Summer 2004 - the far north (part 1)

July 2004 - Anne and I set off with tent for a couple of weeks in the far north, and were blessed with excellent weather.  Here's what we achieved:


4th July  Ben Klibreck


Parked on the A836 at the footbridge just north of Vagastie.  Headed across boggy ground, gradually rising up to the broad ridge of Ben Klibreck.  Followed a nice wee path along west side of ridge then final steep climb to Meall nan Con (M167).  


New boots still not comfortable!


Ben Loyal from Ben Klibreck:

5th July Ben Loyal


Not a Munro, but surely one of the best hills in Scotland - especially when viewed from the the Kyle of Tongue (left) - and deserving of its nickname "Queen of Mountains" 


From left to right: 
Sgor Chaonasaid (708m), 
An Caisteal (764m), 
Sgor a' Bhatain (700m), 
Sgor A'Chleirich (642m) and 
Sgurr Fhionnaich (568m).

We started off by bike, but could only manage a short distance beyond Ribigill Farm, then continued on foot across the moor.  The river was full, but we managed  to cross dry shod on a fallen tree!  From Cunside, a steep muddy ascent to the coire, then up steeper (but dry) grassy slopes to Sgor Chaonasaid.  Navigation was a bit confusing in mist, but this lifted as we walked across the grassy plateau over to Sgor a' Bhatain (right), and the views opened up nicely.  

We enjoyed some scrambling on the rocks, then continued to the huge rocky summit block of An Caisteal.   



Chatted to a couple on the summit - earlier we had met the chap looking for "Jill" who had gone wandering off on her own.  (see tomorrow's post for continuation of that particular story!)


Meanwhile we continued on along grassy slopes over Heddle's Top (Beinn Bheag), and round to Sgor a' Chleirich.

This final top is a superb viewpoint, looking across to Sgurr Fhionnaich (right).  Returning to the col, we dropped into the coire below An Caisteal, then negotiated our way down through the crags and woods to the flat lands below.  The next trick was to cross the Allt Lon Malmsaig - only a burn, but it had been channelled into a just-too-wide-to-jump canal.  We found an old plank long enough to stretch across, and strong enough to get 1.5 of us across!  I ended up with wet legs!  Anyway, it was a warm day, so the experience wasn't too unpleasant.   


The final challenge was extricating the bikes from the centre of a herd of cows!


(written 03/01/10)