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Vlog :
Suilven, maybe Scotlands most iconic mountain, small in size but a giant in stature! Our plan was to have an adventurous trip by kayaking in from Elphin , camping under the mountain and then a morning assault for the summit before kayaking out.
Having a plans B (also C’s and D’s) is always worthwhile, especially if you are traveling a fair distance! Having driven for over 4 hours we arrived in Elphin with a stringer than forecast wind blowing in from the north west and thus right down the length of Loch Veyatie! Large waves and white horse were washing up on the south eastern shore and thus disappointingly , plan B came into play.
The last time I was on Convial and Ben More Assynt, it was a humid , clammy still day and I remember climbing up Conival and struggling with the heat and lack of wind (seems hard to believe!!). When we reached the summit we could see that beyond Ben More Assynt there were very dark big threatening clouds! However they were not moving as the wind was absent so we headed along the rocky ridge towards the second Munro of the day. As we reached the summit the big black cloud decided to unleash its fury on us a thunder clapped and white lightening flashed across the skies above us! We were not in the best place on the summit and to compound this the way back was along a long high ridge – again not the place to be. Anyway we made it down safely.
Back to today and the conditions couldn’t have been more different. With the wind that had scuppered our Suilven plans, a weather front had now decided to join the party! Heavy rain came down and waterproofs were on from the start! The 5km walk in was relativelt sheltered from the wind and wasn’t too bad but as we started heading up Convial the winds was ferocious. To add ti the weather misery, I had decided to break in a new pair of 3-4 season boots bought for this years Alps trip! They were good but on the ascent I decided I needed to tighten them to reduce heel rub and ended up tightening them far too much (ended up with a blister on the front of my ankle !- silly mistake). The weather, sore feet was compounded when I realised I had left my over trousers in the car!! So soaking trouser started to fill my new waterproof boots with water (again causing the boots to be a bit annoying!).
I wasn’t enjoying this!! Lol. Hunkering down in the summit of Conival we worked out we could make Ben More and get back before Dark so we headed on. If we thought the wind was bad here, the wind gusts on the summit of Ben More Assynt were worse. I was nearly knocked off my feet a few times! Reaching the summit we about turned and headed back the way we came and were back at the cars just before 10pm.
The adventure wasn’t over yet though as we sacked any plans to stay up for the weekend as the weather really had gone down hill! So at 2.30am (after much deer dodging ) I arrived home , knackered and glad to be home ! Mountain Misery to the full
some pictures of drive home!:
Assynt at dusk by
Scotland's Mountains, on Flickr
Assynt sunset by
Scotland's Mountains, on Flickr
