An inverpolly evening

Cul Mor seen from the descent to the road near Knockan cliff

The wind was dead and the midges were still out. I chose to have a lie in and set off close to midday when a sea breeze set in. I walked out east to the road to pick up a stalkers track at Knockan Cliff that formed an easy approach to Cul Mor. That soon disappeared leaving a muddy path to take me up the rest of the east ridge and then to a camp high up beneath the final summit slopes of Cul Mor.

Stac Polly seen sandwiched between Cul Beag and Cul Mor

Showers in the east with the slopes of Cul More in sunshine

Despite my late start I arrived at the camp spot in mid afternoon. I dumped the tent and continued up to Cul Mor from the northeastern slopes. The final slopes were steep and rocky but gave way suddenly to the summit. The views were pretty good. Out to the east there was rain that had always been there. I was very lucky in that I was close enough to the coast such that I missed the stuff. Big rain clouds also formed to the north over Quinag and the south over Coigach.

Suilven seen with big clouds forming behind

The west ridge of Cul Mor

Stac Polly looking very small

Looking south into the murk

I returned to my tent but returned to the ridge later on that evening to grab some great photos of golden light over Inverpolly and Suilven - what an evening!

Evening sunshine to the east

Canisp looming ominous in evening sunshine

The next day was a transition day to get to the base of Suilven. It was a reversed of the approach up Cul Mor followed by a long road slog and a walk up a wet Boggy Stalkers track in still showery conditions. Not nice.

The steep eastern profile of Suilven

Showers wreathing Suilven on the approach

Close to the foot of the
steep ascent of suilven

It was a breezy morning so I was up early to catch the golden morning colours on Suilven. This is one the most spectacular little mountains that I've ever climbed. It's one long narrow ridges that's completely straight on the map but with almost perfect reflectional symmetry along the spine of the ridge. The ascent to the ridge was up to the Bealach Mor from the north. The ascent was steep but on a well worn path that ended suddenly on the narrow saddle.

Cul Mor and Cul Beag seen from Suilven

Stac Polly seen from Suilven

I headed out west to the principle summit past a perfectly constructed stone wall (why's it here anyway?) and up some easy rock steps. The ridge was quite broad for the main part but fell off very steeply on both sides quite close by. Some of the views in the shifting mist were very intimidating but the path was very easy. Sometimes the path was directly above a big drop.

I finally reached the summit as the clouds raced past. It was chilly up here and I waited for the clouds to part and reveal the ridge I ascended in all its drama. I got my shots and then returned to the tent. It was a three hour round trip from the tent - quite an easy summit. Now it was time for Canisp.

Canisp seen from Suilven

The east top of Suilven

East ridge of Suilven

A well made stalkers track made its way up the lower slopes of the mountain leaving me close to the bottom of the main northwestern ridge. From a distance this ridge looks quite nice but in actual fact it's pretty broad and grassy. There are northern cliffs near the top of the ridge but nothing spectacular. This mountain was probably the least dramatic in the Inverpolly / Assynt region. The summit was rocky nonetheless and the slopes out to the south east appeared to be similarly rocky.

Suilven seen from Canisp

Suilven seen from the camp site

I returned to my tent. So far the weather was good but a heavy late afternoon shower came in to cool things down a bit.

It was a nice campsite here with birdsong over Loch na Gainimh that heralded the approach of dusk and also the start of the day.

Next day I walked out north to the Lochinver road under glorious sunshine. From there I attempted to hitchhike round to Torridon for my final mainland munro. The hitchhiking was terrible. I was waiting two hours on the Lochinver road and a further three in Ullapool. This was by far the worst hitchhiking I've ever experienced. I just gave up and went back to Inverness going home the following day.

Well, I enjoyed this trip despite the midges and although I was disappointed not to climb Liathach, the tour of Inverpolly more than made up for that. I now start a new job down in Surrey. I don't know how many times I'll be out to Scotland in the next few months. But with luck I can grab some weekends to the highlands (Ideally every weekend though that may be a wee bit expensive!)