Assynt Log #2
- hiking scotland
From the top of Suilven we see Stac Pollaidh, another lonely mountain, loads of lochs, and basically all of Coigach and Assynt and possibly even bits of Torridon as well. We take a break and I quickly run up the western peak.
When we descend on the other side, it is quite steep again, but the views distract from the effort and then the sun comes out and everything gets even more beautiful. It’s also getting quite warm.
Once down we make our way across the moor, following a decent path laid out with cairns, which doesn’t look at all like it’s going the way the path in the book is going. But it’s the only path around and better than none. The general direction seems to be ok. Things are looking good.
But as the path goes on and on it dawns on us how far we still have to walk and how little daylight we have left. The nearest proper track is several hours away. The mood turns. The midges come out even though it’s sunny, and we march on silently. Skimming through the book we realise that we have a long way to go still, and that there won’t be a proper path for much of it. A slightly scary prospect as we are in the middle of nowhere, the sun is quite low, and the hills are throwing long shadows.
We meet another path which, according to the book, should be better, but isn’t. We may have been on the wrong one, or we joined the wrong one, or the book is wrong. We follow the new path anyway as I don’t want to leave it when we don’t have a better one. Thankfully there is a series of lochs to follow, so it’s not too hard to navigate here.
We have to walk through a hidden gorge, and I’m quite relieved when we find it, as it is quite a unique feature in the landscape and affirms me that we’re on the right track. It’s also quite fun with the sun setting in front of us and continuing to provide brilliant views. We’re still worried but not worried enough not to still take pictures!
After the gorge comes a loch where we follow sheep paths and later meet a potentially human path. We even occasionally spot human footprints which makes me unreasonably happy. My main worries have changed over the course of the day. Up on Suilven I wanted to make it back to the hostel in daylight so we wouldn’t have to drive in the dark on the narrow and bendy single track roads. On our way down, when I realised how low the sun was already, I hoped to make it back to the car in daylight. When it took forever to cross the moor I just wanted to at least make it back to the road in daylight. But now I’m just hoping we get to a decent path while it is bright enough to find it. This we manage, although we’ve set the bar for what a decent path is quite low now.
Both Kat and I brought along head torches. In my case, this was more ironic, I really didn’t expect to use them! When we finally get past the loch we can see in the last orange light of the setting sun the silhouette of a house in the far end of a ravine. A welcome sight. We make it through the ravine and to the road by 8 pm and it is dark.
It is still a bit to walk to Lochinver and from there to the car park. We don’t know how far exactly, but we reckon 1-2 hours. I don’t really mind now. My feet are tired but we can’t get lost anymore, we won’t have to spend the night in the hills, and we will get to the hostel eventually. I remember a story someone in a hostel in the Lake District told us once. It was about this guy who went walking and camping and didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t bring a sleeping bag. He ended up sleeping in his bagpack. But this won’t be us tonight after all.
The moon rises and is huge. It is a mild night and we see loads of deer. Very few cars pass us, maybe three or four, but none going our way. We eventually decide we want to know how far to go still, and we consult the map. It is another 5 km to the car.
We reach the car at 9.15 PM and are back in the hostel an hour later. The hostel warden has been waiting for us, he knew we’d climb Suilven. He smirks a bit when he sees us. We’re too tired to make dinner, so it’s a cup of tea for me and an Irn Bru for Kat, a hot shower and off to bed. I sleep like a baby.
When we descend on the other side, it is quite steep again, but the views distract from the effort and then the sun comes out and everything gets even more beautiful. It’s also getting quite warm.
Once down we make our way across the moor, following a decent path laid out with cairns, which doesn’t look at all like it’s going the way the path in the book is going. But it’s the only path around and better than none. The general direction seems to be ok. Things are looking good.
But as the path goes on and on it dawns on us how far we still have to walk and how little daylight we have left. The nearest proper track is several hours away. The mood turns. The midges come out even though it’s sunny, and we march on silently. Skimming through the book we realise that we have a long way to go still, and that there won’t be a proper path for much of it. A slightly scary prospect as we are in the middle of nowhere, the sun is quite low, and the hills are throwing long shadows.
We meet another path which, according to the book, should be better, but isn’t. We may have been on the wrong one, or we joined the wrong one, or the book is wrong. We follow the new path anyway as I don’t want to leave it when we don’t have a better one. Thankfully there is a series of lochs to follow, so it’s not too hard to navigate here.
We have to walk through a hidden gorge, and I’m quite relieved when we find it, as it is quite a unique feature in the landscape and affirms me that we’re on the right track. It’s also quite fun with the sun setting in front of us and continuing to provide brilliant views. We’re still worried but not worried enough not to still take pictures!
After the gorge comes a loch where we follow sheep paths and later meet a potentially human path. We even occasionally spot human footprints which makes me unreasonably happy. My main worries have changed over the course of the day. Up on Suilven I wanted to make it back to the hostel in daylight so we wouldn’t have to drive in the dark on the narrow and bendy single track roads. On our way down, when I realised how low the sun was already, I hoped to make it back to the car in daylight. When it took forever to cross the moor I just wanted to at least make it back to the road in daylight. But now I’m just hoping we get to a decent path while it is bright enough to find it. This we manage, although we’ve set the bar for what a decent path is quite low now.
Both Kat and I brought along head torches. In my case, this was more ironic, I really didn’t expect to use them! When we finally get past the loch we can see in the last orange light of the setting sun the silhouette of a house in the far end of a ravine. A welcome sight. We make it through the ravine and to the road by 8 pm and it is dark.
It is still a bit to walk to Lochinver and from there to the car park. We don’t know how far exactly, but we reckon 1-2 hours. I don’t really mind now. My feet are tired but we can’t get lost anymore, we won’t have to spend the night in the hills, and we will get to the hostel eventually. I remember a story someone in a hostel in the Lake District told us once. It was about this guy who went walking and camping and didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t bring a sleeping bag. He ended up sleeping in his bagpack. But this won’t be us tonight after all.
The moon rises and is huge. It is a mild night and we see loads of deer. Very few cars pass us, maybe three or four, but none going our way. We eventually decide we want to know how far to go still, and we consult the map. It is another 5 km to the car.
We reach the car at 9.15 PM and are back in the hostel an hour later. The hostel warden has been waiting for us, he knew we’d climb Suilven. He smirks a bit when he sees us. We’re too tired to make dinner, so it’s a cup of tea for me and an Irn Bru for Kat, a hot shower and off to bed. I sleep like a baby.
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| View from Suilven |
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| Stac Pollaidh |
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| Suilven from close |
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| Could be Quinaig? |
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| Getting real dark and no path in sight. |
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| Pretty sunset distracts us from panicking. |