Even an overcast day in Assynt is fabulous!

[Jaxter]

Following our Cul Beag summit camp we decided that some hot beverages were in order. This very quickly turned into lunch at the Elphin Tearooms and after we’d moved onto sampling their delicious cakes too…well it wasn’t a very early start

We drove a few miles up the Kylesku road and parked up in a layby just over the high point. We were looking up at the backside of Glas Bheinn – a possible route up for those looking for a quick bag but we reckoned the more interesting side of the hill was further around.


We set off down the path – it was a bit boggy in places but not too bad to start with. More worryingly it seemed to be dropping downwards towards Loch na Gainmhich rather than upwards


As we dropped further the path became more and more boggy and as soon as we reached the loch we dropped down and walked along the beach where we could. Despite being a bit grey and overcast there were some lovely reflections of Quinag in the loch


A river crossing?! No-one told me about this


There were several possible ridges to head up but we reckoned we might as well make use of the path while we had it


At the end of the loch we met up with the other path – we had decided not to go that way because Malky reckoned there could be an awkward burn crossing at the outflow of the loch. We turned right here and headed steeply uphill


It was worth the effort though – looking back to Quinag was pretty awesome


Looking out to sea – the weather looked clearer on the coast


The higher we climbed the better Quinag looked


We reached Loch Bealach a’ Bhuirich and left the path, heading for the ridge


Once on the ridge it made for relatively easy walking, except for the bit where we had to scramble up a big cliff And the views were just grand


Views out to Foinaven and Arkle


Klibreck in the distance behind Beinn Leoid


Now the views had opened out a bit it made the ascent much more enjoyable


Towards the top of the ridge we could see Ben More Assynt start to poke out – I’d not realised quite how far around the hill we had come But this was a good recce for a walk we had both had ideas of – to walk the ridge from Conival to here


Finally we reached the plateau and it was a short hop across some crappy rocky terrain to reach the summit of Glas Bheinn.


Ben More Assynt and Conival


Canisp and Suilven


Fortunately Malky had brought food as we were both starving despite our soup and toasties But it was definitely chilly – we cracked on around the top of Coire Gorm making for the path which would lead us to the waterfall


Beinn Leoid and Eas an t-Srutha Ghil


Inchnadamph


Ben More Assynt and Conival


We soon realised that if we went out to look at the waterfalls we would be finishing in the dark, in fact probably not getting to the waterfall itself much before dark So we decided to head down into Coire Gorm and make it a shorter circuit


Beinn Leoid and Beinn Griam More & Beag on the skyline


Looking back up to the rim of the corrie


Lochan a’ Choire Ghuirm


The ground through here wasn’t too bad at all and before long we were across the corrie, looking back – impressive!


Waterfall from afar – the one we would have been searching for (Eas a’ Chual Aluinn) probably wouldn’t have been so spectacular standing at the top of it anyway


A wee bit of hopping over lumps and bumps and we were back on the outward path. Malky was really happy about this!


As we started to drop we could see Quinag again


We really couldn’t be bothered with the extra ascent so braved the river crossing – turns out there are stepping stones so there was no problem anyway!


We also got some cool views down the gorge




Looking back to Glas Bheinn


From here it was a short hop across a few peat hags and an easy stroll back up the road to the car past some road signs with a sense of humour


We could see some interesting happenings in the sky so jumped in the car to see if we could get anywhere to enjoy the sunset




Amazing red light bouncing off Quinag


The sun disappearing into a bank of cloud (which is where it stayed!)




There was some great bouncy light though




We got the tent pitched in one of our favourite spots above the cliffs and settled down for some dinner and a relaxing evening


Next day adventure

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