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Arranged to meet up with my old mate Andy and his employee Richie for this twin munro swoop. It was a Tuesday so Richie wasn't complaining getting a day away from the building blocks, however Andy did tell him near the summit he's be working Saturday. Being from New Zealand Richie took it in his stride much like the walk in general, kitted out in caterpillar boots and a works jacket!
0900hrs and we met in the car park and got after it along the road and skirting the River Traligill. Andy had been as far as the caves previously but had turned back due to weather, I had good intentions of having a look on the descent.
Andy's dog Isis was on the team for this one. This 4 year old Rottweiller was sniffing out the trail ahead, either that or the scent of fear from the walker ahead. Behind her you can see the low level cloud surrounding the peaks that prohibited our views for the day, it was to get worse.
As we swung north east and the gradient increased we saw some nice wee waterfalls.
Isis was now conserving energy at every opportunity, as instructed by Andy!
Up ahead we could see what looked like a descent scramble onto the ridge between Beinn An Fhurain and Conival and wondered if we might have to offer Isis some assistance up, but as often as is the case it wasn't as bad when we got there.
We gathered our thoughts when on the ridge and our mascot got a drink.
So around a kilometre of rough ascent to the summit of Conival and there is a path of sorts which takes the edge slighty off the hard going rocky terrain. Looking back down en route up.
Curling round below us at the start point was Loch Assynt.
We were soon engulfed in the low cloud.
Approaching the summit it was a bit easier going with a defined path.
Care was taken with the western crags and poor visibility.
Three hours of slog and we hit the summit of Conival with its wind shelter. We had a sandwich and checked the dogs paws as we saw blood on a rock. Her feet were a bit raw (worth thinking about if taking a dog with the rocky surface).
Not much to be seen so onwards along the ridge to Ben More Assynt.
Not the kind of image you want when coming through the clouds lol. What a lovely dog she is though, really..
Another hour of hard going walking and we were on Ben More Assynt where we had lunch. I've seen bigger piles of dog mess than this cairn.
On the way back down we could sense the type of day it would end up, beautiful! Typical! When you get down off the hill and all that jazz. Unfortunately the blanket of cloud hung around until around 1700hrs.
Our feet were a bit tender on the way back along the river so we took a rain check on the caves.
Like I said, around 1700hrs and the sun was beating down on the Inchnadamph Hotel and surrounding hills.
We sat in the car park and admired the views before the lads and Isis went off back down the road.
My intention was to do Canisp in the morning after a night in the hotel but the cider put paid to that! Stac Pollaidh was much more achievable!