Tuesday 1st June 2010
After the great weather of the day before, I woke to rain, low clouds and midges by the million as I packed up my car for yet another long drive to my next walk. I was returning to Torridon, the climax of my holiday last year, but I wasn't looking forward to a walk up one of the Torridon Giants in such poor weather. However, as I drove downhill towards the village of Kinlochewe, with the magnificent sight of Loch Maree ahead and Slioch to the right, I suddenly thought that Slioch would make a good alternative. This mountain is not in Glen Torridon but still possesses the Torridonian Sandstone that is typical of those giants. Incidentally, the evening before this walk I realised that I didn't know what my schedule was! I knew which hostels I was staying in, even if not the duration, and I knew which mountains I wanted to go up, but I think the availabilities of the various youth hostels had screwed up my schedule without me actually realising it. So, for the remainder of the holiday I had to make up an improvised schedule that was rather different from my original plan. I had once included Slioch in my itinerary but dropped it in order to get to the far north quicker, so at the last minute Slioch had been given a reprieve, which as it turned out was well deserved.
Leaving the car park in Incheril, on the outskirts of Kinlochewe, I walked for three miles to the Kinlochewe River and Loch Maree, until I reached a bridge over the stream, Abhainn an Ehasaigh. Turning right at this point I ventured across rough, often boggy, terrain climbing up to the mouth of Coire na Sleghaich. Maybe I was a little unfit or at least not yet up to my full mountain walking fitness, but I found this quite an exhausting climb, lightened only by the sight of Beinn Egihe behind me, and hearing my first cuckoo of the holiday. This cuckoo, or possibly others, seemed to follow me on every subsequent walk that I took in the far north of Scotland and became a welcome companion as I travelled. On reaching the mouth of the corrie I crossed the corrie floor and climbed the hill opposite. This was a long, tiring and dreary climb that was enlivened only by the views north across Lochan Fada to the awe-inspiring Great Wilderness. Eventually, after a lot of effort, I reached the summit of Sgurr an Tuill Bhain where I stopped to have my lunch. 
Buttoning up against the cold weather I set off from the top towards the Munro across a fabulously narrow ridge. The sides of this ridge were ridiculously steep and induced a bit of delicious exposure. I couldn't help comparing this ridge with Striding Edge in the Lake District, which although is possibly slightly narrower is quite shallow, and not as high in comparison to this ridge which is insignificant for Scotland and so it doesn't even have a name. I am often reminded at times like this of the enormous differences between the mountains in Scotland and those of Lakeland. In comparison to Scotland the mountains of the Lake District are tame and easy, for the mountains of Scotland are in a class of their own. All too soon the terrain widened and I climbed up to the summit of the Munro, Slioch. I'm sure the view from the summit is fantastic, taking in Loch Maree and the Great Wilderness, but in the conditions I had I couldn't see anything.
Buttoning up against the cold weather I set off from the top towards the Munro across a fabulously narrow ridge. The sides of this ridge were ridiculously steep and induced a bit of delicious exposure. I couldn't help comparing this ridge with Striding Edge in the Lake District, which although is possibly slightly narrower is quite shallow, and not as high in comparison to this ridge which is insignificant for Scotland and so it doesn't even have a name. I am often reminded at times like this of the enormous differences between the mountains in Scotland and those of Lakeland. In comparison to Scotland the mountains of the Lake District are tame and easy, for the mountains of Scotland are in a class of their own. All too soon the terrain widened and I climbed up to the summit of the Munro, Slioch. I'm sure the view from the summit is fantastic, taking in Loch Maree and the Great Wilderness, but in the conditions I had I couldn't see anything. Turning south, with the aid of my compass, I visited the trig point, no longer considered to be the summit of the Munro, before taking another compass bearing towards the downward path. While passing a small lake I decided to visit the south top of Slioch before taking the steep path down. Once below cloud level I could once more see the eastern end of mighty Beinn Eighe. On Ralph Storer's advice I didn't follow the path down into the corrie but visited the final small tops on the corrie rim that culminates in Sgurr Dubh, thereby completing my circuit of the corrie. A ridiculously steep descent brought me down to my outward route which I took all the way back to my car accompanied for the first time on this walk by sunshine. Considering this mountain was unplanned and the weather was poor, I had a good, enjoyable walk over it. It was just a pity that I didn't have a view from the top.
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