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Yes, Thelma and Louise strike again. Too busy chattering in the car, my left turn at ‘Altnaharra’ turned out to be nineteen miles too early......
We’d decided to leave earlier than originally planned and do Ben Hope on our way to the WH Spring gathering in Durness as it was a cracking day and the forecast for the rest of the weekend was pretty dire. Elaine had the day off anyway and I put my out of office on.....
We left Inverness, drove over the Struy, through Lairg and when I saw a sign for the Altnaharra Inn and the brown signs for Durness, in my excitement, turned left. On we drove oooing and aaaing at the fabulous scenery – we spotted ‘Ben Hope’ below and thought och, we’ve made great time! We’re new to this, okay!
- The wrong Ben Hope? !
After a wee while, we realised SOMETHING. WASN'T. QUITE. RIGHT! The geography was all wrong and Ben Hope wasn’t where we expected it to be. We stopped to ask a local chap, who tried his hardest not to roll his eyes
when we politely enquired where the feck Ben Hope was. “40 odd miles back that way” he said. She who is never wrong queried this – I mean, he only lives there – what did he know? I had consulted a map! But he seemed quite adamant that Ben Hope was NOT in the near vicinity. We were advised to go back the way we came or head to Durness and down the top way. As it was six and half a dozen either way....sob....we chose the latter. I could see Elaine’s hands gripping the sides of the car seat in a supreme effort not to wrap them round my neck.
So, four hours after setting off from Inverness, we eventually rocked up at the very busy Ben Hope car park. It was two-thirty in the afternoon and we’d spent the best of a beautiful sunny day in the car.
Shorts, t-shirts and boots on, off we set. I found the first section really hard going. Just back from a week’s skiing, the warm day and four hours sitting in a car, meant my legs were as heavy as lead.
We followed the path up the right hand side of the waterfall and the little pools here and there looked really inviting. I could’ve dived right in! The path was dry, but quite bouldery and I had to heave myself up a few of the larger ‘steps’. The WH guide said it was steep, and it wasn’t exaggerating! I had to stop frequently to take a drink, using the breather to look back and enjoy the views that opened up as we gained height.
It was a pretty relentless uphill struggle for me and I’d emptied my water bottle in record time and had to refill it once we met another little waterfall. We eventually reached the flat ridge where I decided to have a well deserved lie down!
- Nearly at a flat bit!!
From then on it wasn’t too bad. I got a second wind and started to enjoy the walk along the ridge which was pretty grassy with snow patches here and there and then boulders. We met some fellow WH members on their way down (Barry, Colleen, Evie and another chap – and I was very jealous of them). I started hallucinating about bottles of cold beer...........in the distance I caught sight of a cairn and my heart lifted, but only for a nano-second as I realised it was only a path marker. Much sighing. After another couple of ‘false hopes’ (get it?!) the trig point appeared and we broke into a sprint – aye right! Our minds sprinted towards it. Our legs plodded to it.
- Made it!
- The lovely Elaine....still smiling
- A well deserved dram!
After a swig from my hip flask, tea, sandwiches and a mars bar I felt like a new woman. It had taken us over two hours to get to the summit! It had got a bit hazy – it was four thirty – and my silly mistake in turning too early off the A836 had cost us the best of the day. After a while, a wee breeze kicked up and we donned our bunnets and fleece, but apart from that, we couldn’t believe how warm it was at the summit. We sat for a good long while, enjoying the stillness, the silence (Elaine still wasn’t speaking to me) and of course, the magnificent views all around.
- View to the North
We enjoyed the descent, until the last section by which point our legs had given up the ghost, but it’s amazing what the thought of a beer can do to restore your legs enough to be able to push the clutch in and off we set for Durness and alcohol. Lots of alcohol!
A footnote - I’ve decided that hillwalking is similar to childbirth. It’s hell at the time, but immensely rewarding when it’s over!!!