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Sub 2k Marilyns: An Sgurr.
Date: 30 and 31/07/2018.
Distance: 15.5km + 5.5km.
Ascent: 700m + 45m.
Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes + 1 hour.
Weather: Clear and sunny with a slight breeze, stiffening overnight. Rain by the time the ferry came in.
Link to previous days on RumThe ferry over from Rum to Eigg was a little choppy, but the weather was clearing up nicely, and if the forecast was to be believed, the wind would drop off nicely for the evening. We reached the island shortly after 4pm - a bit early to find a camp spot, so decided to take a stroll over to the Bay of Laig, Eigg's main beach. We had been looking directly over to it from Dibidil for the last couple of days, so it was nice to see it from the other side.
Rounding the N end of Eigg An Sgurr from Galmisdale Looking towards Sgorr an Fharaidh Ferry leaving Eigg Ferry terminal Having dumped our heavy packs in the bar/café/shop/general hanging around area in Galmisdale, the walk was straightforward enough along the only real road on the island. Despite some cloud still hanging around, Rum looked fantastic from the bay. There wasn't really time to explore the northern end of the island properly in the 20 or so hours we had available, but it certainly made a return visit very appealing.
Standing stone next to THE road Cleadale Rum and Bay of Laig Traigh Chlithe Rum Sgorr an Fharaidh from the bay Rum from the Cleadale road An Sgurr Back at Galmisdale, it was time to pick up the heavy packs and head for the piece de resistance of the trip - An Sgurr. Despite forecasts changing endlessly over the last few days, it now looked like we would manage pretty much perfect summit camp weather for the evening - how lucky was that? The walk up through farmland and over the moor took little more than an hour.
Ardnamurchan Beinn Hiant Approaching An Sgurr It was hard to fully appreciate the massive lump of An Sgurr as we walked beneath the prow due to the sun shining directly in our faces, but it was clearly a pretty unique lump of rock. Once on the spine of the ridge, the footpath led us a little beneath the crest on the south side. Scrambling along the crest may have added some additional interest but wasn't so appealing with heavy packs. I was convinced that there was more ascent ahead, but suddenly the summit and trig point were right there ahead of us - wow
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Spine of An Sgurr Due to An Sgurr being in the Corbetts book, it was somewhere I had wanted to visit for a very long time, but I hadn't expected to get the chance to camp on top of it. Eigg is definitely positioned in the right place for viewing both Skye, Rum, Mull and the mainland - certainly up there in the top 3 or 4 viewpoints in the country.
Rum beginning to appear behind Cora-bheinn South across Muck On An Sgurr Galmisdale from An Sgurr Rum from An Sgurr Once the tents were up, it was time to wander around and cook dinner. The wind had dropped and the sun was beginning to set behind Rum.
Summit camp What a spot Sun starting to set Skye Mainland Ben More of Mull across Ardnamurchan Sun going down... ...and down... Towards Moidart Getting there.... Almost... Some red in the sky to the east Muck Looking good ...better.... Skye again Gone now Even after the sun had set, it was benign enough to sit out until pretty late watching the boats and lighthouses glow and flash. Unfortunately we knew that the wind was due to get up in the morning, and eventually the rain would come in.
Rum in the last light Skye Sleep wasn't the best as I had failed to find a sufficiently flat patch and was continually sliding down to the bottom of the tent. The wind was a little annoying but not as bad as feared, and when I stuck my head out, I was pleased to see some sunshine, even though it appeared that it would be fairly fleeting. Despite opting for an early departure, neither of us could be bothered getting up immediately, and we tried to catch a bit more of a nap until 7am.
Sunrise....well a bit after it Rum not looking so spectacular in the morning It was a bit of a fight to get the tents down, but it didn't take much effort to drop out of the wind a bit. We didn't bother with breakfast here as we had a whole morning of deteriorating weather to kill in the café before the ferry was due.
West along the spine of An Sgurr Rum from An Sgurr Mainland An Sgurr from below Leaving An Sgurr Other than a minor diversion lower down, we descended the same way, happy to leave further exploration of the island for another visit. Sometimes you can end up cramming far too much into too short a time and we felt that we had already gone way over our quota of luck and highlights on this trip. So a leisurely breakfast and many cups of tea were enjoyed while the rain began and the wind whipped around Galmisdale.
Weather closing in on An Sgurr The ferry was running, but instead of taking us back via Muck, we went straight back to Mallaig due to the worsening weather - more luck there, as despite the service being reduced, we ended up back in Mallaig earlier than scheduled
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The weather was now pretty unpleasant compared to the last couple of days, but we re-stocked in the co-op and went for one last bothy night somewhere on the road back to Fort William - a great way to cap off an unbelievably lucky and enjoyable trip.
Somewhere good on the way home... A big thanks to Jackie for persuading me that this would definitely be a good idea, despite all of the forecasts suggesting otherwise - it was brilliant
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