Ben Tianavaig

May 2009

Participants  - Just me
Where - Ben Tianavaig, 413m/1,355', Sub 2k Marilyn, Map 23, NG 511410

The weather seems to have settled in to an overcast and often wet spell. Looking out of my window, the Campsies are more often than not covered in clag. So to cheer myself up, I will end my posts for 2012 with a look back to a trip on a glorious sunny day in 2009. It wasn't a long walk- only 1 hour and 30 minutes to the top- but it represented all that is good with hill walking.

Most of my hillwalking trips to Skye have resulted in me getting no further than Sligachan or Glenbrittle and the Cuillin and the Red Hills. I have never, however, been fully comfortable scrambling about on high, narrow and rocky places and this feeling of unease has got stronger as I have got older. So on this trip I decided to fore go the Cuillin and have a look at some of the smaller hills that the island had to offer. I had also discovered sub-2k Marilyn, another reason to give the scary places a body swerve!

Ben Tianavaig caught my eye as one that should prove interesting. From Portree harbour, it just looked like another hill of no special note.....

But from the south, near the village of Braes, it looked entirely different, like a hill that had been split down the middle with only half remaining, the other half having disappeared into the sea. Really dramatic, I almost expected Johnny Depp and the Black Pearl to sail out from beneath the cliffs. OK, a bit of an exaggeration but it was an unusual hill.....

The above pic is taken from near Braes and this one is from Raasay at the other side of the Sound of Raasay.....

I drove to the village of Camastianavaig and parked at a picnic area at the beach. The map showed a path starting at the houses a couple of hundred yards further on (where the road swung to the left and next to a post box) and going up a narrow "close" between two houses and on to the open hillside. It was a bit rough in places lower down, a good excuse to stop and catch my breath and gaze at the views opening up behind me.....

Ahead, I could see what looked like a band of crags and I wondered if there was an easy route through them. There was, close to the seaward side. Beyond that, the going became excellent on short cropped grass and by sticking close to the cliff edge I got some great views. Arrival at the trig opened up views to Portree and the north.....

The summit was a marvellous perch; the hill dropped away abruptly very close to the trig and it looked like a long way down to the sea. I sat around for ages looking down the Sound of Raasay to the distant Red Hills.....

There seem to be a number of similar small hills in Skye that end in precipitous cliff top views. I look forward to visiting them also.

I hope that everyone who reads this blog enjoys great hill walking in 2013. Happy New Year to all!

Beinn a'Mheadhoin

September 2009

Participants - Just me
Where - Beinn a'Mheadhoin, 610m/2,002', Graham, Map 25, NH 219255

So here's the first of my retrospective reports. It was one of these days when I had no firm plan of what I was going to climb, I had enjoyed an excellent walk on Ben Wyvis the day before so I was looking for something that was not too strenuous. I headed to Strathpeffer and the car park for Cnoc Mor but there were a number of signs telling me to keep out as tree felling was taking place. So I thought that I would do something up Glen Strathconnon instead but soon encountered signs saying that there would be long delays on the glen road as resurfacing work was taking place. A three point turn and I headed for the road to Glen Affric instead.

Beinn a'Mheadhoin only really registered with me as a possibility when I stopped in the car park at the bridge over the Abhainn Gleann nan Fiadh to look at the river and to consult the map. The track opposite the car park was the one that I had used years' earlier when I climbed the Glen Affric Munros. I followed it for less than a mile before taking to the hillside. There was a great view of Sgurr na Lapaich from the path, from this angle you wonder why such a striking hill is not a Munro in its own right but closer inspection shows that it is only the sharp end of a gentle ridge that runs all the way to/from Mam Sodhail.....

 Climbing the gentle slopes.the view soon opened out up Gleann nam Fiadh to the Munro of Tom a'Choinich.....

 The going was mainly on grassy slopes and it wasn't long before I could see my objective.....

I reached the flat area that contains the summit in about 1 hour and 15 minutes after leaving the car. There were two cairns, the more westerly was the viewpoint and the other, smaller pile of stones the other side of a small lochan, marked the highest point.

I didn't stay at the smaller cairn long but hastened back to the viewpoint....magnificent! This is the  view to Sgurr na Lapaich, Mam Sodhail, Carn Eige and Tom a Choinich.....

Carn Eige and Tom a'Choinich.....

Toll Creagach.....

across Glen Affric to Sgurr nan Conbhairean and Mullach Fraoch-choire.....

and west to Loch Affric and Mullach Fraoch-choire.....

It's funny how unforseen circumstances can lead to such a great day- although the opposite is true as well I suppose! In this case, a combination of tree felling and road works conspired to direct me to this previously unthought of Graham, one of the best that I have climbed