Beinn na Caillich

Monday 27th June 2011 

I’d originally planned to do this walk the day before but I hadn’t done so because of the bad weather. That plan would have entailed me doing this walk with a heavy rucksack and then catching a bus to Sligachan where I would then have had to walk over the pass into Glenbrittle. I was expecting a long day but that sort of schedule would have been torture! Instead I was able to take my time while carrying a light rucksack and enjoy the walk, which I most certainly did. I am beginning to come to the conclusion that it isn’t a good idea to plan to do a mountain walk while carrying a rucksack full of not only all my clothes but also all my food for several days. A heavy rucksack can be carried when backpacking along valley paths, but it’s not a good idea if your route involves going up to the top of a mountain. It is much better to leave your food and clothes at a base (either a tent or a hostel) before going on a hill-bagging walk. 

I started early, as I often do, and walked alongside the main road out of the small town of Broadford for a short distance (with a delightful display of wild flowers beside the road) before turning off along a side road to the scattered houses of Coire-chat-achan. From there I crossed boggy heather covered slopes to the foot of Beinn na Caillich and slowly climbed the steep, never ending heather and boulder strewn eastern slopes up to the top. Although long and tiring this was an enjoyable climb that was enlivened by the occasional wild flower, including an orchid. Great views in all direction greeted me when I reached the top: east across the Inner Sound to mainland Scotland, north across the Isles of Raasay and Scalpay, north-west towards the Red Cuillin and west past my onward route towards the rugged Bla Bheinn and the Black Cuillin. From the top of Beinn na Caillich, the highest point of the day, a lovely walk ensued around the top of Coire Gorm, across a wind-blown col and up to the top of Beinn Dearg Mhor where I had lunch with clear views of the cloud-topped Black Cuillin ahead of me. Despite being covered in clouds I think the Cuillin possibly looked even more appealing with the clouds giving them a brooding, sombre look. I also found it thrilling to be able to look in most directions and see the sea, either that of the Inner Sound east, or the sea lochs of Loch Slapin and Loch Eishort southwards, and Loch Sligachan and Loch Ainort northwards. Only the Cuillin Hills to the west prevented a view of the sea. 

A ridiculously steep shingly descent brought me to the start of a delightfully enjoyable ascent of Beinn Dearg Bheag on a gloriously rocky ridge. With stunning views from the summit across the relatively flat lands of southern Skye I reluctantly left the hills and slowly dropped down the eastern ridge back onto the heather covered land below. Another wet crossing took me back to Coire-chat-achan where I joined a tourist path known as the Marble Line Path. This former railway line took me all the way back to Broadford and made for a gentle and relaxing end to a good day's walk. After the radical rethink to my schedule following the heavy rain of the day before I was glad to have a thoroughly enjoyable walk in the mountains of Skye.

Swimming at Sligachan

Sunday 26th June 2011 

I have taken my main holiday in Scotland every year since 2004, so once again with summer here I once again started packing my rucksack and boarded a train for north of the border and arrived in the town of Broadford on the Isle of Skye thirteen hours later after a journey on several trains, a ferry and a bus. On the first full day, however, things began to go against plan. I had originally planned on going up Beinn Dearg Mhór and Beinn na Caillich, which overlook Broadford, before walking to Glenbrittle, however persistent rain forced a rethink, and after a walk around the town I caught a bus to Sligachan. Sligachan is a hotel with strong links to mountaineering due to its proximity to the Cuillin Mountains. I had no intention of going up these most challenging of mountains in this weather; all I wanted to do was walk over the low pass of Bealach a’ Mhaim into Glenbrittle. 

Ultimately this was asking too much as the rain was pouring into and out of every orifice as I trudged up the water-laden footpath while the adjacent river, the Allt Dearg Mór, had become a raging torrent with fast moving white rapids. Part way up I met someone coming the other way who said that they were turning back because the path further on was impassable due to the rain. I believe the point he was referring to was where the path crosses the Allt Coire na Circe, where this person said that you would require a raft to get any further. Nevertheless I progressed further on so that I could see for myself, but before I got there the path was fast becoming more like a stream and I decided that the walk was no longer fun. It just wasn't worth the effort, so I turned around and headed back down the increasingly water-filled path. Even in such a short time the water appeared to have got even deeper in the path. I think I turned around just in time. 

Back at Sligachan I had an hour to wait for the next bus to take me back to Broadford where I asked if they had a bed available for the next three nights. Sometimes it’s prudent to just turn around and stop fighting the current. I spend months before a holiday planning it out meticulously, not to stick rigidly to my plan, but so that I always know what I’m going to do. I hate sitting around on holiday looking through brochures and trying to find something to do, somewhere to go. I like to do all that work beforehand and if I’ve spent a long time thinking about it I will often eventually some up with a much better plan than I’d originally thought. But I am always willing to change my plans. Just because I’ve been planning this holiday for months doesn't mean I can't change my plans instantly when I get there because of, as in this case, the weather. At least I had a plan, which is better than not knowing what I am going to do. On this occasion not going to Glenbrittle was a major change in my plans but I think my holiday was better for it. The hastily devised new plan was I believe better than the original plan. "All things work together for good..."

Robinson

Saturday 30th April 2011 

To finish describing my holiday at Easter in the Lake District I just need to detail the short walk that I took from Buttermere to Keswick where I was able to catch a bus to the railway station in Penrith. In my quest to find paths in the Lake District that I’d never taken before, the day before this walk I had thought about the path up Hassnesshow Beck. To get to the foot of this path I took the fabulous lake-side path beside Buttermere that runs by Pike Rigg. This is such a delightful path with much variety, even with a short tunnel section, that it could be described as the best low-level path in the Lake District. At the road a short walk took me to Kirk Close wood where a path appears between the wood and a stream, Hassnesshow Beck, which is a very steep, but exhilarating climb up the wooded hillside and onto the relatively dull grassy hilltop.

Once the gradient eased a steady climb up grassy slopes led me to the rock strewn summit of Robinson from where an entertaining descent took me north-east down to Blea Crags and onto High Snab Bank. I had originally thought that I’d never been down this ridge before but during the walk I remembered that I’d actually been down there on my very first visit to the Lake District in 2002 while walking to Keswick. Due to bad weather I had abandoned the walk I’d planned and immediately left the fells down the north-east ridge, but this time however the weather was stunning with superb views of the Newlands valley ahead of me and beyond to Keswick. A clear line of escarpments could be seen from the steep ridge as I descended with High Crags on Hindscarth, High Crags on Maiden Moor and the northern crags of Catbells all lined up with my ridge. It was quite a striking sight and really capped off the fabulous descent. Leaving the top of High Snab Bank I dropped steeply down the grassy hillside to the farmer's track in the valley floor, which I followed through Low High Snab and along the road all the way to the tiny village of Little Town (great name!). While walking across the Newlands Valley I was astonished to see footpaths still closed following the floods of November 2009. On New Year's Day 2010 I had tried to cross the Newlands Valley only to find every single road and footpath closed due to the floods that had washed nearly every bridge away and forced me to take a wide diversion all the way up to Braithwaite. Fortunately Chapel Bridge was still standing and on this occasion I was able to cross the now sedate Newlands Beck into Little Town. 

After following a footpath along the windswept western foot of Catbells past Skelwith, I took the excellent path that runs from the northern tip of Catbells through Fawe Park to Keswick. This is another great low-level path and one that I’ve taken many times in the past and where I have many fond memories. Soon I was in Keswick and catching the bus to Penrith. The Lake District is a fabulous place to walk, but it wasn’t until this week’s walking that I realised how much I’d been missing it. Although I’ve been to the Lake District many times in recent years I’d mainly been sticking to outlying fells and therefore I had missed out on the great fells in the centre of the Lake District. After spending this week in the Lake District, all I could think was when was I going to do the same sort of walking and return to the Lake District.