- Tents with a view down Loch Sligachan
- Glen Sligachan and Marsco
Day 1 on the Wednesday was to be Bruach na Frithe. This was still very early on in my Munroing days, the tally sitting at 5. And they were (by Cuillin standards, indeed by any standards) fairly rounded and benign Munros at that – Schiehallion, Ben More (Mull), Ben Chonzie, Mayar and Driesh. Skyepilot2 reckoned that Bruach na Frithe would be a decent introduction to the Cuillin Ridge. Sgurr nan Eag had been suggested for Day 2 on the Thursday and the Friday, well, we’d see how it went before heading back down the road to Perth.
We got the tents set up and headed for the Slig to partake of their excellent range of fine malts and ales. And when they called time, we retired to the tents which we had made sure were also well equipped with the basic essentials.
- Well stocked tents!
We made a leisurely start in the morning, heading up behind the hotel on the A863 and soon striking off across the moor towards Alltdearg House and alongside the Allt Dearg Mor, passing a series of cascading waterfalls before bearing south into Fionn Choire.
It was one of those weird on-off days as far as temperature was concerned – too hot (especially whilst on the move) for multiple layers but any time you took a layer off, it had to swiftly go back on again. Towards the upper end of Fionn Coire, we met a bloke coming down the way. He said he had spent most of the past week on the Cuillin and for most of the time the weather had been so grim that he’d seen sweet hee-haw! From the look of it, he had not fared a great deal better today.
It is quite a sweaty toil up through the bowl of the corrie which progressively becomes steeper and more scree covered as we approach the Bealach na Lice. The mist is really swirling and seems to be permeating our very bodies and the rocks around us. In these conditions, there are a few scary moments where it simply feels like you’ve reached the end of the world, and you kind of think of way back in time, before the earth was known to be round and people thought there came a point where you reached the end of it and could fall off into oblivion!
- Myself and Mackie at the Bealach na Lice
- Skyepilot and Mackie
- Standing on the brink by Sgurr a Fionn Choire
After a bit of careful navigational work, we pick our way gingerly along the base of Sgurr a Fionn Choire before the final climb along the ridge to the trig point at the summit of Bruach na Frithe.
- Nearing the summit
- Skyepilot crosses the line!
There still isn’t much in the way of a view but as we take some pics and enjoy a bite to eat the sun starts to break through and the splendour of the ridge and the sea beyond is slowly revealed.
- Myself and Mackie at trig point
- Look guys, the sun's coming out!
- South-west along the ridge
- From summit looking down northwest ridge
- Elgol peninsula and Sleat beyond
We descend by scrambling high along the northwest ridge in increasingly clear conditions before popping back out into the lower reaches of Fionn Choire and traversing across some rough ground to pick up the path leading us back to a well deserved reunion with the bar staff in the Slig!
- Scrambling the ridge
- Posy shot
- Skyepilot at the edge of the world
- A seat with a view
- Steep descent
- North to Portree and the Storr (zoomed)
- Sgurr nan Gillean and Am Basteir from Alltdearg House on the descent
As it turned out, the following day was absolutely foul weather, including torrential rain, which limited us to a low level circuit from Elgol along Loch Scavaig to Camasunary before heading east over the track to Kilmarie and returning back along the road to Elgol. By the day after that, which offered only a slight improvement in weather conditions, we decided we were washed out and decided the best course of action was a swift return home to Perth and the comfort and warmth of our own homes.
