The Red Cuillin Hills

Friday 4th July 2008

For the last walk on my holiday I caught a bus to the popular climber's haunt, Sligachan Inn, at the northern end of the great Cuillin range with the mighty Sgurr na Gillean dominating the landscape. I had considered going up the eye-catching mountain, but a wet start and my own reluctance to fall from a great height to my death, I mean to climb such a difficult and exposed mountain, redirected my attention elsewhere. Instead I went up the hills nearby that, despite sharing a similar name to the Cuillin, are very different in character. The Red Cuillin are rounded hills with smooth grassy slopes low down and above 300m have an abundance of loose rock strewn about their steep hillsides. They are not rugged or challenging, they have no jagged angles or sheer cliffs and they are not even very high, but the views from them are amazing. I started along a path that follows the shallow ravines of Allt Daraich and then veered off towards Sron a’Bhealain across a boggy plain. Once the bog was thankfully left behind I climbed the hill to the top of Sron a’Bhealain, and along the ridge beyond. With the boring bit over I began to climb the steep scree slopes of Beinn Dearg Mheadonach (Middle Red Mountain), with similar climbs being required on all of these hills. When I reached the top I walked around the edge of the corrie, over the actual summit and on to the end of the ridge. The views towards the neighbouring hills from this vantage point and even across the sea to Scalpay were sensational. The early rain had cleared to leave me with great weather for the rest of the day, and was giving me good views everywhere even though the biggest hills, including all of the Cuillin remained hidden beneath clouds for much of the day. It was rather satisfying to be on top of the Red Cuillin with clear views while Blaven and the Cuillin were wrapped around in cloud, so maybe I had made the right choice. Returning to the main corrie edge I descended to Bealach Mosgaraidh and climbed the higher Beinn Dearg Mhor (Big Red Mountain – spot a running theme in these names?). It took me a long time to climb up the scree but eventually I reached the summit where I had my lunch in the excellent weather with superb views all around me. After lunch I descended the interminable scree to Bealach na Sgairde, sliding down on occasions rather than walking due to the steepness of the scree. This was a difficult descent but that was nothing compared to the ascent that was ahead of me up Glamaig.

With no path to follow I struggled up the steep scree and I seemed to be taking forever, feeling like I'd never reach the top. However, when I was almost at the summit I turned away and traversed the eastern ridge of Glamaig to its end, An Coilleach, where I had great views out to sea and towards the mainland, before returning along the ridge to complete my ascent of the summit. Now began a descent that will forever be remembered for its frenetic haste and steepness as, with terrifying speed on the steep scree, I slid down the slope often using my hands to keep upright. How I never came to a sorry end I’ll never know, and even once the scree was over I still had long grass slopes to descend before eventually I reached the boggy floor. That descent seemed to just keep going down and down, never ending as I had thought I would reach the bottom once I’d cleared the scree. Once finally at the bottom a wet walk beside the river brought me back to Sligachan where, while I was still some distance away, I saw the bus that I had half-hoped I would catch, was leaving the Inn. Catching that bus had been a weak excuse to come hurtling down a steep slope but it was tremendous fun nonetheless and the walk turned out to be epic, though before starting I had expected it to be short and easy. The scree slopes, particularly on Glamaig, proved to be really strenuous and time consuming. A combination of those scree slopes and the heat really drained me of energy, but fortunately this was the last walk of my holiday so I was be able to go back to work the following week and recover from my holiday!

Bla Bheinn

Thursday 3rd July 2008

During a rest day I travelled to the Isle of Skye where I spent a whole week’s holiday last year with rather poor weather put a downer on the walks that I did in the awesome Cuillin. This year however the weather improved markedly and gave me a brilliant walk on a fine mountain with amazing views of the Cuillin Hills. To start I caught a bus to a track near the village of Kilmarie which I followed across the countryside over a low shoulder to reveal my first stunning views of the Cuillin. Breaking off from the track I followed a path across the stream, Abhainn nan Leac, and up onto the south ridge of Bla Bheinn.

Once I had climbed up the grassy slopes and around to the top of the ridge the view of the Cuillin got even better as I was now able to see over the top of Skurr na Stri and provide me with a much better view of the whole Cuillin range. Clouds on some of the tops gradually lifted during the climb to ensure that my eyes were constantly veering to the left. I was absolutely overcome by the sight of these hills that are the most rugged and dramatic in Britain, and were constantly drawing my attention away from the ridge I was walking up, which is a great shame as the ridge is fantastic. I was climbing up wonderfully rugged slopes with scrambling opportunities whenever I wanted them but always with a clear path that avoided any difficulties. Near the top I was enveloped by mist that blocked my view of the Cuillin and forced me to turn my attention to the ridge I was climbing all the way up to the south top of Bla Bheinn. The summit, across a short gap, proved to be quite a challenge to cross. I hadn't needed to do any scrambling on the way up, but now to get to the summit I would have to scramble down a rather exposed rock face. After a few hair-raising moments I managed to descend the steep rock face, cross the col and up to the summit.

I had lunch in brilliant sunshine and admired the views all around me while despairing at how busy the summit was becoming. All week I'd had the hills pretty much to myself so it was a bit of a shock to have to share this summit with as many as ten people, especially as I hadn’t seen anyone on my ascent (there is an easier route up than the one I had taken). Still, it’s not like the hundred people who would be at the top of Snowdon. After lunch I left the crowds behind and crossed back to the southern top, which of course required that I scramble up that tricky section again. Somehow it seemed even more difficult going up than down, but the knowledge that I’d successfully gone down resolved me to accomplish the climb. Once back at the top I started the long drop to the bottom down the really steep south-eastern slopes. Fortunately there was a clear path that zigzagged down the scree so the descent was not too difficult and I was able to take my time as I crossed the col at the bottom while gazing in awe at the huge cliffs and rock architecture of Fionna Choire that was an inspiring sight and awed with every look. A short rock climb brought me up to the top of Slat Bheinn which is a broad angled plain littered with boulders and ponds and provided me with a prolonged descent in glorious weather and through stunning scenery.

Eventually I reached the track that I took on ascent and followed this to the road where I caught the bus back to the youth hostel. Blaven is a relatively easy mountain to walk up, though for Skye any mountain you can walk up is relatively easy! This mountain has easy enough paths from a road that is not too far away which makes it easily accessible to most people, and yet is still really rugged and typical of the main Cuillin ridge in many places. Despite its easy paths the northern side of the mountain is totally inaccessible to anyone except the most skilled rock-climbers. Blaven is a rough, rugged mountain that is happy to allow anyone onto its back, in sharp contrast to the Cuillin, which are a rather exclusive set of mountains. Apart from one or two exceptions they are very elusive and difficult to climb; you can look at them from afar but you can’t come any closer or you will find some really hair-raising terrain that prevents all but the most committed from venturing up to the ridge. Blaven, though, takes all comers, like a jolly old Grandfather.

This walk was ultimately rather short, partly as a result of the bus timetable that demanded that I start at 10.30 and finish at 5.15, but it was still quite enjoyable. It was a good walk on a great mountain with a good rocky climb up a great ridge with some amazing views. The ridge may not have been as narrow as the fantastic ridges in Glen Shiel that I’d been on earlier in the week, but it was still a good rugged walk, however my attention was rather too distracted by the Cuillin, which detracted my attention from the mountain I was actually on. I think ultimately my problem with this walk was that I only went up one mountain, one Munro. Usually my walks will encompass several hills, and when in Scotland that is usually two Munros, but in fact this week I only gone up one Munro each day and on the final walk the next day I didn’t go up any. Is that the reason for my gloomy mood as I walked back down to the road? I don’t know, because the weather was fantastic which would usually provide you with an enjoyable day in the hills.