Huw Griffiths: 2016

The route up to the Isle of Skye took us through Glen Coe, Scotland's most famous and most scenic glen. This panoramic view showing Stob Dearg towering above the landscape on the right, turned out to be one of my favourite photos of the trip. Between the mountains is the vast Rannoch moor which reaches 10 miles into the distance.

The Old Man of Storr is a spectacular pinnacle of rock, 50m high, on the east coast of Skye.
Well worth a visit.

Skye

The view from the Old Man of Storr looking out to sea across the Sound of Raasay.

Driving past Loch Glascarnoch with snow-capped views of Beinn Dearg, on our journey through the north west Highlands.

Loch Droma makes a nice scenic stop, with views of An Teallach 14 miles away in the distance.

Our first glimpse of Suilven (731m) since our epic night camp on its summit four years ago. Our mission this time was to venture up the nearby mighty Canisp (847m) three miles to the east, where the best views of Suilven can be had.

Canisp is one of the toughest Scottish mountains to climb; not in a gradient sense, but in an arduous and psychological sense. It consists of a four mile hike over very rocky ground to this isolated peak with no paths to follow. After a scenic start there follows mile upon mile of harsh terrain covered with bolders that feels never-ending.

The long hike up takes several hours and seems to go on forever, but as you near the summit, the north face of Suilven comes into view; this is the only reason to climb Canisp. The summits of Canisp and Suilven are three miles apart.

Left to right: Cul Mor, Stac Pollaidh and Suilven (from Canisp)

One of the great reasons for a summit camp is not only that it divides the adventure up over two days, but it also means being able to watch a great sunset from above the clouds. That evening was a particularly good one. But no sunset is complete unless you have a decent cup of tea in your hands, and so we took a fine Kenyan tea, a lightweight glass teapot and half a pint of milk up with us. It was worth it!

After that long hard climb we pitched camp, made dinner and had a very good night's sleep, in the fresh mountain air.

We woke up to another day of fine weather. As the morning moved on, it got so warm that we actually went for a swim on Canisp; something we never thought we would end up doing!

It was this mountain stream pool on Canisp that looked too inviting to resist.

At a metre and a half deep, it provided the perfect chance to take a dip and freshen up. Yes, it was cold but we soon found that after a short while it was actually quite refreshing.

As one drives through the Scottish Highlands, there is no end to the wonderful scenery that lies around every step of the journey. Aside from the blasted midges and the lengthy journey up there, Scotland has much to offer (if you get the good weather!)

And so we came to the other tough challenge of the trip; to do the notoriously demanding walk which forms the last section of the Cape Wrath Trail, from Kinlochbervie to the Cape Wrath lighthouse on the most northerly west tip of Scotland. This is a fourteen mile hike across the remotest moorland, miles away from civilisation, certainly no mobile signal, and easy to get lost if you don't follow your map and compass/ GPS. If you were unlucky enough to lose your bearings and start walking eastwards, you would walk ten miles before reaching the nearest road, having crossed endless mountains, bogs and rivers. People have died trying to do this walk.

A well defined path runs the first four miles to Sandwood Bay, but after that, for the next ten miles, there is no path. Some hikers try to follow the rugged coast, others take a more inland route through the vast moorland. As we had planned an overnight stay at the remote Strathchailleach bothy, a couple of miles north east of Sandwood Bay, we headed that way.

By this time, the light was fading. What looked like a white speck in the distance that might be the bothy, turned out to be just a pale rock. It was time to get out the GPS. The weather was getting bleak and it was good to finally reach the bothy. There was an old man already staying in the bothy that night with a small log fire burning in the fireplace which we helped to keep going that evening. We cooked dinner on our stove before getting in our sleeping bags.

After a nice hot bowl of porridge the next morning we headed north, side-stepping the many peat bogs along the way, being very glad of my GPS, map and trekking poles.

Many hours later, the Cape Wrath lighthouse came into view and we eventually arrived there.
That night was spent in the Kearvaig bothy, not far from Cape Wrath.

The next day we walked some miles along the track towards the Kyle of Durness before catching the passing minibus and ferry across the Kyle. Another three mile walk followed to Durness where we managed to catch the one bus of the day 20 miles back to Kinlochbervie.