Skye Graham, Quads muscle work out!

[The Rodmiester]

The weather forecast for the WH Summer meet was horrific with gale force winds and torrential rain coming in overnight so a wee Graham from Broadford seem to fit the bill with maybe another and a ridge down to complete a circular walk. By all accounts the view were to be stunning if only the clouds would stay high enough for long enough. I realised that I had not packed any rice for my currie on the Saturday night and neither had I any pasta to go with my pasta sauce so a visit to the Co-op in Broadford was required before setting off. The road to the base of the hill is marked with a sign to 'To Corrie' at grid ref 628245 with parking space for a couple of cars at the bottom of the road.

Beinn na Caillich from the parking area. Head on up the East shoulder, I kept to the right of the burn as there were cattle grazing further West and crossed the burn where a stone dyke comes up to the burn at that point there is an indistinct path until you come to the boulderfield and from then on it's rock hopping all the way to the top

Sign at the end of the road

Looking back towards the start

Quite a steep gradient all the way to the summit, unrelenting is a word best to describe it

View over Broadford Bay

Loose and large stones the majority of the way up following the best line you can. I kept the overhanging crag to the right of my ascent route

Summit cairn reached inside 1.5hrs, I wonder who Big girl is? now nine years olderby now. Word has it that a Norwegian Princess is buried below the huge cairn so she could look over the sea to the land of her birth. By now any hope of good photographs was gone as the wind was blowing in the cloud from the SW

View of the huge cairn from the trig point not far away. I stayed at the summit for a while hoping it would clear but in the end decided to get off the hill and head for the campsite to get the tent erected in the dry before the weather closed in

Getting back to the car, I looked back and the summit was shrouded in cloud so I made the right decision, but I will head on back to do the whole circuit another day.

Campsite with tent pitched looking towards Marsco and the Red Cuillin

The River Sligachan which was about to nearly double in width the following day

Lorry crossing over the bridge at Sliachan on Saturday

Camping at it's best?

Water coming off Ben Lee

A slightly enlarged river Sligachan!

A wee glimmer of light at the end of the day. Well done all fellow campers who stuck it out over the weekend, certainly the worst weather I've camped in. When I was in the tent I was reading a book 'Isles at the edge of the sea' by Jonny Muir a story of an Island hopping adventure and the third chapter on Bute is all about camping in a tent and the worries he had re tent being blown away in a storm, made me feel really good, not! Now a final word I've been on the hills a lot this year but not in the last few weeks leading up to this weekend, but since I've been home the Quads have stiffened up, quite a bit, the only reason for this is I can put down to is the continual rockhopping, so be warned, although just a wee Graham, it's quite a toughie! I was supposed to have stayed for a few days and pick up more blue balloons but had had enough with the the next two days forecast being rain, so I headed home and found a cracking wee stop off cafe at Roybridge called the Cup n Cake Cafe, great food and lovely coffee and served with a smile, highly recommended.

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[rockhopper]

Nice one - looks like you made the best of it by getting out before the weekend - looks extremely wild on the Saturday ! Hope the quads improve - maybe some light stretching exercises ? - cheers

[malky_c]

I wasn't really paying attention to the weather out west - this explains why there wasn't the usual pile of reports appearing after a meet! I've had a couple of days in Sligachan like that before - have usually ended up touring the pubs of the island.

Not surprised you're sore - those boulders on Bein na Caillich are murder on the way down

[PeteR]

Nice one Rodmeister And nice to meet you at the weekend Glad to see someone else managed to get out and do a walk as part of this WH meet Shame you didn't get the views from the top though

Just one criticism......your pictures of the weather on Saturday really don't do it justice. It was far, far worse than that

[BlackPanther]

It's been 3 years since I carried my bum up this Graham and I can still remember the steepness of the slope... On the way up we passed another couple of walkers who only climbed half way up before turning back - they gave up, said it was too tough for them
Just to tease you a bit - this is what you missed...

[The Rodmiester]

Nice one - looks like you made the best of it by getting out before the weekend - looks extremely wild on the Saturday ! Hope the quads improve - maybe some light stretching exercises ? - cheers

Hi rockhopper, bit of a shock to be suffering with tight quads after all the times I've been out, I thought my muscles would have been well toned, but I guess the wee bit extra stretching takes it's toll, getting on in years now Off to milehouse this coming weekend, maybe do some Cairngorms

[The Rodmiester]

I wasn't really paying attention to the weather out west - this explains why there wasn't the usual pile of reports appearing after a meet! I've had a couple of days in Sligachan like that before - have usually ended up touring the pubs of the island.

Not surprised you're sore - those boulders on Bein na Caillich are murder on the way down

Hi malky, it was a bit of a knee jerker going down, and hard on the up as well and only a Graham as well! Are all the Red Cuillin the same? Iv'e only done Glamaig and that was hard going both up and down, hard to imagine there is an annual hill race, sounds like 'broken leg time' to me!

[The Rodmiester]

Nice one Rodmeister And nice to meet you at the weekend Glad to see someone else managed to get out and do a walk as part of this WH meet Shame you didn't get the views from the top though

Just one criticism......your pictures of the weather on Saturday really don't do it justice. It was far, far worse than that

Hi Pete, and it was nice to meet you as well! Brilliant to hear you made Bla Bheinn on Sunday When's your next camp?

[The Rodmiester]

It's been 3 years since I carried my bum up this Graham and I can still remember the steepness of the slope... On the way up we passed another couple of walkers who only climbed half way up before turning back - they gave up, said it was too tough for them
Just to tease you a bit - this is what you missed...

Hi there BP, thank's for showing me what I missed, the reports I read said the summit ridge between the two Grahams was really nice so dissapointed I did not get that done but will save for a clear day where I can enjoy those views. When are you going to join the group on a WH meet, this was my first and certainly won't be my last, roll on the next one

[malky_c]

Hi malky, it was a bit of a knee jerker going down, and hard on the up as well and only a Graham as well! Are all the Red Cuillin the same?

Yes and no - they all seemed to have a different character and underfoot conditions, but they were all really steep! I thought Marsco was the easiest going - quite short grass and the rocks higher up are actually attached to something.

I think the side of Beinn na Caillich you went up and down was probably the toughest I've done in the Red Cuillin. Apparently the descent off the other Graham in the pair (Beinn Dearg Mor?) is equally nasty if you are doing a circuit from Corrie. I avoided it by going up from Torrin.

[trekker53]

Rodmiester,
One Graham is better than none. Now you know the area you can go back and complete the round in more favourable conditions. Hope your muscles recover ok. Maybe it was just a bad day.
Good meeting you at the quiz.

[The Rodmiester]

Rodmiester,
One Graham is better than none. Now you know the area you can go back and complete the round in more favourable conditions. Hope your muscles recover ok. Maybe it was just a bad day.
Good meeting you at the quiz.

Hi trekker, it was nice meeting you also, and yes I'm deffinately going back when I can do the complete ridge, and as you say in more favourable conditions. And yes Skye was a wee bit more than just the 'Misty Isle' last weekend

[The Rodmiester]

Hi malky, it was a bit of a knee jerker going down, and hard on the up as well and only a Graham as well! Are all the Red Cuillin the same?

Yes and no - they all seemed to have a different character and underfoot conditions, but they were all really steep! I thought Marsco was the easiest going - quite short grass and the rocks higher up are actually attached to something.

I think the side of Beinn na Caillich you went up and down was probably the toughest I've done in the Red Cuillin. Apparently the descent off the other Graham in the pair (Beinn Dearg Mor?) is equally nasty if you are doing a circuit from Corrie. I avoided it by going up from Torrin.

Thank's for all that info malky! Marsco was what I had intended to do on the Saturday along with the wee 2000er to the South, but stayed at base instead, keeping an eye on the tent and the flooded campsite

[jmarkb]

When you go back for the full round, I'd recommend heading round to the NE ridge which is a lot more stable!

[The Rodmiester]

When you go back for the full round, I'd recommend heading round to the NE ridge which is a lot more stable!

Thanks for that jmarkb , I might just do that, would make a change as well, funny you should say that but I met a couple of French guys coming down when I was going up and they had done just that.