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For the Monday of a week in the North West Highlands, staying at Poolewe, we had decided upon the longish drive up to Assynt for the simple wander up Sgurr nan Fhidlier to enjoy the gobsmacking view from the summit. Before this however I had my own personal mission which was to fulfill a promise made to myself around 8 years ago when we last stayed in this part of the world. That promise was to witness the sunrise from the wonderful white sand beach at Mellon Udrigle.
With a promising forecast I set the alarm for an eye watering 3:30 A.M
and bumbled my way out of bed leaving a sleeping cottage behind. It was very soon apparent that I would not be wasting my time as the amount of vivid colour in the sky was astonishing for so early in the morning and very distracting. I did manage to keep my eyes on the road enough to safely complete the 20 minute drive and then made my way down onto the beach to be the only witness (as far as I could tell) to an astonishing riot of colour. So vivid where the colours that while processing the shots I had to de-saturate the images to make them look realistic.
Symphony of Light by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Mellon Udrigle by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Everlong by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Suilven by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
The Quinag by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
The Coigach hills by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Beinn Globhlach by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
The Quinag, Suilven and Stac Polly by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
And a last shot of Suilven by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Around an hour after I had arrived the colour had ebbed way to leave a grey dawn so I drove back to Poolewe to catch forty winks before getting up for the second time in the same morning
to make my way, this time with Nicola, Grace and Hughie, to the remote settlement of Culnacraig.
We turned up at the car park as the second car, seemingly upsetting the couple who had recently arrived before us presumably as they wouldn't had the hill to themselves for the day. Being led by an idiot, namely me, we set off after them along the intermittent trod in blissful ignorance of the fact this wasn't the correct route, in fact some would say it was even the wrong hill
. By the time this became apparent too much height had been gained so rather than re-trace any steps a new plan was hatched to go over the subsidiary top of Beinn nan Caorach before heading to Sgurr na Fhidlier via the col.
Speicein nan Garbh-choireachan by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Looking over to An Teallach by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Towards Conmhaell by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Ben More Coigach by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Hughie exploring by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Weathered Rocks by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Out to Sea over Conmheall by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Straggler by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
As things turned out this was a most fortunate error as we found out coming down the direct route was somewhat dull in comparison to this way which was strewn with fascinating weathered rocks of all shapes and sizes. We had lunch on Beinn nan Caorach before dropping down and making the final steepish pull up to the summit.
Attempting to describe the view from the summit of this hill is pointless. I'm not sufficiently eloquent to convey the majesty so I'll let you look at the pictures and perhaps, if you've been fortunate enough relate to your memories.
Assynt comes into view by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Sgurr an Fhidhler from Beinn nan Caorach by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Approaching Sgurr na Fhidhleir by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
On the way up by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
More Weathered Rocks. by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Looking North West up the ridge by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Allmost at the top. by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Looking Back in Time by
Anthony Young, on Flickr (click on pic to see it bigger)
Grace and Hughie by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Looking back to Beinn nan Caorach by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
The way down was nice and easy if a little rough at times on the lower slopes. Certainly it would have felt a bit of a trudge if we just did a there and back route.
On the way down by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Conmheall by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Crossing a burn by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
Culnacraig by
Anthony Young, on Flickr
The Coigach hills are amazing and having looked at images the route over the wonderful narrow ridge of Speicein nan Garbh-choireachan a return to this wonderland would be most welcome at some time in the future.
