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The forecast for the second of our 4 days in the Highlands was pretty dire, so we decided to go for a coast walk on the principle that this should at least afford us some kind of view. I have heard a lot about the splendour of the cliffs on the coast near Talisker, and the other two were up for this notwithstanding some misgivings on all our parts because of the high winds forecast; so this became the initial plan for the day. Other two?? Yes, Chris decided to have a cave day, and with the view across Loch Duich from the living room of the house we were staying in - "An Comaraich" in Inverinate - where better to have a cave day?!?
Crossing the Skye Bridge, and driving along the A87, it rapidly became apparent that the cloud base was much higher than had been forecast. All kinds of hopes began stirring in hill-starved breasts....
The final nail in the coast walk coffin came as we topped the high point on the A87 beyond Loch Ainort and started descending into Glean Torra-Mhichaig: there, on the left hand side of the road, the Glamaig Ridge was completely clear of cloud!!! 30 seconds of excited toing and froing later, we pulled into to a small layby, having - by instantaneous mutual consent - decided to walk the ridge.
My dicky ticker means I'm very slow on ascents, so the agreed plan was that Dr Frank and Jenko would attack the ridge by ascending straight up from the bridge to An Coileach, and then traverse the ridge walking south west to Sgurr Mhairi, while I'd take a more gentle ascent via the glen of the Allt Mor Doire Mhic-uin that leads up to Bealach na Sgairde, and meet them somewhere during their descent from Sgur Mhairi.
This is the full route that the other two took.
And this is a view up the glen I ascended, taken shortly after my start, showing Bealach na Sgairde centre pic, Sgurr Mhairi to the right of it, and Beinn Dearg Mhor to the left.
What Jenko and Dr Frank were facing - looks a tad dauntinger
.
Dr Frank and Jenko must have been drawing breath when they took this picture looking roughly south east, being well into the grinding climb at this point.
For me it was a slow and steady ascent, punctuated by the odd short sharp rain or hail shower; but eventually I got to the Bealach. 15 minutes or so before I got there I'd seen Dr Frank and Jenko descending from An Coileach, and as it didn't seem too far to Sgurr Mairi, I was expecting to meet them shortly not far above the bealach.
This was the view looking back down the glen I'd just ascended at the point where I saw the other two.
And Jenko must have taken this pic of Dr Frank, looking south west along the ridge towards Sgurr Mairi shortly after I saw them descending from An Coileach.
Jenko somewhere along the ridge, probably looking north east towards An Coileach.
Having reached the bealach, and expecting to meet the pair any minute, I started a very very slow ascent of Sgurr Mairi from the bealach. The wind was pretty hefty now, so the more frequent hail and rain showers had a greater effect on forward speed (at least that's my excuse
). Here's looking back down towards the bealach towards the end of one such shower on one of my many breaks, with Beinn Dearg Mhor in the background.
As time went on I became more and more concerned that I hadn't seen the boys again. Bad scenarios began playing through my mind - what if one of them sprained or broke an ankle? I wasn't sure they had all their back-up kit with them, because I'd started a little way up from the bridge so hadn't see whether they had their packs with them; and the number and duration of showers with cloud was increasing...
Fortunately, about 15 minutes later, I spotted a couple of figures emerging from the cloud and coming down the shoulder of the hill towards me. Big sigh of relief!
As seasoned hill walkers will have observed, the descent is usually somewhat more rapid than the ascent, and in fairly short order we were back at the car, and heading back to base at Inverinate, pausing only to take this pic of the ridge from the A87.
After a short pause for a shower, we moved on to the local establishment of cultural, historical and architectural distinction to reflect upon our luck with the weather whilst replenishing any loss of minerals.
