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"Can you pick Pat up from Skye on Saturday?"
"No problem."
"When are you leaving?"
"Wednesday evening."
"You're going walking aren't you?"
"Maybe."
That's how I found myself scrambling up the side of my first Graham, Beinn Dhorain in Sutherland, on a damp, cloudy, chilly Thursday morning in Glen Loth.
Living in one of Orkney's outer isles I get little chance to climb new hills so pretty much anything baggable is a treat (although not everything, more on that later). Plan A had involved the morning boat from Stromness to Scrabster and straight to Dunbeath to spend the day taking in Morvern and Maiden Pap. Sadly the weather was not playing ball. I dawdled over breakfast in Thurso, hoping the cloud and drizzle would clear, but eventually decided on something shorter and, hopefully, sweeter.
I headed to Helmsdale and then up the Strath of Kildonan, turning up towards Glen Loth by what's apparently one of the least used railway stations in the UK.
- Warning signs by Kildonan station
- Picturesque, but damp in Glen Loth
Driving up Glen Loth slowly and carefully I realised that even the SMC recommended circuit might not be much fun, so decided to take the shortest route to the top. By the time I reached the high point in the road I couldn't see more than 10 metres, so carried on a few hundred metres to a parking place near the large stalkers' stile/staircase.
- Cloudy Glen Loth from the parking place
As I headed along the road to the stile, the cloud started to lift and I could pick out several steep, but perfectly reasonable routes up the hill, moving diagonally right up past the crags.
- Up into the cloud
Clouds swirled in and out, occasionally allowing grand views down the Glen and across to the Strath of Kildonan, as I moved steadily up the steep slope, the ground proving to be a mixture of short heather, moss and grass - all of it very wet.
- View back down as the cloud cleared temporarily
- But mostly this was the view on the way up
- Few birds about, but plenty of caterpillars and this wee fella.
After about 45 minutes (a regular hill-walker would do it much quicker) the slope levelled out and I came to the first cairn and a round, sandstone shelter(?) that seems to have been made relatively recently (any ideas?). The cloud had broken up enough for occasional glimpses of the Sutherland landscape to the south (windmills mainly) and for a lengthy teabreak to be enjoyable.
- Cairns and shelter-type things on the way up to the top of Beinn Dhorain.
After that it was a simple stroll up to the summit of Beinn Dhorain where the weather started to clear and there were glimpses of blue sky even on the way over to Ben Uarie, but hopes of delightful views over to the west were wrecked as the rain swept in just as I reached the top.
- Summit of Beinn Dhorain with Ben Uarie in the distance.
- Blue sky for the first time on the way up Ben Uarie.
- It didn't last. Ben Uarie in the rain.
Beating a hasty retreat I sort of retraced my steps to the bealach before heading down towards the road. After such a wet spell the whole way down was absolutely sodden and I was more than grateful for gaiters and an extra layer of wax on my boots. I was left wondering if I shouldn't have headed off Ben Uarie east towards the high point of the road.
- The route down.
- Looking back at Ben Uarie
Once near the bottom, it was a case of following the deer fence until finding a section low enough to climb over (shorter folk might want to head all the way to the stile).
Two-and-a-half hours of great fun followed by a late lunch in Glen Loth as the sun finally came out - brilliant.
- Beautiful, lonely Glen Loth.
- Looking back down the glen to Beinn Dhorain
Meall Dola postscript
It's always a bit hard to admit a failure, but I'm making no excuses for baling out on sub-2000 Meall Dola. It was grim.
After climbing Beinn Dhorain, I ambled away from Glen Loth and headed towards where I was staying the night near Lairg. Having plenty of time, I thought Meall Dola would take maybe and hour-and-a-half. It probably should have.
- Promising start
I parked up near the end of the track in decent weather in pleasant countryside with plenty of long-distance views of grander (but probably more climbable) hills. I set off on the track marked on the OS map which was just fine for a while, getting more vague, but pretty simple to follow after a while, but after about a mile it started to get tricky, very wet, very boggy and with deep ruts filled with water and disguised by long grass.
- Track is ok so far.
- There's a track in there somewhere - and it's full of water
As Meall Dola itself came into view I spotted a huge pool of water covering where the track should have been a few hundred metres ahead. That's when I put my foot in a hole (full of water, of course) and went flying, ending up on my back with water seeping in to several places I'd have prefered it not to.
At this point I said a rude word.
Then I said several more.
And it started raining.
I gave up and headed back.
- That could be Meall Dola, but honestly I don't care any more.