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SCOTLAND

The First time I went to Scotland to go and climb was about 1996 with Colin, this was my first time on the Isle of Skye. Colin had always talked of his adventures on this lovely Isle, so I could not wait to go there myself.

We camped at the Glenbrittle campsite, which makes a very good base for climbing The Cullin Mountains. Colin had decided for my first climb on these huge mountains, would be a climb up Sgùrr Alasdair at 992m. We started off from Glenbrittle campsite, going up the Coire Làgan. We headed up Eastern Gully of Sròn na Ciche. The weather was not great but as we had only a couple of days on the Isle of Skye, we thought we would have a go at it. As we climbed the weather came in, we went past Loch an Fhir-bhaillach without seeing it. We took shelter under an overhanging rock, there was hail which seemed to rebound off the ground and back up!!!! 
We carried on up, determined to do the climb, we past the
Cioch Buttress, which was seen in the film Highlander.
The weather deteriorated so much that we just about made the ridge, and with the wind almost hurricane force we turned back, eventually finding Loch an Fhir-bhaillach on the way back down...
This was to be our first and last attempt during this visit. 

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The Old Inn at Carbost Isle of Skye

We enjoyed the hospitallity of the owners of The Old Inn, in Carbost. The food there is excellent, we even arranged to have breakfast there even though we was not staying there.

 

In 1997 Colin claims we went to Skye again with another work colleague, Dean. According to Colin we walked up to Coire Làgan with the intention of doing the circuit of Corie Làgan, taking in Sgùrr Alasdair (992m), Sgùrr Mhic Coinnich (946m) and the In Pinn. But the weather beat us again, it was very misty and we couldn't see more than 5 yards in front of us, so we turned back. I to this day still cannot remember going to Skye with Dean, hence the lack of information.

In 1999 Colin and I went with a friend of mine from Andover, Pendra. Pendra has travelled the world before we met at a company we both worked at, he loves his walking and climbing just like I do. As normal we pitched our tent at Glenbrittle. The following day it was our intention to climb Am Bhàstier. We parked the car in a layby near to The Sligachan Hotel. We crossed the road and followed the track across the footbridge over the Allt Dearg Mòr, we followed the track to the bank of Allt Dearg Beag, keeping it to our left. We then climbed Sgùrr a' Bhàsteir (2946ft - 898m) and then along the ridge to the Bhàsteir Tooth, where we turned east at the base of the 400ft vertical wall of Am Bhàstier, and up to the bealach. Yet again the weather intervened, with snow and ice still on the ground we decided it was not safe to try and climb any further. At this point we decided to have a snow ball fight, which was a good laugh and gave us a rest for five or ten minutes. Then we headed back down to the car. If my memory is correct we headed off home the following day.

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Part of the Cullin Ridge viewed from near The Sligachan Hotel

Sgurr nan Gillean on the left

Am Bhasteir in the centre

and Bruach na Frithe on the right

In 2002 Colin had the idea to drive the long way round to Skye going via Inverness (a trip of about 600+ miles, instead of the normal 500 miles). The reason for going this way was to visit a place called Fairy Lochs near to the village of Badachro near Gairloch, to show Geoff and I the crash site of a USAAF Liberator which was returning servicemen home to the USA at the end of World War II. The area is classed as a war grave, remnants of the wreckage still can be found there, but visitors are expected not to disturb them. We arrived in the area, and followed Colin as he said it's over here... after nearly an hour of walking around we decided to call it a day, as we had to still get to Skye and put up our tents. The drive from Fairy Lochs took us past An Teallach (1062m). Colin calls this the finest mountain in Scotland! as I have not been up close and personal with it, I can only take his word for it. 

The memorial to the crew of the USAAF Liberator which crashed near Fairy Lochs, while returning servicemen home to the USA at the end of WWII

We then travelled through Glen Torridon passing Ben Eighe (1008m) and Liathach (1053m). This was my first view of the Torridon range, and I was in awe of the whole place (made a mental note to return at some point in the future). We arrived on Skye in the afternoon where we spent 3 full days camped in Glenbrittle. Because of my ambition to get to and climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle (986m) at the summit, our first day was the attempt at Sgùrr Dearg. We started at the "sheilings" (animal pens), at Glenbrittle House. Passing the Eas Mor waterfall after about half a mile. Alas it was not to be, because Colin became exhausted. Colin was very upset at this because it was a very rare fine weather day and he felt he had let the side down. Geoff and I reassured Colin that he need not worry as the mountain has been there for thousands of years and will be there beyond our lifetime so we could tackle it another time. After a short rest we headed back down. On the second day it was typical Skye weather... rain! We decided to go and have a look round Portree and then we went on to Dunvegan Castle, this is a lovely place to visit if the weather is none too good.

The Isle Of Skye

On our last full day on Skye, Colin was feeling a lot better, so we went to Sligachen to try our luck on the North Cullin. We started from near the hotel, after around about 2.5 miles we came to Coire a’ Bhàsteir with its little lochan. We rested awhile, then started up the gruelling scree slope that leads to the bealach a’ Bhàsteir between Sgùrr nan Gillean (3162ft – 964m) and Am Bàsteir (3064ft-934m). At this point Colin was feeling tired and said for Geoff and me to continue to the summit of Am Bàsteir, while he took a rest. About half way along the ridge you come to the “Bad Step” a 3 metre high notch in the ridge to negotiate, this made Geoff a little nervous, which is quite understandable because there is a steep drop to the south and a 400ft vertical drop-off to the North. So Geoff stayed put while I lowered myself somehow down the 3 metres of the “Bad Step” and bagged my 1st Munro. I made my way back, finding it easier to go up the “Bad Step” than going down it! Once here, Geoff and I made our way back to Colin. From there we made our way along the west ridge of Sgùrr nan Gillean, which is reputed to be one of the most difficult ridges on Skye. We got to “Nicholson’s Chimney”, but Geoff didn’t fancy the climb up it, so we returned to our car and then into the bar of The Sligachen Hotel for a well-deserved pint! Then back to the campsite. The following day we headed off home, this was to be my last visit to the Isle of Skye. I do hope to return at some point in the future.

Geoff, me & Colin in the beer garden of The Old Inn Carbost on the last day  of our last visit to Skye.

In 2004 Colin, Geoff and I set off for Glencoe. Although I had passed through Glencoe before, this was to be my 1st time of doing any climbing in the area. We set up our tent in Glen Etive, Colin had only bought this tent at the Outdoor Show in Birmingham this year! We were just glad the weather was OK as it took us a while to work out how exactly this tent went up! Once we got the tent up and everything sorted, we had a well deserved cuppa, we then went for a wander around the area, we had the River Etive on our doorstep. For our evening meal we went to Glencoe village to the Clachaig Inn, a brilliant hotel/bar/restaurant/entertainments venue. We had a couple of pints and a meal and a chat about what we were going to do the following day. It was while we were here that I discovered a lovely Scottish real ale called Three Sisters, brewed locally at the Atlas Brewery and named after The Three Sisters range of peaks in Glencoe. The following day when we woke, upon looking out to see what the weather was doing, we noticed some what looked like odd shaped bales of hay in the Glen. We couldn't work out where they had come from as they were not there the previous day, then they started to make a noise and start moving, they were a herd of deer and stags that had been lying down through the night. Oh to have had a decent camera that morning!! We got ourselves ready and headed to the Kings House Hotel for a hearty breakfast to start the day. We parked in a layby and set of to climb Buachille Etive Mor (3345ft) We headed up to and climbed the Curved Ridge. The weather was quite clear for most of the way up, when you looked down to the valley you could see for miles, watching the motorbikes most probably breaking the speed limit going along the near perfectly straight piece of road that cut through the valley! Once on the summit the mist rolled in, there was still snow and ice on the summit! We made our knee jarring way down into Coire na Tulaich, Colin's knees started to turn to jelly as he put it, so I decided to go on ahead and bring the car as near as possible as Colin would have struggled to do the last bit. So I picked up the pace, leaving Colin & Geoff in my wake! Once off the mountain I headed along the road to collect the car, walking towards the traffic even though I wasn't on the road. While I was walking to the car I could hear approaching traffic coming from behind me but as I was on the opposite side of the road I paid it no real attention, that is until the point I was nearly hit by a car overtaking another car! I am sure the wing mirror was only inches away from my arm as it shot past me! I got the car and returned to where I had come off the mountain, just in time as Colin & Geoff were approaching the road. I at least saved Colin the walk along the road to the car. We returned to the tent, had a cuppa and watched the stags across the river running about. We later returned to the Clachaig Inn for a good evening meal and some more Three Sisters, well it would have been but they had just run out so I had to indulge in a pint or 2 of Nimbus . The following day we went for breakfast again at the hotel, after breakfast we returned to the tent and packed everything up and went home.

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