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The weather forecast was for a cracking day so decided to make the long journey to Skye. The photos in the books and on the net don't do this mountain justice and when you first come round the corner in the road revealing the peak is a bit of an oh my moment.
IMG_0378 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
There's a reasonable sized car park at the base (no charge) and there was only a couple of spots left when I got there at about 10am.
You get some excellent views of the massive lump of rock as you start heading up the path. Though it's a steady incline at first, it quickly becomes quite steep.
IMG_0380 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
IMG_0382 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
Eventually you reach the flattish bit at the base of the bowl and the path becomes faint amongst the rocks but a helpful local was able to point the way through the rocks and up through the rocky outcrops.
The initial route is fairly straight forward but after a few steps you reach a point where there is an obvious route up a chute, covered in scree but it's very loose. Thankfully you only need to cover 10 yards or so before there is a clear path just to the left of it that zig zags up the rocky outcrops.
IMG_0385 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
The slope at this point is very steep and continues like this for a reasonable distance before easing up again and opening up onto a wide rocky slope. By this point the heat was unbearable for me, the slope acting like a sun trap so it was time to take a breather and admire the views. Continuing onwards there was a rocky outcrop and a little bit of a scramble to get up (this as it turned out could be mostly avoided by taking a path to the left that wasn't immediately obvious from below).
IMG_0387 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
After that it's a short hike up the last slope to the summit and some fantastic views in all directions.
IMG_0389 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
IMG_0390 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
IMG_0397 by
matthew_chalmers, on Flickr
From the summit, I returned straight down the route I came up.
It was hard work for my first Monro of the year, but the views from the top made it worthwhile.
