walkhighlands

First Munro - Girls On Tour

Route: Slioch, near Kinlochewe

Munros: Slioch

Date walked: 14/05/2017

Time taken: 7.2 hours

Distance: 20km

Ascent: 980m

We left the Incheril car park at 7:57am, early I know!
This was my friend Ella and I's first munro, so we wanted plenty of time to get it wrong before collecting our other friend from Garve that evening.
The walk along Kinlochewe River should have been easy but we stupidly went off track too early and ended up making work for ourselves and walked through thick bracken and walking over slippy rock, that Ella (hilariously) fell over on, a soggy start to the day! (She will hate me for telling you that)

We eventually re-joined the track along Loch Maree and began the steady ascent over the second wee bridge with a sharp right towards Gleann Bianasdail. The first incline is steep, uneven and unsatisfying. You want to do it faster but the terrain doesn't allow. The flat area before climbing Sgurr an Tuill Bain was a good rest before what was to be an steep windy climb.
I think we chose the unconventional anti-clockwise route up Sgurr an Tuill Bain then over to Slioch.
We only worked that out when we spoke to a man and his dog on his way up the route we were taking down, and the other 8 people we saw going up on our way down! HAHA
We did get a few "you must have been up early" as they were only on their way up at 13:00.

The summit was GORGEOUS and GLORIOUS sunshine. A lovely view over Loch Maree and the islands in the middle that my parents used to tell me was where witches lived.

Our walk down was briefly eased when I found a slippy mossy strip so, we sat down and slid for about 200 metres.
This moment felt like a distant memory when we got to a VERY steep decline with sandy unstable stones. It felt like it took a life time.
The same feeling was repeated at the descent down Gleann Bianasdail as the large boulders made it difficult to make ground, especially when the euphoric munro feeling has disappeared and all you want to do is sprint to the car park.

Great first munro! So great we did another 2 the next day!
(We got to Garve in time to pick up my other friend that evening if you were wondering)

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Comments: 1


Annabel Wilson


Activity: Walker
Mountain: Slioch
Place: Kinlochewe
Gear: Sunglasses
Munro rounds: 3

Munros: 4



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Statistics

2017

Trips: 1
Distance: 20 km
Ascent: 980m
Munros: 1


Joined: May 16, 2017
Last visited: May 31, 2017
Total posts: 1 | Search posts