Foinaven

Saturday 1st June 2024

I spent most of my time on this holiday in the historic county of Sutherland, which I had previously visited just once back in 2010 when poor weather and bad planning had meant there were a number of hills that I failed to climb so I was hoping to do those hills now. However, with the weather as it has been this year in Britain I was not very hopeful, but the forecast for this day was surprisingly good with the Mountain Weather Information Service even using the word glorious. It didn’t seem that good, but at least it was dry with little wind as I made my way across the county through mesmerising, sparsely populated scenery along the shores of Loch Shin, Loch Merkland and Loch More until I reached a small car park just before Loch Stack. For a long time my plan for this holiday had been to do the long distance walk of the Sutherland Trail devised by Cameron McNeish. This starts in the west coast village of Lochinver and crosses Sutherland past many of the mountains in the area to reach the north coast at Tongue. I had been eager to do this trail and to climb some of the mountains on the way, but after my experiences at Easter camping in Dartmoor I realised that I don’t really like camping and with Sutherland being very sparsely populated I wouldn’t be able to restock with food between Lochinver and Tongue. So I reformulated this holiday by taking my car which prevented me from doing the Sutherland Trail, but still let me climb those mountains that the trail passes and I was starting with Foinaven.

The scenery on the drive had been stunning and now as I made my way along a wide track away from the car park on the actual route of the Sutherland Trail I was struck by the sheer beauty of the mountains in this area that are covered in rock falling precipitously to the shores of the numerous lochs that litter the landscape. The conical peak of Ben Stack dominated the scene but soon it was the craggy of slopes of Arkle, on the other side of Loch Stack, that drew my eye before starting to slowly to climb the track that heads into the mountains beside Allt Horn. The weather was not as glorious as promised with overcast skies spoiling the view although eventually the clouds thinned to reveal blue skies, except above the mountain tops which held onto a heavy covering of cloud. The awesome mountain scenery continued as I slowly climbed the track and eventually I reached the col between Arkle and Foinaven and onward I climbed until I reached Bealach Horn where I finally came off the path at a small pile of stones to venture across the pathless slopes towards Foinaven. Unfortunately, by now I was being attacked by a strong cold wind that made this relentless climb extremely difficult and frustrating, especially when the weather was good in all other regards and amongst spectacular scenery. A strong cold wind can ruin a walk as effectively, or even more so, than rain or low clouds.

I crossed bands of rock and grass to traverse Bealach Horn before climbing unending slopes into the strong cold wind while Arkle continued to dominate the view with its exuberance of rock that made me wish I had forsaken Foinaven to climb the smaller mountain. The summit of Foinaven was hidden behind intermediate hills but still I kept going, but as time advanced and my goal seemed always far away I began to doubt whether I would actually reach the summit. Eventually, at the top of An t-Sàil Mhòr, the summit ridge of Foinaven came into view and beyond I made my way against the strong winds across the col to an unnamed 808 metre top where I finally had a clear view of the narrow ridge that extends past a prominent pinnacle, over the unnamed top above A’ Chèir Ghorm before finally, a long way away, rises to the highest point on Foinavon. It was obvious that it would take me a very long time to get to the summit along that ridge and with my only return of route being back the way I’d come then, at my present rate, it would be very late in the day before I finally returned to my car. With this in mind and the strong, cold winds that continued to batter me I decided to turn back and be content with getting as far as I had.

With the wind now at my back I was able to enjoy the return and admire the gorgeous, ground-hugging, purple flowers that covered the mountain slopes and the fabulous mountain scenery all around me that was making the climb worth the effort, even though I didn’t actually reach the summit of the mountain. I bypassed the top of An t-Sàil Mhòr slowly making my way down the rocky ridge, still being battered by the wind that had ruined the walk. Rather than head back to Bealach Horn I kept to the top of the ridge which gradually took me down to the col with Arkle while I wondered what could have been. I had originally wanted to do both Arkle and Foinaven, but with hindsight Foinaven is not practical from where I’d started and if I’d set my sights on Arkle instead, which is smaller both in height and breadth, then I would have easily been able to reach the summit, so perhaps next time, whenever that may be. I enjoyed the walk amongst stunning mountain scenery and the slow descent, especially when out of the wind, that let me catch my breath after an exhausting and exhilarating walk. 

Around Lairg

Friday 31st May 2024

With the improving weather I had on the day before this walk, I felt that it would be a shame not to climb a mountain this day, so after a discussion with the owner of the campsite I was staying at I decided to head up Ben Klibreck, the closest Munro and the only one in East Sutherland. I woke to sunshine and eagerly set off north along the narrow A836 road, but when I reached the foot of the mountain I found that clouds had already covered the top and unless they cleared I would not have a view, and apparently the view is the best thing about that mountain. I had difficulty finding a parking space on the single-track road, so after driving up and down I eventually parked at the entrance to the Creag Riabhach Wind Farm from where I needed to walk for a mile along the road before I reached the path that branches off across the River Vagastie and beside the Fèith Bad an Loch stream along a path that was very boggy and not at all reliable. With Ben Klibreck holding onto the cloud ahead of me and the weather deteriorating, I was beginning to question the wisdom of continuing along this difficult, tiring path that had become little more than a bog-hop. I walk purely for pleasure and I was certainly not going to climb Ben Klibreck simply to tick off a mountain on a list. I enjoy being at the top of a mountain but mainly only when there is a view and the poor, overcast weather that I had now was not inspiring me to keep going. Near the outflow of Loch Bad an Loch I stopped and considered my route ahead across largely pathless, boggy, heather moorland and eventually I decided to turn back.

I most appreciate walking on good paths and this attempt up Ben Klibreck seemed like too much hard work, and ultimately a waste of effort. After returning to my car I drove back along the single-track road to the village of Lairg where I had a look around, including in the tiny Church Hill Woodland which overlooks the reservoir, Little Loch Shin, that lies in the centre of the village. Eventually I made my way to the Ferrycroft Visitor Centre, where I read up on the history of the area before setting off into Ferry Community Woodland. My original plans for this day were meagre and ill-defined and started with this short walk that took me through a young wood on the shore of the loch and all too soon brought me to the dam that separates Little Loch Shin from its much bigger neighbour, Loch Shin. Back at the visitor centre I started the second leg which took me up Ord Hill where I had panoramic views of the surrounding countryside that included the two lochs and south down Achany Glen. The weather was still not good but I enjoyed the vantage point from this modest hill where prehistoric remains of chambered cairns and hut circles littered the slopes. None of the hills in this area are particularly high, it’s not a very dramatic landscape being more subdued, but I was still pleasant to walk around and explore this quiet part of Scotland.

As I was coming down from Ord Hill rain attempted to fall and these brief showers continued throughout the afternoon, perhaps confirming that this was not to be a great day for walking. A local guidebook had revealed to me that there was something interesting to see down Achany Glen, so I drove south through the valley to Shin Falls where a large car park was provided opposite a path that descends steeply to the River Shin and a waterfall, singular. I was rather disappointed by Shin Falls as there wasn’t much to it and the viewpoint simply brings you to a place where you can see salmon leaping, but it did not provide me with a good picture of the falls. The path didn’t go anywhere else so I had to climb back up to the road where I turned onto a waymarked path between the road and river that provided me with more interest. Blue ringed posts marked the route that soon crossed the road and returned to the car park where I now started to follow green ringed posts that led me up the hill through Shin Forest. I contemplated extending the walk to the top of the hill behind the wood, but since I had not been sleeping well I was very tired, so I just kept to the green ringed posts which rewarded me with views across Achany Glen before descending back down through the wood to the car park.

This was an odd day and disappointing since when I got up I thought the weather was going to be good and I’d be able to walk up a mountain. Instead the weather soon deteriorated and I was left to do several short walks in the area, which were nevertheless relaxing and enjoyable in a way, but not very satisfying.