The Five Sisters of Kintail

Tuesday 1st July 2008

This was supposed to be my great walk over the Five Sisters of Kintail, but in the end I only went up two of them. I got up really early to do this walk but when I saw gale force winds and rain outside I went back to sleep. Eventually I got up and reluctantly went out for a walk, but I didn't really know where I was going. As I walked down the road I could see the Five Sisters ahead of me, as I always can from the road to the youth hostel, and suddenly had a thought to walk straight up the middle sister from the valley as I thought I could see a path going up the mountain. With my course set I walked into Shiel Bridge and crossed over to the far side of the valley away from the road. The easiest thing to do would have been to walk along the road to the appropriate point opposite the mountain and then cross over to the far side of the valley, but the only bridge in the glen was down so I had to do a tiring walk along the floor of the valley, all while it rained. It would have been easier if there had been even a resemblance of a path but there wasn’t; I was wading through dense bracken on wet, boggy ground with no path to follow

Eventually I reached the foot of the mountain and so began an interminable climb straight up the hillside in the pouring rain. I had to stop frequently and for long periods as the effort began to wear on me. This really was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I don’t know if I was still recovering from my exhausting job or my restless sleep the previous night, but I was really tired all the way up and I never seemed to have enough energy. Eventually I gave up and stopped for some lunch while sheltered from the strong winds, but of course with the still rain pouring down. After lunch things actually began to look up as with new found energy from my lunch and the steep slope easing and narrowing excitingly into a ridge. A last burst of energy took me into the clouds and up to the summit of Skurr Fhuaran, a Munro and in fact the highest point on the whole range of Five Sisters at 1067 metres.

After all the effort I had successfully reached my goal and my way was now downhill all the way with all the hard work done. The steep descent to Bealach Buidhe was a joy, especially so since I was sheltered from the wind by big sister. The ridge was fantastically narrow and really enjoyable, so that all the effort to get to the top had finally paid off; it was worth it after all. Unfortunately the wind soon returned which made the ridge less of a pleasure but I was still able to enjoy the feeling of being high above the valleys with great views along the ridge and out towards to Loch Duich. I made my way up to the second sister, Sgurr nan Saighead, passing over it's highest point and from there carefully walked along the narrow ridge to the prominent top that is at it's western end, Beinn Bhuidhe.

From this small top I had amazing views across Loch Duich and all around me, including my descent route. I decided to bypass the fifth sister as it is less than 3000 feet and would be awkward to get to, so descending the western ridge of Beinn Bhuidhe I headed towards Sgurr an t-Searraich. Once I was sheltered from the wind again and with a long descent ahead of me I enjoyed myself immensely as I slowly made my way down. The path became very wet and muddy as I veered right off the ridge, but when I reached the stream, Allt a’Chruinn, I found an excellent manufactured path that took me delightfully down to the loch shore. During the gruelling ascent I had longed for a good, manufactured, nicely graded path that would ease my way up the steep hillside. Now on my descent I had just such a path, nicely manufactured by the National Trust for Scotland, beside the stream, past a huge, but hidden, waterfall, and steeply down the hillside beside the gorge, Bidean Dudh. This was wonderful end to a mixed walk.

In the awful weather conditions this was probably the best I could hope for, but after the torture of the ascent I had some wonderful moments along the ridge and during the descent. This area has some brilliant ridge walks and in three days I had barely scratched the surface, though they are probably among the best in the area. It’s a shame the weather was so poor, but I will definitely be back if only to go along the whole ridge of the Five Sisters of Kintail. There are many Munros in this area and I only went up three of them, those near Sheil Bridge, and there are many more at the top of the valley, enough to keep me busy for many a return visit. The next day I rested because I was really tired and needed the rest. I work punishing hours and need my holidays to recover and catch up on lost sleep, but pushing myself to exhaustion on mountains doesn’t help. The day after I got up at a lazy time and caught a bus to Eilean Donan Castle and thence through Kyle of Lochalsh to the Isle of Skye. I didn’t go up any mountains and even spent an hour or two just sitting by the sea in Broadford reading a book. The next day I was refreshed and ready to once again take on the rugged mountains of Skye.