Thursday 5th July 2007
The weather for this walk turned out to be worse than forecast with the clouds failing to rise, which resulted in a dull, damp, cloudy day. The walk that I had planned around Coir' a' Ghrunnda would necessitate me correctly following the path into the corrie and up to Bealach a' Garbh-choire and this I failed to do. There were no problems at first as I walked past the campsite and up the path towards Coir' a' Ghrunnda, but I soon made my first mistake. On reaching the Allt Coire Lagan I panicked thinking that this was the Allt Coir' a' Ghrunnda and immediately started traipsing up the hillside through the long wet grass and only realised my mistake when I turned my GPS on. By then the damage had been done: I had two wet feet. The journey back down to the path finished off the job and my feet stayed wet for the rest of the day.
Back on course I now climbed high above the Allt Coir' a' Ghrunnda on what was turning out to be a brilliantly engineered path that used the natural rock to good effect climbing steeply up into the corrie and weaving an ingenious course up scree and over rocks. I'm disappointed that I lost it (!). The path disappeared into a boulder field and I never found it again, but I did find a path that involved an exciting scramble up the western slopes of the corrie following what I thought was a path or at least a do-able route into the corrie, but the mist made route-finding very difficult so I didn't really know where I was, and effectively I suppose I was lost. However, all was not lost as a GPS comes in very handy in these sort of situations and told me where I was and where I was heading. When I stopped somewhere for lunch I put the coordinates of Bealach Coir' a' Ghrunnda into my GPS and was astonished when it told me I was only 200m away from it. So I maybe that was where the path I had been following was heading.
Since it was now gone two in the afternoon I decided to abandon my plans for the day and head for Sgurr Sgumain instead, though as I continued along the path I was surprised to discover I had actually been heading for the summit of Sron na Ciche. Leaving the summit I descended to the bealach, noting the top of the Sgumain Stone Chute, and tried to get up to the top of Sgurr Sgumain. This proved to be very difficult as I didn't have any idea of the correct route. On ascent I took a difficult route scrambling up the western side, while on descent, determined to find a better route, I scrambled down the eastern side. I don't think I found the best route either way, but it is interesting to note that I never thought I wouldn't find a safe route down and get stuck up there or worse.
The GPS was invaluable during all this and I wouldn't have managed without it. (Maybe I wouldn't have been so daring without it. I wasn't worried while up there because I was putting my trust in the GPS.) After visiting the bleak wind swept summit I safely returned to the bealach and began the interminable descent of the Sgumain Stone Chute. I am glad I wasn't going up this as that would have been really frustrating, but many people do go up the nearby Great Stone Chute and that must be even bigger. How can they? Finally at the bottom I joined the path that took me past Loch an Fhir-bhallaich to Eas Mor.
I must say I was really relieved when I finally got down okay at the end of this walk. It was quite nerve-racking up there because I didn't really know where I was or whether I was going the right way. I was putting my trust completely in my map and the GPS because I couldn't see any indication of where I was. The Cuillin Hills are really difficult to walk on especially in misty conditions. There are a lot of routes that just cannot be done by a lowly hill-walker. I think I was relieved when I started to descend the Sgumain Stone Chute (and was sure it was the chute!) because only then could I finally relax as the pressure to constantly concentrate on route-finding was gone. These are great hills, but they require a lot of thought and care. I left the Cuillin the following morning, but I am sure I will be back and hopefully in better weather conditions.
Despite it being only Friday I had to leave Glenbrittle and begin my journey home, however, the walk to Sligachan was really quite fun and brought to mind long-distance walks such as the West Highland Way. I was following my route of the previous Tuesday up the road and along the footpath over Bealach a' Mhaim. The weather for this walk was worse than on Tuesday, although it appeared to be better than I'd had during my previous two days with the clouds over the hills very low and barely higher than the bealach, but with glimpses of blue sky away from the hills. Beyond the bealach I had an enjoyable walk across the moors following the Allt Dearg Mor (I guess that translates as the Great Red Burn). As I approached Sligachan it started raining and any thought of going up the Red Cuillin (e.g. Glamaig) was dismissed. (To be honest I didn't really want to; I had been hoping for bad weather!)
