Ciste Dhudh

Friday 2nd September 2016

During my first walking holiday in Scotland, back in 2004 when I did the West Highland Way, I bought a copy of Ralph Storer’s “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains” and ever since this has been my inspiration whenever I have been in Scotland. This definitive guidebook has directed me up over a hundred Munros and more than ten years later I am still working my way through that book. When I first came to Glen Shiel, in 2008, I was astonished by the huge number of walks in this area that Ralph Storer describes, and I knew at the time that I was going to be returning to Glen Shiel many times over the following years. Eight years after first coming to Glen Shiel I was back again and still attempting to do all the walks described by Ralph Storer in the area, starting with walk number forty-four: Ciste Dhudh. This walk actually goes over two mountains: one a Corbett, Am Bathach, which is a mountain between two and a half and three thousand feet high, and the other is the Munro, over three thousand feet high, that lends the walk its title.

The weather continued to be unkind to me on this walk as it was throughout this holiday. I couldn’t believe how lucky I had been three months before when I was in the Cairngorms as I’d enjoyed fabulous weather, but now Scotland was reverting more to its usual weather with strong winds and frequent rain. At the start of this day it was pouring with rain, again, as I drove up gorgeous Glen Shiel to a small layby just beyond the Cluanie Inn for my walk up Ciste Dhudh. I started the walk once the rain had stopped by climbing the wet, muddy, grassy slopes of Am Bathach from the road and before too long the sun had come out. I was more than happy to see the sun and embraced it warm-heartedly by lathering up with sun cream in anticipation of sunny weather all day, but I was being far too naïve as unfortunately the weather was very changeable on this walk, and the sun did not stay out. It was looking great at this point with the sun glistening on Loch Cluanie behind me and the hills around the top of Glen Shiel basking in the sunshine.

It wasn’t long before it started raining again so I had to put my waterproofs back on and traipsed up the hill onto the summit ridge with the two tops of Am Bathach in view before me and Ciste Dhudh hiding in the dark background behind. The rain continued to fall as I made my way along the ridge over the southern top and over the summit of the Corbett. My map indicates a cairn on the first top, but when I got there it seemed to have vanished only to appear on the actual summit after I had crossed the interesting, grassy ridge in the wet, miserable conditions. During the long descent from the summit, Ciste Dhudh had been brooding under dark clouds and I wondered if the weather was ever going to improve. However before I reached the bottom of Bealach a’Chòinich I glimpsed a hint of blue sky and literally jumped in the air for joy! By the time I was at the bottom of the pass the sun had come out and the rain had stopped. After crossing the complex, boggy bealach, I had gorgeous sunny views behind me of Am Bathach and the Munro of Aonach Meadhoin, which was being illuminated gloriously.

Despite the fabulous views the ground under my feet was saturated, which made for a tricky ascent as it was difficult to get a grip on the steep, boggy ground. (Actually Ralph Storer doesn’t recommend doing this walk in wet conditions due to the steep grassy slopes.) As I climbed the slopes of Ciste Dhudh, strong, cold winds began to blow that forced me to keep away from the top of the narrowing ridge and keep my eyes firmly on the ground to be sure of my footing. Strong winds had plagued me during the previous day on a narrow ridge and once again I was unable to enjoy a great mountain due to the weather, even though the sun was shining. There is nothing you can do to counter strong winds, which makes them really frustrating. Even though the sun was shining I was still wrapped up in my waterproofs as protection from the cold winds as I kept going along the narrow ridge, but I feel as if I wasn’t really being able to enjoy the spectacularly ridge as much as I could have done due to the wind. Keeping my head down I continued climbing the narrow ridge until eventually I reached the summit cairn of the Munro, Ciste Dhudh, where I had my lunch.

I could see rain falling in the distance around me, but while I was at the top of Ciste Dhudh I was in an oasis of sunshine with fabulous views. The top of Glen Affric was looking fine, but the best views were to the west towards the Five Sisters of Kintail looking picturesque seen from behind rather than from their usual vantage of Mam Ratagan and I couldn’t help thinking that the Five Sisters looked better from this direction, even if only for the novelty. Even though it was only lunch time Ralph Storer’s route now directed me to come down off Ciste Dhudh and head back towards the car, which I was loathed to do since the weather seemed so good, but there seemed little alternative. With hindsight, I think I could have returned to Bealach a’Chòinich and climbed the long slopes of Sgùrr an Fhuarail to reach the Munro of Aonach Meadhoin. This would have made a good round of An Caorann Beag, but instead I descended steep, grassy slopes to the top of An Caorann Mór. Ahead of me was the steep slopes of Mullach Fraoch-choire and I briefly considered climbing up there, but when I saw how steep the grassy slopes were I turned right at the top of the pass and headed towards the road down the valley on a boggy path that eventually improved.

The biggest problem with this walk was that it was too short, although Ralph Storer had said that it would take six and a half hours and I finished the walk in not much less than that. The rain returned during my long descent down the valley, which maybe justified my sticking to the proscribed route. The fantastic weather that I’d enjoyed on Ciste Dhudh was now a distant memory with the miserable weather of Am Bathach soon reasserting itself. The long descent gave me time to reflect on this walk and the two mountains that were climbed on it, one a Corbett and the other a Munro. I had enjoyed the ridge walk on Am Bathach, despite the rain, and the ridge on Ciste Dhudh was spectacular despite the strong winds. The sun came out, once again, before I reached my car and since there was still a lot of the afternoon left I drove down Glen Shiel and up Ratagan Pass to the usual vantage point for the Five Sisters of Kintail. This fabulous chain of mountains was looking majestic sitting in the dappled sunshine, but I still wondered whether the view from the other side with no houses or roads in sight was not better.

Beinn Sgritheall

Thursday 1st September 2016

Before this year I had not been to the top of a Scottish mountain for two years and even before that I had already begun favouring long distance walking as opposed to climbing mountains. However on my last holiday in Scotland, in May/June, I was fortunate to get good weather that gave me the opportunity to go up a few mountains and I was in awe of the experience. I had forgotten how great it is to be at the top of a Scottish mountain in good weather, so when planning for this holiday I wanted to go up as many mountains as possible, but I have found that the reason why I had fallen out of favour of going up mountains is because in Scotland the weather is often poor. The top of a mountain in good weather is the best place that anyone can be, but in bad weather it can be the worst. On this holiday I got some rather poor weather that put my memories of good weather earlier in the year firmly into the dim and distant past. I was in Scotland specifically to go up mountains, but I was experiencing weather that didn’t make me want to be up there.

When I left Torridon at the beginning of this day the weather was pretty awful and after driving over several mountain passes on single track roads I eventually reached the delightful, but isolated coastal village of Arnisdale on the shores of Loch Hourn. It was still raining with low clouds everywhere, so there wasn’t a soul in sight. This is the sort of miserable weather where no one in their right mind would go out and I was sitting in my car also not wanting to go out into the terrible weather. I questioned my sanity as I finally got out of the car and set off up the footpath that begins near the village climbing the steep hillside above. My bold move was rewarded as the rain soon stopped and held off until the end of my walk and afforded me with a much better day than I had feared. I was climbing Beinn Sgritheall, a Munro that has very steep slopes that fall precipitously all the way down from the summit to the shores of Loch Hourn.

The path above Arnisdale was very steep, very boggy and badly eroded, which made this quite a struggle for me to climb the grassy slopes even as the views slowly began to improve across Loch Hourn towards the beautiful Knoydart peninsula. Ladhar Bheinn though, and the other Knoydart mountains, were firmly enclosed in clouds as I slowly dragged myself up the steep slopes into the mountain pass of Bealach Arnasdail. To my right were the steep, craggy slopes of the Corbett, Beinn na h-Eaglaise, but my attention was on the Munro, Beinn Sgritheall, to my left, that was showing steep grassy slopes and looked impregnable. A thin path took a good route up the steep slopes until it deteriorated into a crawl straight up the steep slopes, but the climb was more than compensated by the improving views as the clouds lifted from the surrounding hills to reveal the quintessentially Scottish view of row upon row of mountains as far as the eye can see. By the time I reached the 906 metre eastern top of Beinn Sgritheall, the views east over the top of Beinn na h-Eaglaise and towards the mountains of Kintail were amazing.

The views all around me were fabulous despite the grey, overcast skies with even the Knoydart mountains now clear of clouds. Ahead of me Beinn Sgritheall was beckoning me on with a seemingly easy ridge to traverse, but as I neared the bottom of the col between the two tops I was blasted by ferocious winds that knocked me off the top of the ridge northwards and forced me to desperately find some shelter in order to recover from the shock. I took this opportunity to have my lunch in this cold and windy location before girding my loins for another attempt at the summit. I may have had clear views but the weather was still very poor as I struggled against the tremendous winds on the narrowing ridge. I was still battling against the strong winds when I reached the spot where the ridge becomes precipitously narrow and exposed falling three thousand feet almost straight down to sea and forced me to be very careful as I fought against the wind up the steep, narrow ridge until eventually I reached the summit of the Munro of Beinn Sgritheall.

The best of the views were now west out to sea towards the Isle of Skye with the ridge below me descending steeply with a good path that weaves cunningly through the steep crags. It was an absolute pleasure for me to make my way slowly down this great path with those fabulous views before me. I was now sheltered from the wind so the hardships that I had endured during the ascent were forgotten as I basked in this wonderful descent down the craggy slopes with that great view before me towards Skye. Eventually I reached the small lake of Lochan Bhealach Ràrsaidh where I veered left off the ridge onto a path that heads down the steep slopes below Beinn Sgritheall. Initially this was a great path through gorgeous purple-flowering heather with good views looking up to the top of Beinn Sgritheall showing off its sheer slopes dramatically, but it wasn’t long before the weather began to reassert itself with clouds slowly descending onto the top of Beinn Sgritheal once again. I was fortunate to have had clear views from the summit on this poor weather day.

Lower down the path enters a young wood and weaves a fascinating, though steep, course through the trees, but on the other side of the wood the path deteriorated becoming boggier and was dominated by bracken so that it was with enormous relief that I eventually reached the road some distance west of the village of Arnisdale. This had been a challenging walk on paths that were not in the best of conditions, though the descent was not as bad as the ascent. Many guidebook writers had recommended doing the walk in the other direction, but I had decided to stick with Ralph Storer’s route and I’m glad that I did because the walk benefitted enormously by having that view across to the Isle of Skye on the descent. Beinn Sgritheall is a good mountain with a memorably steep climb and sheer slopes that were quite an experience, especially in strong winds. Poor weather at the start of this walk had not made me want to go, but once I was on this steeply-sided mountain I was richly rewarded with stunning views that reminded me that Scottish mountains can be great places to be even when the weather is poor.

The Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail

Wednesday 31st August 2016

The last time that I was in Torridon I had attempted to climb Beinn Eighe, but was thwarted by high winds and poor weather. I came back to Torridon this year with the specific aim of completing that walk that I had been unable to do six years ago, but unfortunately bad weather prevented me from doing the walk again. I arrived in Torridon on the previous Monday when I attempted to walk around the tops at the eastern end of Beinn Eighe, and I hoped that I would later be able do a walk over the highest points on Beinn Eighe, the two Munros of Spidean Coire nan Clach and Ruadh-stac Mòr. This day was my last chance before moving on the following day so I was disappointed to wake up to awful weather with heavy rain that looked like it was set to stay for the rest of the day. Instead of climbing to the summit of Beinn Eighe I turned my attention to the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, on the eastern slopes of the mountain. Driving through the horrible weather in Glen Torridon I reached the visitor centre near the village of Kinlochewe where the rain was still falling and the midges were having a feast on unsuspecting tourists. After a brief look around I decided to move on to the starting point for the reserve trails at a car park beside the shores of Loch Maree.

The Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve was the first reserve to be established in Britain and I’d heard that there was a path in the reserve that is the only way-marked mountain trail in Britain. This had sounded intriguing and sparked my curiosity so on this wet weather day I thought it would make a good wet weather option. After picking up a leaflet for the mountain trail in the car park I headed off into the woods initially along the bank of the Allt na h-Airighe gradually climbing past tall purple-flowering heather and dense bracken with an abundance of moss everywhere. Astonishingly the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to come out, which added to an enjoyable walk as I followed the clear path that began to climb steeply up the hillside past scots pines. After crossing another burn, the Alltan Mhic Eoghainn, the path steepened even more and rock began to cover the ground underfoot further enhancing this delicious walk.

I had great views across the valley to the other side of Loch Maree where Slioch and the mountains on the other side of the deep ravine of Gleann Bianasdail were blinking in the newly emerged sunlight. I was still relatively low so I didn’t have far reaching views, but the rocky ground underfoot made me feel like I was on top of a high mountain. Quartzite, such as is found at the top of Beinn Eighe and not usually at this low level, covered the ground and made for a fun walk as the way-marked path weaved steeply through the gorgeous rock landscape. Even though this walk ultimately doesn’t climb very high, this surprising abundance of mountain-top rocks was making this walk feel like a real mountain walk and I loved every moment of it. Eventually the path started to level off and cold winds forced me to wrap up warm for the next stage of the walk across the mountain-top-like traverse through the rocky terrain until I finally reached the summit of the walk, at the top of Leathad Buidhe where the view west suddenly revealed itself in astounding clarity.

Beinn Eighe was arrayed before me mostly clear of cloud with the eastern peaks of the mountain looking fabulous from this great vantage point. Creag Dhubh, which I’d climb two days previously, was on the left with Ruadh-stac Beag on the right while Sgurr Ban and the Munro, Spidean Coire nan Clach, lay at the far end of the corrie. This was a fabulous sight and made me long to be able to climb those mountains one day in good weather, unfortunately on this walk the rain had already started to fall again. I felt fortunate to have such a good view of Beinn Eighe on this walk despite the poor weather and lingered at the top for as long as I could to take in the view until eventually the cold and descending cloud on Beinn Eighe forced me to resume my walk along the mountain trail. Ahead of me was Meall a’ Ghiubhais whose rocks are darker, brown rather than grey, than those on Beinn Eighe due to a major earth movement that had shoved the older Torridonian sandstones on top of the younger Cambrian quartzites, which was why I had been able to enjoy a mountain-top walk on quartzite during my climb.

After passing passing Loch Allt an Daraich and Lunar Loch, the path begins to descend once again through what I thought of as less interesting scenery with less rock and more heather and devil’s bit scabious, which is the norm on mountain slopes at this height. The path follows a stream called simply An t-allt, the burn, into a deep ravine that provides enough shelter from the wind to enable relatively thick vegetation to grow in that area. With the rain continuing to fall quite heavily by this time and low cloud everywhere I made my way down the path quite unfazed by the weather. A spectacular gorge was passed before eventually I plunged once more into the wood and finally reaching the car park at the bottom of the path beside the shore of Loch Maree. This was a great, though short walk, where I had lingered on the trail, taking my time to stop and read the trail guide to get a better appreciation of my surroundings. When I’d started I’d thought that I’d be able to do some more walking afterwards, but since I didn’t reach the bottom until three o‘clock I decided to call it a day there. I had had so much fun on the climb through the mountain-top-like quartzite rocks that I didn’t feel as if I needed to do anything else. This walk had truly felt like a mountain trail even though it doesn’t climb to the top of a mountain.

Beinn Bhàn

Tuesday 30th August 2016

I had two different routes for this walk and even as I was parking my car I still hadn’t decided which one I would do. Ralph Storer’s route up Beinn Bhàn seemed too difficult to attempt so I had looked for an alternative and found a different, much easier route on the walkhighlands.co.uk website. This had been my favoured option until I got a taste of the strong winds coming off the sea and suddenly Ralph Storer’s corrie-foot walk became more appealing. From Torridon I drove over the hills and down to Kishorn where I parked just before the bridge over the River Kishorn. The walkhighlands.co.uk route would have had me walk along the road for a bit before climbing the long southern ridge of Beinn Bhàn, however I think that walk would have been better done in the opposite direction with the steepest section in ascent and the ridge then used in descent, which is always the more pleasing way to do a walk. Instead I headed north along a good path that heads along the valley towards a fish farm and ends at Loch Gaineamhach below the corries of Beinn Bhàn.

Ralph Storer (in his book “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains”) had said to come off the path when the first corrie, Coire Each, comes into view. Unfortunately the clouds were down so low it was difficult to see any of the corries and the path that I was on was so good I didn’t want to come off it onto the boggy, pathless moorland. Eventually I did come off the path, and possibly earlier than I should, and struggled through the rough terrain slowly climbing towards some distant location I couldn’t see. Heather, bogs and rocks abounded underfoot as I made my way up the steep terrain passing the mouth of Coire Each and Coire na Feòla. Ralph Storer would have had me go into the corries but I think I must have stayed quite low at this point and didn’t get to see all the way into these corries, though low cloud would have spoiled the effect. What I could see of the tall crags of these corries was still awe-inspiring and only improved after I rounded the end of A’Chioch and the crag-filled Coire na Poite. Ralph Storer directed me to climb right into the heart of this corrie “where two hidden lochans lie at the foot of the dramatic 350m corrie headwall”.

In view of the poor weather, I did not do this and instead crossed the bog between the corrie and the beautiful Lochan Coire na Poite whose sandy beaches would have been more enticing in warmer conditions. Passing the spur that ends in the dramatic pinnacle of A’ Phiot I climbed into the grassy Coire an Fhamair and contemplated the northern ridge of this corrie which looked like it might be a possible route up, albeit with a scramble. This is a viable route up, though it would have been better done in good weather, so I decided to stick with Ralph Storer’s route heading up the corrie to the far right-hand corner where a steep, grassy rake took me up to the summit plateau. This was an exhausting climb and I stopped frequently to look behind me at the view down the corrie and the mountains of the Coulin Forest where the sun was starting to come out. Beinn Bhàn remained under cloud and when I eventually reached the top of the corrie strong winds forced me back down into the shelter of the corrie rim where I had my lunch. By the time I re-emerged onto the summit plateau the cloud was beginning to lift and I suddenly had a fleeting view north across Loch na Beinne Bàine and the northern ridge of Beinn Bhàn.

It wasn’t long before I was once more enveloped in cloud, so turning south I headed into a bitterly cold wind as I headed towards the summit of the Corbett. In better weather I would have kept to the rim of the corries in order to get a good look into these steep, dramatic rock theatres, but with low cloud and a strong wind trying to blow me into the corries I wisely kept far from the edge as I made my way up the bleak hillside until eventually I reached the trig point that is encircled by a stone wall and marks the summit of Beinn Bhàn. Continuing south I headed towards the long ridge that the route of walkhighlands.co.uk would have had me climb. Careful navigation took me onto the narrowing ridge at the head of Coire na Feòla where the cold wind became a torrent that made standing upright virtually impossible. However on reaching the col I suddenly came below the clouds and I had a view of the edge of the corrie and the slowly descending ridge. This was an awesome sight and made me mourn for the other sights on this amazing mountain that I had failed to see due to the low cloud. On approaching a slight rise I turned back and beheld an astonishing sight as the whole of Beinn Bhàn emerged from the clouds with the sun illuminating everything.

This was an amazing sight that made me quake in my boots at the astounding rock scenery of this spectacular mountain. It was still very windy at this point even though I had brilliant views so that the pictures that I took at this point don’t give any indication of just how poor the weather was still. It is really frustrating to see such a spell-binding spectacle and not be able to truly appreciate it due to gale force winds. I could have stayed on the southern ridge all the way down to the road, à la walkhighlands.co.uk, but the winds encouraged me to come off the ridge as soon as possible following Ralph Storer’s direction, but I was careful to wait until after I’d passed Coire Each where long, steep slopes led all the way down to my car. During the descent the weather eastwards continued to improve prompting me to stop frequently to admire the view and take in the tremendous scenery. I like pathless descents, almost as much as I hate pathless ascents, so I was keen for this descent to take as long as possible, while the cloud quickly enveloped Beinn Bhàn once again and even darker clouds began to appear from the west. The usual Scottish weather was very quickly establishing itself once more on Beinn Bhàn.

I tried to make the most of this descent and enjoy the great views east towards Beinn Damh that looked so much better than what I had endured on Beinn Bhàn. This is a mountain that really deserves better weather with some absolutely awesome rock scenery that is screaming out for a return visit when I can better appreciate them. I only got a glimpse on this walk of what this mountain has to offer and in better weather I’m sure the experience would be considerably better. Away from the mountains the weather continued to improve and on my way back to Torridon I stopped off in the delightful seashore village of Shieldaig for supplies. The sun was shining brightly and in this sheltered location it felt lovely. The contrast between this tranquil place and the wind-swept summit of Beinn Bhàn was considerable so that while enjoying the warm sunshine I wished the weather had been nicer to me on Beinn Bhàn. Good weather is vitally important when hill-walking in Scotland, but unless you are able to go at a moment’s notice you are taking your chances. On this walk, and generally on this holiday, I was dealt a poor hand, but on the occasions when I did have some sunshine, such on the descent from Beinn Bhàn or at Shieldaig, I wanted to stop and enjoy every moment.