Knoydart foray

Plans for the Easter weekend were into Knoydart to meet frineds at Inverie. Arriving at Strathan in 20C and sunshine the walk over to Kinbreak was done at a leisurely pace and with nearly dry feet. I shared the place with a couple of lads from the Northhants who were up for a week’s walking. Hopes of the weather holding for the morrow were dashed in the middle of the night with the familiar sounds of buffeting wind and rain rattling the corrugated roof. I delayed my start an hour but knowing I had a longish day ahead was up and off by 8am.

Using the track up Glen Kingie I was soon onto the saddle. With cloud down to 600m I decided to omit Sgurr Mor and it was a case of head down and crack on over the ridge to Sourlies taking in the other hills on route. A convenient fence / wall acts as a navigational handrail and a testament to the work of years gone by. Descending off Sgurr na Ciche I sought out an Argo track I’d seen on previous visits following down to the wee lochans at the watershed of Glen Dessary, though longer, it completed another piece of the jigsaw.



The ever popular Sourlies



Rickety suspension bridge over River Carnach



At last I was out of the wind as I took the track down to the sea & Sourlies bothy. Plans for a warm brew were scuppered as I’d donated my matches at Kinbreak and surprisingly there were none here. 

So shouldering the pack again I set off trotting across the salt flats for the climb up to Mam Meadail & the steep pull back up into the cloud & eventual summit of Meall Bhuide. Whilst sitting here I was debating my options, I got chatting to some guys back packing through who renewed my enthusiasm to make the most of the height gained. The ridge across to Luinne Bhienn was busy with folk and afforded partial views into the high corries. Unfortunately the summit like all those before it was swathed in cloud. Dropping off into the Mam Barrisdale I decided not to do Ladhar Bhienn as I wanted to be at Inverie at a reasonable time to meet the Caddie’s (the whole point of running there).

Finally the weather started to improve and I got to take off my waterproofs for the last 30 minutes run into the village. The weather stayed dry and after a few brews and nibbles down at the shore side camp we headed off to the pub for a meal and a few well earnt pints though we gave the ceilidh a miss. There’d been no sign of Pete who was back packing his way over the Knoydart munro’s on route to Glen Finnan so he was either slower than anticipated or on s different line.

The Caddie's lurvin it up

Sunday turned out to be more cloud & showery weather. The plan being to walk with the Caddie’s to the Mam Meadail where our paths would split. They were to ascend Meall Bhuide & I to run back to the car via Sourlies & Glen Dessary. 

Starbuck's eat your heart out





Catching up with a heavily laden Pete



After a short stop to make a quick “brew to go” in the bothy I came across Pete. He told me of his slower than anticipated progress the previous day with him ending up having to wild camp whilst still high.



We shared an hour or so walking out together catching up as the weather gradually improved to reveal the tops and a hint of sun. This made for a pleasant finish to the day as I finally left Pete to run the last miles out, calling at A’Chuil bothy to check its condition.



So that's what it should look like!