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Amazing Assynt Adventure

PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 10:09 am
by Jaxter
The weather said a fabulous weekend in the North-West. Team JaxterBang said - "let's go!" Leaving Glasgow on Friday evening, we flew up the A9 and camped at the base of Liathach about 11pm. There was a decent breeze, so nae midges and we fell asleep amongst the grandeur of Torridon, excited about what the next day would bring!

The next morning we managed to over-sleep, either we slept through Doots' alarm or it didn't work...I'm saying nothing... ;-) Quickly packing up, we set off up the path to the ridge. It was early, the sun was shining and we were heading for one of Scotland's best ridges!

It was a steep climb, but once on the ridge, the views were incredible; there was even an inversion! Most of these photos are from Doots camera as mine had finally died on the South Glen Shiel ridge :(

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The first summit reached, Spidean a'Choire Leith. Am Fasarinen, the pinnacles, lay ahead..

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Doots being Doots, decided that we should scramble over everything. Bypass paths are for pussies afterall! It was exhilarating and with Doots I felt totally safe, despite the exposure!

Doots downclimbing a dodgy bit...
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On my way down another dodgy bit...
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Concentration face
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The pinnacles behind us, it was an easy stroll to the second summit, Mullach an Rathain.
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At which point we had a quick munch before heading down the steep scree descent and back down to the road. As we were 3 miles from the car, we were very grateful to the lovely photographer who gave Doots a lift back to the car. I sat in the sun and relaxed.

We had a very brief stop in Torridon for a quick shower, before heading North. A quick stop at a few choice locations for photo stops...We climbed on a rock at Gruinard Bay (I needed assistance...)
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We then drove through some of the most wonderful scenery (and Ullapool where we picked up more supplies) to Culnacraig where we packed a lot of stuff into our rucksacks and headed off up the Ben Mor Coigach ridge, hoping to make it to our camp spot before sunset. It was a beautiful evening...
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Ahead along the ridge and towards Inverpolly
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Looking back along the ridge from the summit of Ben Mor Coigach, a hard fought Graham!
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Wonderful Assynt, I'm in love already.
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Summit of Sgurr an Fhidhleir
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Walking through Assynt
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The tent pitched, we settled down to watch the sunset. We had the dulcet tones of Boards of Canada, the sweet sweet taste of Irn Bru and brownies. A perfect evening!
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We did some posing...
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And some raving...
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And then this happened...
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Completely in awe, we went to sleep for a few hours before getting up for this...
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We had a few more hours kip before heading back to the car. We had more plans! Driving round to Stac Pollaidh...Doots had promised to take me up his favourite mountain and it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about!

Heading up the path, my legs were feeling a bit tired but soon got into the swing of uphill again. The sun was beating down and we reached the ridge in super quick time. The views were unbelievable. Making our way up to the 'easy summit' we took a few photos...
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...before we scrambled around to a more secluded summit for some chill time. We sat in the sun and relaxed for ages, enjoying some food and soaking up the views. Life was good!

On our way back round I stood on an outcrop...
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We then headed along the ridge, scrambling around on a big rocky playground
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Reaching the "dodgy bit" up to the final summit, I freaked out more over a shuffle round a big rock with my back to a drop...Doots then started showing me the final scramble before realising I was far too short to manage it. Fortunately I could scramble round the side and fit through the wee gap. Having someone show me where to put my feet and hands was definitely a great help...And we were there! Grahams are fantastic!!
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After enjoying the views, we headed down a steep gully and back to the car. We had time for a couple more stops before heading home. Firstly I was introduced to the famous Lochinver pie shop, that would feature heavily in later adventures. We sat in the sun and enjoyed wonderful wonderful pie before driving a few miles down the road to Achmelvich beach where we dipped our feet in the water...
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Not wanting to leave, but with a long journey ahead, we set off down the road. Everything was going well until the front tyre blew just outside Pitlochry...fortunately Jaxter knows how to change a tyre (go go girl power!) so I directed operations whilst Doots did the hard work!

What a perfect weekend!!

Doots' own report is HERE