Welcome to Sutherland, desolate, bleak and mostly flat with an occasional soaring peak to entice the hill walking fraternity. It is no secret that the best peaks in Sutherland are Corbett's and are by far the most climbed. It does however posses four peaks that soar higher than the rest and obtain that magical Munro status. One of these peaks is Ben Klibreck, which is probably more famous for being the closest peak to the Crask Inn than for being a Munro, which by default was to be our target for today. I say by default as we originally had grand plans for this weekend (a four Munro classic around Loch Mullardoch) which had to be scrapped when plans were being left too late in the week to prepare. It was also not helped by me being full of the cold for the past week and not wanting to let anyone down through a lack of fitness. In the end it turned out to be just myself and Fiona McKay that ventured out on the long lonely road to Sutherland...on a journey towards a peak that I had failed to reach on my last Munro sojourn this far north as a result of crashing my car back in February 2010. Even as I passed the Evanton turn off on the A9 northwards I could feel my senses tingling at the memory of that dark winter night...I swear I could even smell the battery acid in my nostrils as the memories came flooding back to me!! I avoided the turn off towards Evanton and kept on the A9 towards Tain, not wanting to tempt fate again, as I continue my one man boycott of the B9176 at every opportunity.
Given the remote location it meant an early start, as usual, but that is offset by the chances of returning home before dark given the lengthening days. I picked Fiona up at six and off we headed, with just a brief stop at Tesco in Inverness for supplies, on the long road to Vagastie bridge. We passed through Bonnar bridge and Lairg, both remote settlements in their own right, before the road narrowed to a single track for the final leg of our journey.
Vagastie bridge is exactly what it says...a bridge! It sits on the A836 a little over 2.5k north from the Crask Inn and is no different from any of the other bridges we crossed as we headed along that single track road. There is a small parking verge about 150m south of the bridge, with enough space for three cars, which was where we parked up and left the car. Our journey continued now on foot, the best way to bag a Munro I feel, and took us east across open moorland to the foot of Cnoc Sgriodain. There were no views of the Munro from here, just a faint outline of where it should be, as the cloud base was as low as I had feared it may be. The forecast was for improvement throughout the day but my worry now was that we had arrived too early to enjoy the benefits of that.
The path lead us through a small gate and on towards the ascending grass slope of Cnoc Sgriodain. The faint path heads around this rise but we were keeping on an ENE route to the summit cairns on this small plateau. The views began to improve as height was gained but still there lay the thick layer of cloud over the summit of Ben Klibreck ahead. Once we had reached the second summit cairn on Cnoc Sgriodain we began to traverse downwards and into peat bogs. Thankfully the weather has been moderately dry around these parts of late and passing through the peat bogs was less uncomfortable than it could have been. Care still had to be taken when crossing the wider bogs, especially around patches of sunken moss (more of that on the return route) as Fiona had found to her cost on her last Munro excursion (she had since purchased a new pair of gaiters). The distant hills were all far too difficult to make out today due to the haze but with the majority of the land being so flat it would be easy to identify each steep massif on a clear day.
Once across the peat bogs the faint track leads back uphill once more and presents a choice of routes. There is the opportunity to traverse to the summit of Creag an Lochain, which affords views down to Loch an Fhuarain, or alternatively follow the path that traverses around the western flanks of Creag an Lochain which provides decent views of Loch nan Eun. We took the second option on this occasion and discussed the possibility of alternating the route back to take in the summit of Creag an Lochain. A clear but boggy path cuts around the western flanks and as we slogged through it the weather appeared to be brightening. The cloud was on the rise and the slopes ahead were starting to clear...could we yet get lucky??
The land below us to the north was filled with a myriad of tiny lochans, all dazzling as the sun started hitting them, like tiny jewels on the landscape. The path beneath our feet started to rise once more as we approached the bealach leading to A'Choich. Pulling onto the bealach we elected to follow the ridge around and maintain height, rather than dropping down into more peat bogs and face an even steeper climb than was necessary at the end of it. Ahead lay a band of rocks that needed passing through but nothing too strenuous. Beyond these rocks the path could be easily followed as it zig-zagged up the slopes through grass and stones.
I had let Fiona set the early pace today and she did well considering it is only her fourth Munro, but on the steep inclines I led the way and pulled her along with me (slave driver was one of the nicer things I can print that she called me). An old trick when you cannot see the summit is to say "just a few more feet" or "just over this next rise" or on this occasion "you can stop in 50m" knowing full well that the summit was just 40m above us. We pulled onto the summit of Ben Klibreck at 12.15 a little over 2.5 hours since leaving the car. Fiona was very pleased with herself and would have been able to communicate that, were she able to breathe!! There is both a triangulation point and a small shelter at the 961m summit, which provided us with somewhere to sit and eat our sandwiches before heading back down. Jelly McBaby was out and about on the summit, as usual, and posing for the obligatory "selfie".
Another old trick on the Munro's is to say "let's start heading down and stopping further down out of the wind to get our sandwich" which we always say but never do...as was the case again here today. We set off down the slopes, following the same path, and simply reversed our outward route to return to the car. As we were returning on the path around Creag an Lochain I noticed that the cloud was starting to clear off Ben Klibreck behind us, so we waited for a few moments to see if we would get a view of the summit (if not one from the summit)?? Sure enough within a few minutes the cloud had lifted and there she was, the stony prominence that we had minutes previously traversed.
Happy with our days work we continued on towards Cnoc Sgriodain and began to cross the peat bogs once more. Taking the time to tell Fiona where best to stand I failed to pay attention to my own feet and splashed into one of those sucking green gloopy pools that can fill boots, gaiters, trousers with smelly liquid...but thankfully pulled my leg out before I went in too deep. My gaiters did their job!
We passed a couple of blokes on their way up to the summit as we came back down and knew that they were getting the best of the day, but we were more than satisfied with our efforts and achievements regardless of the lack of views from the summit.
The route was complete and we were back at the car in a little over 4.5 hours...very impressive timings. All that remained now was the long drive home once more and planning the next Munro outing.
227 down...55 remaining.
I will have to find a reason to return and enjoy a well deserved pint at the Crask Inn...
I'm disappointed you didn't have time to enjoy a pint :(
ReplyDeleteSutherland is such a wonderful place with its varied and interesting geomorphology. I enjoyed your walk and glad the cloud eventually cleared.
What am I going to do when you've finished them all? How I wish I could be there when you finally compleat.....................oh well, can but dream ;)
SusieThePensioner