went, pain and discomfort etched on our faces. The wind seemed to increase even more, with hail slicing out cheeks. In our haste to get to the bealach in the gale, we very nearly strayed off course and into the steeper west side of the hanging valley, but luckily realised our mistake in enough time to correct it. Foot placement over the rocks was pretty difficult.
P1020604 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
The bealach reached, now out of the clag, we descended quickly all the way to the river (the way we SHOULD have came up) and the path. We flopped along the now busy path back to the hostel to dry our clothes and bodies, thoroughly knackered. Luckily, it was only 4.30pm, so we had plenty time to recharge - for the mighty Quinag beckoned us!
A tough day but, as an old man told us wistfully days later, "a bad day on the hills is better than a good day in the office". Writing this from my office, I could not agree more.
bealach, canisp, suilven and cul mor by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
downward scramble by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020615 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
P1020620 by
Ross Thomson, on Flickr
