Over The Hill

Day 5 and yesterdays wet and windy weather was still with us a we set out for Garbh-bheinn, the 808m Corbett that sits directly north of yesterdays summit, Blabheinn. We were aiming to do a circular route, starting from the layby on the A87, main coast road, as it skirts around the head of Loch Ainort, via Druim Eadar Da Choire, Garbh-bheinn and return via Belig.

After crossing the wet and boggy lower slopes of Druim Eadar Da Choire, a rough path is joined as we climb to the grassy summit of this 489m top, where, a year ago, we had stood as we completed our circuit from Marsco and noted Garbh-bheinn's north ridge as an option for some later visit.

Leaving the grassy summit behind, a short descent took us onto an entirely different level of hillside, as we clambered over loose rock and boulder and made minor scrambles up sharp rock edges; and all the while, drawing nearer to the grey cloud base that hung over the summit area.

The complexity of the jagged rocky crags and small pinnacle like structures that we encountered on the approach to the summit had us searching in the mist for a route onto the actual summit top, which we eventually found by skirting around a narrow ledge to make our approach from a more easterly direction.

Visibility on the summit was extremely poor, and although we knew that we should drop off to the north east to descend the ridge towards Bealach na Beiste, every avenue we tried saw us staring into a grey mist with no visual signs of the ridge below, or indeed if anything was below us; and so we detoured south south east for a very short distance before traversing north over a a very steep slope of scree and loose boulder to join the north east ridge slightly below the actual summit.

Once on the ridge, it proved to be a pleasant enough descent, with the rain, mist and cloud beginning to disperse as we gained the edge of Bealach na Beiste, at which point we decided to head directly down off the bealach, giving the heights of Belig a miss for today, and noting, as we often do, this hill for another day.

Therefore, from the bealach, we simply took the most direct line in a descending traverse of the slopes, crossing a number of the smaller streams flowing into the main Abhainn Ceann Loch Ainort and making one awkward trudge through very deep heather and small gorse shrubs on the approach to the lower slopes of Druim Eadar Da Choire, before regaining the A87 at the base of the much photographed falls at Eas a'Bhradain.

Yet another very different, and interesting day on the mountains of Skye, and our last for this year, as tomorrow we would leave the Memorial Hut at Glen Brittle, and make the short journey to Morvich on Loch Duich, were we would forgo the luxury of the Memorial Hut and pitch our tents for a weekend of walking in Kintail and Glen Shiel.

Sorry to be leaving Skye, and thanks to Brian for organising yet another wonderful week in Glen Brittle.