An atmospheric morning. Clouds breaking over the hills, the smell of the western sea. Midges out in full force.
We parked at Sligachan, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Basteir and The Tooth peeping at us through the mist. Memories of days on the Cuillin. Incomparable days; gabbro-worn finger tips; worrying times in mist trying to ensure our descent was not of the airborne variety; a storm on the In Pinn with non-climbing friends on their second round of the Munros and one of them filming it; balmy days just watching the world go by; camps at Glenbrittle imagining the scene in the days of Steeple, Barlow and other early pioneers. We will be back. But I digress, as the say.
Today we were heading for the granite of the Red Cuillin. Specifically for Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach, one of three tops forming the two and a half mile ridge of Beinn Dearg Mhor.
'Hang on', shouted Lynne. Not for the first time, I'd missed the path and was heading down Glen Sligachan. Path junctions are my nemesis.
Across the myrtle-scented moor we went, avoiding the boggy bits, losing the path and finding another, into some boggy bits, back onto the path. Cuckoos were about somewhere.
The ascent to Druim na Ruaige is steep, but a steady rhythm brought us to the cairn quite quickly it seemed. Little or no wind meant midges began to feast when we stopped for tea and cake so the halt was brief.
The dark clouds engulfing the Cuillin and Marsco began to lift but it was not to last and, by the time we had crossed the pleasant, grassy, Druim na Ruaige and started up the final slopes, light mist was skimming even our lowly hill. A few feet away a ptarmigan and chicks hurried away over the granite scree.
Having previously traversed the ridge in fine weather we opted for a descent to 'break out the food and the drink' as a friend said after the epic on the In Pinn mentioned earlier.
Then back to Sligachan.
Alan S - yes Gleann an Fhiodh was pretty dry. The area had ten days of great weather just before our arrival! I imagine you had it at its worst. Trying to get connected to Highland Wi-Fi here on Skye is hopeless which is ironic since the guy who founded it is local! If you substitute the words 'Highland Wi-Fi' in your review of the Rab pull-on, you'll get an accurate description of my opinion of it.
Take care.
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