The first of three (hopefully) blogs from Kintail this week...bring an end to my leave in the best possible way. I had arranged this week of walking a couple of months ago, possibly just after meeting up with Louise again in Skye. We had arranged to book into the Kintail lodge bunkhouse for two nights (Wednesday and Thursday) and planned to attempt the Sisters Ridge on Thursday and Forcan Ridge on Friday (weather permitting). This left me with a window of opportunity on Wednesday to Bag one of the remaining peaks to elude me in Kintail, thus far, Ciste Dubh. It seemed the perfect chance also to not have to get up too early in the morning as Louise wouldn't actually make it to Kintail until evening, meaning I could take a relaxing drive up in the morning and not start this walk until lunch-time (estimated time between 5-7 hrs). I then had the good fortune to hear from Chris Bain, via FB, a couple of days prior to departure. He was going to be in Inverness with the family all week and would love to join us for at least one of the walks. He agreed to meet me at the Cluanie Inn on Wednesday, initially at twelve, and do Ciste Dubh with me. Unfortunately I forgot to factor in the nightmare that is Aberdeen morning traffic to my departure time...then also the nightmare that is tourists clogging up the Loch Ness road at 30mph...meaning I was running late and never arrived until nearer quarter past twelve. Once at the Cluanie it was a short drive to the start point, in Chris's car and leaving mine at the Inn. That was until I realised that I had left my long sleeved baselayer on the front seat of my car and the printed off route map in the boot...cue a frantic drive back to the Inn to collect said items then return to the start point.
Once back at the start and ready to go we were joined by a lone walker, Fraser, who appeared knowledgeable of the names of the local Munro's but seemed unclear as to the start points of any of the routes, or to be able to recognise any of the Munro's he was rattling off. Not wanting to be rude we invited him to join us on our route, which he gratefully accepted. We set off along the A87 to a break in the fence by a locked gate, then preceded to head off uphill...steeply!!
The path follows an old stalkers path (apt really) through two sections of forestry, at a steep trajectory for almost two kilometres, finally levelling out at 734m. By this stage we had already lost our new companion...he had been informed that we hadn't met up in a couple of months so had a lot of catching up to do and would probably take our time as we chatted. When we pulled onto the level ground we could see him ahead of us, climbing the next rise. The views from here were already pretty stunning, yet another thing that would slow us down on the ascent, and a multitude of pictures were taken. The views to A'Chralaig and onto the Brothers ridge were especially stunning. Ciste Dubh nestles neatly between these other Munro's and provides a perfect location for some wonderful pictorial opportunities. The path dipped down slightly, then climbed gracefully, before reaching the heights of Am Bathach at 798m (a Corbett).
A small cairn graced the summit, but all eyes were on the ridge ahead, pointy and slightly moody looking, as it serrated its way out to Ciste Dubh. The descent to the bealach is on a fine wide grassy slope. The bealach is hagged with peat and looked quite boggy from here, though there would undoubtably be a path snaking through it to hopefully avoid wet boots. We could still see Fraser moving in front of us, through the rocks on the bealach now, but he would soon be gone from sight as we lost height.
We arrived at the bealach and set about finding a sheltered area to stop out of the increasing wind for lunch. There was no sign of Fraser ahead. When we stopped looking for him on the Ciste Dubh slopes and turned to face the brothers ridge we spotted him higher up on a grassy broad shoulder...he had turned the wrong way at the bealach!!! We attempted a few shouts at him but had no chance of being heard in this wind...even at that...if I were that far up a Munro I wouldn't be for turning back to walk with two guys that were as busy putting the world to rights as we were today.
We gave up shouting to Fraser and instead watched him climb ever higher away from us as we sat in the lee of a rock and consumed our lunch. Then it was time to head up the slopes ahead of us...through a small section of bog then onto a faint grassy path as it wound it's way up towards a craggy section of ground. We continued gaining height quite quickly as the path zig zagged up through some rough ground to again level out and let us see the route ahead.
The wind was increasing in volume with each passing minute it seemed and we were being buffeted about quite violently at times. The path started to narrow out and gave the remainder of the walk a real ridge like feel to it, especially so as the wind seemed to choose to hit us most at the narrowest sections (or was that just how it felt??). We approached the next steep rise, a prominent and impressive peak, known as An Cnapach, with a choice of paths. One was rising faintly up An Cnapach and presumably down the other side...then there was the one winding around it and out of the wind. This was the one we chose to follow as it stayed away from any sharp drops which could be incurred by sudden gusts. Once beyond An Cnapach the route drops slightly to a point then rises sharply towards the serrated ridge of Ciste Dubh.
We climbed slowly and carefully at this point, the wind was exceptionally strong as we headed up towards the summit, I even had to lean forward on more than one occasion to steady myself after being battered by a gust!! The path narrowed the higher it got until arriving at a rather exposed cairn on the summit at 979m...a rather precarious place to venture out if your only 2cm tall and weigh the best part of sod all...but Jelly McBaby is made of stern stuff (I hope Bassett don't take offence to that).
The views from the exposed summit were no less spectacular than any others in Kintail...A'Chralaig...Mullach Fraoch-Choire to our right...the Brothers and Sisters ridges to our left...The south glen shiel ridge beyond them and in all probability the Saddle and Sgurr na Signe (Friday's target) at the end of that...Glen Affric, with a multitude of peaks I had never ventured near, directly in front of us. An all round panorama of beauty and ruggedness to behold. Then the reality of our present location as the wind built to a crescendo and tried to take us closer to the edge...good job I'm no light-weight!!!
We took a few pics...silly poses that we think look cool and macho for a hill top...then finished the last of our lunch before heading to what we thought would be an escape from the worst of the wind...how wrong could we possibly be!!!
As we started down the narrow slopes the wind appeared to build in ferocity...all bluster and plenty of substance it felt!! The remainder of the descent to the bealach felt like it was walking in a wind tunnel...especially when you turned to face directly into it...which we did as we really are just school boys at heart (trying to talk was a nightmare as even standing next to each other we struggled to hear what the other was saying). Hopefully it would ease as we got lower...it's the laws of physics don't you know??? Unfortunately physics don't really enter into Kintail walking and the wind never really abated at all...this meant there was no place worth stopping on the way down to admire the views back...nor to pee safely without fearing splash back!!!
We located the return path via the bealach, heading to our right and down towards the east side of An Caorainn Beag, and followed the path as it wound it's soggy way down through the mountain pass and back to the A87 below, coming out just short of the forestry area where we had left the car some five and a quarter hours earlier. All that remained now was a swift shandy at the Cluanie Inn before saying our goodbyes and heading in opposite directions (possibly until Friday if Chris can manage to come back down for the Forcan ridge)...him off to Inverness and me to the desolation that is Shiel Bridge (though at least with a semblance of an internet signal this time)...to meet Louise and plan our ascent of the Sisters ridge tomorrow...
We gave up shouting to Fraser and instead watched him climb ever higher away from us as we sat in the lee of a rock and consumed our lunch. Then it was time to head up the slopes ahead of us...through a small section of bog then onto a faint grassy path as it wound it's way up towards a craggy section of ground. We continued gaining height quite quickly as the path zig zagged up through some rough ground to again level out and let us see the route ahead.
We took a few pics...silly poses that we think look cool and macho for a hill top...then finished the last of our lunch before heading to what we thought would be an escape from the worst of the wind...how wrong could we possibly be!!!
PS
Baino's new hat...deserves at least a passing mention I thought...that is all.
I've driven along that road many a time heading north but, of course, not walked any of the munros. However, next time we go along there I will be able to knowledgably point out various summits and look for the starting points!!!Another good walk and fine narrative! The photos add extra depth to the report. Glad you decided to leave the physics alone; was never one of my favourite subjects:)
ReplyDeletePerhaps John should write to Bassetts with JMcB's photos and tell them of his exploits???
SusieThePensioner