Scotland Trip
We were up fairly early this morning and were on our way by just after 9.30am. It was another amazing sunny day. Our route was 22km (about 14 miles) return, including the 731 metres of ascent, which looks pretty much vertical from a distance. After a few kilometres we got the first peek of Suilven of the day, which looked very big and very far away.
We stopped for a pork pie and scone break after a respectable distance (about 7km), and then started the walk to the base of the hill.
Things felt much harder going now, as the ground was even rougher and wetter underfoot, and we were now going uphill, albeit quite gradually. We saw lots of little lizards, frogs and an adder crossing the path, which Claire was rather nervous of when I told her it was poisonous.
The real fun started when we reached the base of the hill to start the near vertical climb up. Looking at Suilven in profile from a distance, it looks pretty much impossible to climb.
It didn't look much easier close up, but we could just make out a path higher up. Plus, we could see people already up there and the route was in our guide book. The route up went up the middle section in between the big humps at either end. It was just as steep as we expected, with various sizes of loose rocks covering the path.
We eventually dragged ourselves onto the saddle bit of the hill (in the middle), to find a couple of people sitting down amongst mountains of kit. It turned out they were there with 4 friends, so there wasn't that much kit after all. We chatted for a bit, and both came to the same conclusion that they were a bit weird. Mainly because they were all wearing a variety of inappropriate clothing (skinny jeans, denim waistcoat, thick woollen knitted jumpers), but were on top of one of Scotland's most remote inaccessible summits that's not exactly for beginners. They were all wearing walking boots, although not all of them looked waterproof.
We left them rolling cigarettes and drinking coffee and headed up to the summit, which is the end with the rounder hump. Good job that is the highest end, as the pointy hump is so difficult to get up that the guidebook refuses to describe the route for fear of getting sued. Claire had told me in no uncertain terms over breakfast, that we would not be attempting the pointy summit. It was very windy up there, but the sun came back out from behind some clouds and we found a sheltered spot and had lunch overlooking an incredible landscape of lochs, sea, islands, and weird shaped hills.
The summit ridge was rounded and grassy, and you could have pitched a tent on it if you weren't bothered about the wind. We came across a wall across the saddle, which for the life of us we can't think what purpose it serves all the way up there. Google can't shed any light on it either.
By the time we set off back down again, the weird group were reaching the bottom of the steep descent. We were surprised at how quickly we caught them up, as the descent was hard work, and scary because rocks kept slipping from under our feet. I set off a small rockfall that only missed Claire because she dashed on ahead instead of turning round to look at the tumbling rocks, which is probably what I would have done. We spotted a Peregrine on the way down, which was chasing after a crow and screeching at it. They don't usually do that unless the crow's been playing up, so I dread to think what it had been up to as the Peregrine was pretty angry.
The weird group gave us the impression that they didn't really know what they were doing or where they were going. There was no sign of a map between them, and two of them asked us how far it was to Inverkerkaig. I think my estimate of 4 miles was probably a bit on the low side. It was a good job it was such a nice day or they would have been in real trouble with their denim and wool.
After the steep descent was done, we made quite fast progress along the rough boggy ground of the return leg. It seemed easier than on the way until we reached our previous pork pie stop, where we didn't stop this time, after which things became very hard going. I think it was just a case of tired legs wanting another rest. We eventually stopped for a Belgian bun and a coffee about 3 miles from the end of the walk, thinking it would seem like a short walk back afterwards. But those last 3 miles were the longest 3 miles I have ever walked. My legs just did not want to move. It was such a relief when George finally came into view.
I was just starting a baby wipe wash inside the van when the two of the weird group arrived in the car park, which was empty apart from George. I had to cut my cleaning short because they plonked themselves down on the nearby picnic table, where they remained for over an hour while their friends caught up and their other friends arrived in a car. We were glad when they finally left because they were disturbing our peace and quiet, not to mention attending to our personal hygiene.
We're feeling very pleased with ourselves after today, as not only have we managed one of the hardest walks we've ever done, but we've now ticked off 25 of the 100 hills on the Trail 100 list. We're both absolutely exhausted now, and after we've finished our wine I think it will be an early night for us.
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