Flying Without Wings
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:54 pmPart 1 - Torridon
Tuesday 3rd July 2018 – Cul Mor
13.37km
793m ascent
4 hours 45 mins
I woke up after a very relaxed nights sleep. I was in no hurry to get moving so had a chilled breakfast and sat around enjoying the sun.
It was already an incredibly hot day
Eventually I got my stuff together and headed up the road – An Teallach was looking awesome
I stopped off in Ullapool for supplies….
If only everything were so black and white
….before continuing North and parking up at Knockan and looking up at my target
I headed up the path towards Cul Mor. It was insanely hot and I was finding it hard work with the big pack. Although it looked like an easy walk, it was feeling anything but…
Once on the top of Meallan Diomhain I took off towards the ridge which gave me some awesome views
The way ahead….it looks steep
As I climbed higher I could see over to the other side of Coire Gorm
The last steep section was hard work with the heavy pack but at last there I was – on the summit of Cul Mor. And it was awesome
I dropped just off the summit and found me the perfect camp spot
Zoomed to An Teallach
There were some perfect rocks for sitting so I set myself up with dinner, hot chocolate, a book and most importantly, my camera
It was absolute magic sitting out there It was so warm and still that I was lying out there until about 9.30 before I started needing to put clothes back on
The sun finally began its descent
The sun disappeared leaving an amazing pink sky
It felt really special witnessing such an amazing night in such a awesome part of Scotland I finally crawled into bed when I realised it wasn’t going to get any darker
The next morning I got up for sunrise and it didn’t disappoint
Then I went back to sleep, because it was stupidly early When I woke up several hours later, the sun was properly up and the mountain was baking in the summer heat again 
After chilling out for a bit I was running out of water so needed to head down. I made my way towards the other summit – Creag nan Calman
From there I carried on down the ridge, skirted around Meallan Diomhain and met up with the outward path. I met quite a lot of folk on their way up who thought I was a bit nuts
Arriving back at Knockan it was Clegg-maggeddon so I did a lot of dancing around trying to get away from the bastards Before having a wee wash and heading around to Lochinver.
Wednesday 4th July 2018 – Suilven
23.58km
993m ascent
6 hours 40 mins
Malcy_c and I had been trying to meet up for a walk for a while but time off, weather and injuries always seemed to have got in the way. However he was able to sneak out on Wednesday evening so we met up at the Glencanisp Lodge parking area at 5.30 and set off down the path.
Soon Suilven came into view and it was looking awesome
Canisp
I’d forgotten about the steep bits on the track – you see track and assume it’s going to be flat However, good progress was made along the track; we turned along the new path just before Loch na Gainimh and although this was now more uphill it was still easy going.
Final water stop
The path goes up there apparently
We reached where the path people had got to – some wee boggy sections before we hit the steep bit but nothing was very wet here anyway.
Starting up the steep section we were sweating a lot as it was incredibly muggy and we were fighting off the clegs as it was sheltered
It was tough work with the heavy packs – looking back from near the bealach with Quinag in the background
Finally on the ridge the gradient eased, phew
How to build a wall, eh Donald Trump
It was an easy walk to the summit where the views were just awesome
The classic Suilven shot
Summit cairn
It was an incredible evening – despite the late start we had plenty of evening left
We got the tents up and I brewed up some water while Malcy went for a wander to the cliffs….by the time he returned I’d managed to pour boiling water down my leg
Dinner done we explored the summit a bit more – fortunately it was a bit more windy up top which kept the beasties away
It was another amazing evening and we sat out enjoying it until this happened and put an end to the lightshow
It got a wee bit windy overnight so didn’t have the best sleep (trying to sleep on a slope didn’t help either ) and sunrise wasn’t good, but by the time I got up it had cleared and had turned into a lovely morning
It was lovely but a bit chilly so I invented the sleeping-bag-cloak and we spent hours just taking in the views and chatting away about….whatever
Lochinver
It was after midday by the time we actually got going, and we spotted a few good camp spots on the ridge on the way down – good incase of windier conditions
It’s an awesome hill
We met people coming up the steep section as we slipped and slid our way down it….we were glad to be down it
Back on good paths we were able to put down some miles again….
We stopped off in Suileag bothy so Malcy could bag it (I’d been there before
) before finally making our way back towards Glencanisp
Malcy didn’t need much persuading to go for pie in the Lochinver Larder, and then to find a cracking campspot above Achmelvich where we enjoyed a very chilled out evening looking at about a million different possible routes and daft plans
Part 3 - Walking on Sunshine
Tuesday 3rd July 2018 – Cul Mor
13.37km
793m ascent
4 hours 45 mins
I woke up after a very relaxed nights sleep. I was in no hurry to get moving so had a chilled breakfast and sat around enjoying the sun.
It was already an incredibly hot day
Eventually I got my stuff together and headed up the road – An Teallach was looking awesome
I stopped off in Ullapool for supplies….
If only everything were so black and white
….before continuing North and parking up at Knockan and looking up at my target
I headed up the path towards Cul Mor. It was insanely hot and I was finding it hard work with the big pack. Although it looked like an easy walk, it was feeling anything but…
Once on the top of Meallan Diomhain I took off towards the ridge which gave me some awesome views
The way ahead….it looks steep
As I climbed higher I could see over to the other side of Coire Gorm
The last steep section was hard work with the heavy pack but at last there I was – on the summit of Cul Mor. And it was awesome
I dropped just off the summit and found me the perfect camp spot
Zoomed to An Teallach
There were some perfect rocks for sitting so I set myself up with dinner, hot chocolate, a book and most importantly, my camera
It was absolute magic sitting out there
It was so warm and still that I was lying out there until about 9.30 before I started needing to put clothes back on The sun finally began its descent
The sun disappeared leaving an amazing pink sky
It felt really special witnessing such an amazing night in such a awesome part of Scotland
I finally crawled into bed when I realised it wasn’t going to get any darker The next morning I got up for sunrise and it didn’t disappoint
Then I went back to sleep, because it was stupidly early
When I woke up several hours later, the sun was properly up and the mountain was baking in the summer heat again After chilling out for a bit I was running out of water so needed to head down. I made my way towards the other summit – Creag nan Calman
From there I carried on down the ridge, skirted around Meallan Diomhain and met up with the outward path. I met quite a lot of folk on their way up who thought I was a bit nuts
Arriving back at Knockan it was Clegg-maggeddon so I did a lot of dancing around trying to get away from the bastards
Before having a wee wash and heading around to Lochinver.Wednesday 4th July 2018 – Suilven
23.58km
993m ascent
6 hours 40 mins
Malcy_c and I had been trying to meet up for a walk for a while but time off, weather and injuries always seemed to have got in the way. However he was able to sneak out on Wednesday evening so we met up at the Glencanisp Lodge parking area at 5.30 and set off down the path.
Soon Suilven came into view and it was looking awesome
Canisp
I’d forgotten about the steep bits on the track – you see track and assume it’s going to be flat
However, good progress was made along the track; we turned along the new path just before Loch na Gainimh and although this was now more uphill it was still easy going.Final water stop
The path goes up there apparently
We reached where the path people had got to – some wee boggy sections before we hit the steep bit but nothing was very wet here anyway.
Starting up the steep section we were sweating a lot as it was incredibly muggy and we were fighting off the clegs as it was sheltered
It was tough work with the heavy packs – looking back from near the bealach with Quinag in the background
Finally on the ridge the gradient eased, phew
How to build a wall, eh Donald Trump
It was an easy walk to the summit where the views were just awesome
The classic Suilven shot
Summit cairn
It was an incredible evening – despite the late start we had plenty of evening left
We got the tents up and I brewed up some water while Malcy went for a wander to the cliffs….by the time he returned I’d managed to pour boiling water down my leg
Dinner done we explored the summit a bit more – fortunately it was a bit more windy up top which kept the beasties away
It was another amazing evening and we sat out enjoying it until this happened and put an end to the lightshow
It got a wee bit windy overnight so didn’t have the best sleep (trying to sleep on a slope didn’t help either
) and sunrise wasn’t good, but by the time I got up it had cleared and had turned into a lovely morning It was lovely but a bit chilly so I invented the sleeping-bag-cloak and we spent hours just taking in the views and chatting away about….whatever
Lochinver
It was after midday by the time we actually got going, and we spotted a few good camp spots on the ridge on the way down – good incase of windier conditions
It’s an awesome hill
We met people coming up the steep section as we slipped and slid our way down it….we were glad to be down it
Back on good paths we were able to put down some miles again….
We stopped off in Suileag bothy so Malcy could bag it (I’d been there before
) before finally making our way back towards GlencanispMalcy didn’t need much persuading to go for pie in the Lochinver Larder, and then to find a cracking campspot above Achmelvich where we enjoyed a very chilled out evening looking at about a million different possible routes and daft plans
Part 3 - Walking on Sunshine
