First stop - Glen Nevis: With low cloud, drizzle and wind we stopped off on our way up north for a stroll down this lovely glen. The rock climbing up there looked good but unfortunately damp! Walking up thorugh the woods with the river roaring through the gorge beneath us really took me back to some of the walks I have done in New Zealand.
Steall Falls, Glen Nevis
Next stop: Skye
Its been an ambition of ours to do the Cullin Ridge traverse - often described as the greatest mountaineering day out in the UK. It features 10 km of tricky scrambling, route finding, sections of climbing up to severe, several abseils and 3000m of ascent... then there is the walk in and out! With a poor forecast we decided to do some sea cliff climbing on sunday at Elgol.
The Cuillin Ridge from Elgol
We did 4 good routes as the weather turned out grand - but we couldn't help wishing that we were up on the ridge. We headed round to Glen Brittle to prepare for a 4am alarm call and a full day on the ridge. The day started well, if not a little cold and we made good progress over the first half of the ridge. Just as we were thinking the full traverse was on the cards rain clouds appeared on the horizon! By 2 we were over 2/3rds of the way round but had to bail off as the rain set in for the rest of the day - gutting. We heard the next day that some one had fallen in the wet conditions futher along the ridge and died - this just shows how dangerous the mountains can be in bad conditions.
Jen on the Inn Pinn
With futher bad weather forcast we got one more sunny sea cliff climbing day in on the north of the Island before we headed south and east to Perthshire for some more laid back walking, climbing and running around the town of Pitlochry.
The River Braan
