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It didn’t look that promising when I peered out of the van: low cloud - all a bit dismal really. “I’ll just have another 5 minutes” I thought. When I woke up again 2 hours later
the cloud hadn’t lifted much but I still had hopes of doing both Ben Hope and Ben Klibreck. Passing through Altnaharra my plans were dealt a bit of a blow when a sign indicated that the minor road to Hope was closed at Strathmore Lodge. Unfortunately I hadn’t got the OS map of the area so I wasn’t sure how near I could get from the south. I had made a last minute decision to do Ben Hope and had just printed out the route map from Walkhighlands!
It is after all a fairly straightforward route. So I felt there was nothing for it but to drive all the way up to Tongue and then down from Hope to the start of the walk. This seemed to take forever (I love single track A roads!) but the bonus was that by the time I arrived at Ben Hope the cloud had lifted and it was another glorious day. Any chance of doing Ben Klibreck as well had vanished though.
A large sign indicates The Way Up.
- The Way Up
It is pretty boggy but there is compensation in the form of lovely waterfalls
- Waterfalls
beside the “path” and views down the strath.
- Strathmore
Once on the broad ridge it was a straightforward walk to the trig point over grass and boulders with small patches of snow.
- On the ridge
A couple of ptarmigan croaked at me as I went past. As I sat eating my lunch clouds blew in and the temperature dropped but not before I had had chance to admire the views of the nearby hills
- View from the summit
and out to sea.
- Hazy view towards Tongue
I could even see Ben Klibreck
- Ben Klibreck
but that was as close as I was going to get that day. Hurrying down to keep warm I quickly dropped out of the clouds and it wasn’t long before I was back at the car. I enjoyed the drive back much more as there was no pressure of time. The scenery up there is superb and I am looking forward to getting back to explore it further.
- Ben Loyal
Much better to take your time and enjoy the day rather than turning into an obsessive, time-driven Munro bagger.