Picking Guy up from the sleeper with my youngest daughter, Natalie (6), we headed straight to the hills for a warm-up on Friday morning. Whilst it wasn’t Skye, it was a cracking way to welcome Guy once again to Scotland and I was especially proud that Natalie managed to “bag” her third Munro, Ben Kilbreck.
The hill truly is in the middle of nowhere and you get a real sense of wilderness and frontier there.
The pint afterwards was very much enjoyed in the remote Crask Inn – think Slaughtered Lamb without the menace!
So onto Sunday and our attempt to finish the outstanding 4 and it was a brutally early start. The alarm was set for 4.30am as we really needed to be on the road by 5 to meet Spike, our guide again, in Glen Brittle. I should say that my family were brilliant as the two little ones were bundled into the car sandwiching my long-suffering wife between them. The journey there was not without incident as we left the caravan site a deer decided to play chicken with me on a single track road with no light whatsoever!!!!
Once we got to Skye and met with Spike Guy and I were deposited as my wife and kids disappeared of to achieve their first objective – breakfast! Once again we were blessed with the weather, not quite as clear as June, but dry and the cloud lifting off the summits. Again there was almost a disaster when Spike accidentally disturbed an adder which hissed ferociously at him. It was a bit of a slog to the top of Sgurr nan Eag, but nothing too taxing. Once up there we were greeted with stunning views of the ridge and a real sense of the cone which now forms the ridge, but was once the crater of a volcano.
The ridge along to the second Munro, Sgurr Dubh Mor, was exposed in places and once upon a time would have scared the bejaysus out of me, thanks to Inside Performance though, it was no sweat. We were making great time and got a great shot of the legendary Innacessible Pinnacle from the top,
however, everything was about to change in the guise of the TD Gap.
Here is a typical picture (not of us)
I had heard and read about the TD Gap, however, nothing had prepared me for what was about to happen. It was a pleasant abseil in and I managed to grab a pork pie (a favourite mountain snack of mine) whilst waiting for first Guy then Spike to descend and join me. I could see it was going to be an “interesting” climb out, just how interesting became clear when Spike didn’t find it easy! I would love to spend a paragraph regaling the tortuous ascent, sadly I barely remember much and certainly couldn’t tell you how I managed and it speaks volumes that neither can Guy! We did manage it thankfully, my only memory though is jamming myself in a crack and making like a caterpillar! Afterwards we decided it was sheer bloody-mindedness that got us up and I can’t argue with that! So we were on the summit of Sgurr Alasdair, with only one to go. As Spike said, “You will never have to do that one again!”
Sgurr Mhic Choinnich was, by contrast fairly straightforward, although there were some VERY exposed parts, technically it wasn’t difficult. By now a low pressure front had come in (we could see it coming in from the Atlantic well before it hit) and with it lower cloud which meant that the photos of the end were not as spectacular as they might have been, but the sense of achievement was overwhelming.
We decided to avoid The Great Stone Chute for our descent, sadly, for Guy at least, that didn’t mean an avoidance of scree slopes. Personally I love them after my brother taught me how best to tackle them and my squash lunges helped greatly too and if ever Scree Skiing becomes an Olympic sport I reckon Scots would take all three slots on the podium. For Guy it meant several collisions between the scree and his bottom! We had done it!
The only “wrinkle” was that Debs hadn’t got my text from the summit with our eta before she entered Glen Brittle where there is no signal and had been forced to endure 2 hours plus in a car with excitable kids, a stream of mountaineers coming off the hill that were not us and midges hungry for flesh. Sorry Babes! Then Lily had the misfortune to stumble on the cattle grid. To celebrate our conquest we returned to The Old Ship in for a wonderful dinner before I got behind the wheel for the return journey.
I can’t say I enjoyed the single track road around Loch Carron in the pitch black, especially when an articulated lorry met us four square under a narrow bridge!!!! Arriving back to the caravan at just before midnight the rats were packed off to bed before Guy and I enjoyed a bottle each of the appropriately named “Black Cuillin” beer. The adventure was truly epic and thanks to everyone who supported it with donations. If you haven’t already done so there is still time to do so.
My mind was already turning to what the next adventure may be and when it came to me in a bizarre flash, I texted Guy and asked him if he was up for it. His response says it all, “I will say yes before I can think of a logical reason to say no!” The challenge – The Matterhorn in 2016, my 50th year – watch this space!!!!!
