by dooterbang » Fri Sep 24, 2010 5:44 pm
Route description: Ben Hope
Date walked: 21/09/2010
Time taken: 16 hours
Distance: 39 km
Ascent: 2961m
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My mate Stevie and i set of Monday 1.30pm to attempt the 4 most Northenly Munros. Nice 5hr drive to the Altnaharra B&B, £20 a night plus 3 course dinner for a £10. Lovely welcoming couple that run it. We set of 7am on the 21st, arriving at Ben Hope 7.45am. It was raining lightly so we put on the waterproofs. The ascent starts immediately and follows a stream before reaching the wide boggy ridge which flattens out. From here it gets steeper again to the top. Cloud was between 600-800m so we had some views at the top, which was very windy. Descended same route and drove 1hr 15mins to start of Klibreck, Ben Hope had taken 3hrs.
Klibreck walk in took an hour over very wet boggy ground, another hour was spent reaching the ridge. From here on visibility was non existent and winds at 50mph, but i was loving it....when you wear the correct clothing it's great fun!. Reached the summit n 2hr 45mins, quick photo and headed back same way. We did cut down the west face of Klibreck which was steep and pathless. After going through the bog again we got to car, 4hr 45mins. Washed boots and gaiters in the river. Headed to Crask Inn, 10mins away, and had a drink. Back in car and headed for Inchnadamph, stopping on route at the Bridge of Oykel for dinner....a hotel for retired military fisherman, old boy!! Got to Inchnadamph before 9pm. £25 each for a private twin room, and there was a bath....bliss.
Woke at 7am, i was ready for 8am....mate Stevie woke at same time but wasn't ready for 9am, some messing about this guy does!! Inchnadamph was a great hostel with great facilities, although my boots hadn't dried yet!! It was on with walking shoes and gaiters. The rain was heavy and unrelenting on this walk. The path to bottom of ascent was really nice, the ascent was extremely boggy though!. 2hrs 45min we had reached summit of Conival, utterly soaked!. Amazingly at the summit the rain stopped and we got views for about 5mins, changed our baselayers, got some photos and had a bite to eat. It was another 45mins to reach summit of Ben More Assynt, we actually thought it wasn't the summit due to size of the cairn. After checking map over and walking 5 mins in a couple directions we were confident it was summit....remember we had no visibility!. We took it easy on way back, same route. When at the bottom of Conival the sun shone for 30mins and the midge was out in force, just what we needed....i was so hot i had the urge to take all my gear off, but then i may have been eaten alive!!. When back at hostel the heavens opened again!!.
We seriously deliberated driving to Ullapool to get digs then do Ben Wyvis on way home next day, but our gear was soaked and stinking....we decided to head home. It took 5hrs to drive home, arrived in Glasgow 11pm. We did stop at Bonar to eat, found a cracking little take away that did curries....chickpea for veggie boy here!!.
I had driven for 14hrs, we walked 24.25miles, ascended 2061m through horrendous weather....but we loved it. The isolation, remoteness, beauty, warmth of the few people we met (altnaharra has a population of 32 within a 6mile radius) made it all worthwhile....below is a video of our mini adventure, best viewed in 720p HD and in full screen.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELD27EWDxc&feature=channel[/youtube]