It’s looking like another good day for weather; we’ve already had a couple, and this is lining up for a Big Blue Sky.

Only five days ago I was up here waiting for the low cloud to clear, and now there isn’t a cloud in sight….. all day!

Just a short walk to my start today; I’m thinking of an identical shot to the final one of the last leg, but the sun is right behind me and my own shadow is spoiling it.

My GPS decides to play up, and tells me that my altitude is 227 metres, not 305. I know I’m in the right place! Maybe the air pressure is significantly different and I should’ve re-calibrated it on the beach earlier. Anyway, I can follow the map contour instead. It does show that electronics aren’t everything; but I have a map and compass (and know how to use them!) so it’s just inconvenient.

Down towards the road, I hear a dog bark; some excited mut taking its owners out for the day.

As soon as I leave the ridge, Spidean Coinich comes into view; it’ll be with me all day today. Also, the light on it is good right now; whereas direct sunshine on Sail Gharbh is leaving it looking a bit flat at the moment.

I’m walking through quartzite boulders and heading down towards peat bog right now; later it’s going to change totally to Torridonian Sandstone. I’m also heading towards a crossing point with my previous “Unapool Burn: Sea to Source” walk, intrigued to find the intersection.

In the middle distance, I can see a lovely loch. I can tell it’s pretty much on a level with me, so I’m looking forward to visiting it. Surely that must be really close to the stalker’s path? I’ve never realised that I’ve already been so close. And it is indeed just a couple of minutes over a brow, and it’s just great, with the peaks rising up behind it. I’ll be coming here again, for sure!

And behind me, Glas Bheinn.

Then an unexpected thing happens; my phone goes “ping”. I didn’t think there was any reception here. And it’s my friends Richard and Suse, who can apparently see me in the distance. So the excited dog earlier was Molly the labrador. I climb onto a mound to get a better view, and can’t see anyone at all. A trip to the opticians perhaps? I wave at them, as suggested on their text message.

A monochrome of Sail Gharbh:

Negotiating rough grass and boulders is hard work, and then I spot a little gem: a single rowan tree erupting from the rocks. Oh yes, this is going to make a picture. I steam across there, maybe four hundred yards, quite quickly in case the nearby patch of shade engulfs it too soon. I’m off track a bit, but I don’t mind. Checking the GPS, it says 329 metres, and I realise the altitude is oddly now correct again.

Stopping for a late lunch near to the end of Sail Gharbh, my phone starts working properly and I discover that my friends are almost directly above me on the ridge.

They report that the views are totally immense, and I get a twinge of envy. But, I’m having a great time myself, and can’t be in two places at once! They also reveal that they couldn’t actually see me at all; they knew I was nearby because of my parked van. So I’d been “had”; waving to imaginary friends, but I readily admit that I deserved it.

Closing in on the end, I cross several small burns and realise I’ve seen hardly any today.

I missed the top end of the Unapool Burn completely (Allt na Bradhan), so conclude that I must’ve coincidentally crossed it where in runs underground.

A couple of red grouse fly off into the distance.

My turning point today is the place I run out of sunshine and see the shadows coming towards me, marked by two small hinds standing staring at me.

Now I’ve got quite a long walk back to the car park. I’m not sure its wise, but I opt for the direct route. I’ve got Glas Bheinn as a beacon. Well, it was pretty dry actually, and I find several sections of exposed sandstone slabs which make it really easy. One of them even has the marks of some ancient sea bed; they are “sandstone” after all!

Nearing the end of my journey today, I again walk past the loch I mentioned earlier, and it’s even better! Almost mirror calm now, I shoot the reflections of Quinag. It is pretty amazing, but I can’t get it all in the shot with this lens, so I take a series of photos, left to right, to “stitch” together later.

Once again I resolve to return to this spot; what a way to end the day!

Its a few weeks since my last visit to “Quinag at 1000 feet”, due to weather and other commitments.

I’ve had a few days pencilled-in, but the conditions weren’t good.

Today’s forecast is mixed, but improving, and I’m keen to get back there, so I try to time it for the scheduled “improvement”.

It’s late morning when I arrive at the car park used by most of the walkers, and I can’t see Quinag, despite it being just across the road.

Coffee, biscuits, book, lunch…. finally a bit of brightness, so I set off down towards Coire Riabhach near to my last finishing point. Off the road, across the burn straight onto rough grassland that’s now losing its autumn hues and heading for the “winter desiccation” look that will last several months. I’m lucky; I hit a deer path, and it makes my ascent to 1000 feet a little easier.

Almost there, about a hundred feet short, and I disturb four stags that are having an afternoon snooze, apparently unaware that the rut is on. The camera is buried in my rucksack, so no photos. A few more yards and a mountain hare launches out of the vegetation where it had been invisible. It’s mainly brown, but has a bit of white around its belly.

There we go; 305 metres; 1000 feet, and the view opens up across Loch Assynt. And the view is grand, all except Suilven and Canisp which are trying to hide in the cloud.

I’m loving these grasses; soft feathery textures and an orangey-brown colour. Of course, they’re as hard as nails really; there’s nothing delicate waving around in the wind up here!

I get the camera out. It goes “Click” and then “Splat” as a big dollop of rain decides to fall at that precise moment and hit the lens. I clean it off and get a couple of pictures.

Turning around and heading north, I’ve got the cool breeze in my back and fleeting sunshine starting to pick out features and make it look like a painting. I’m very conscious that this weather can make very atmospheric photos, with a bit of luck.

Keeping my altitude isn’t easy; what looks like rough grassland also contains lots of wet, peaty gullies to negotiate. The peat isn’t that deep either; it drops two or three feet onto the Cambrian Quartz bedrock, which is angled the same as the hillside, and is also wet and slippy.

I’m getting good views of Glas Bheinn, in the east, across to my right, as it slips in and out of the cloud.

Spidean Coinich is way up to my left, somewhere over the top of the grassy slopes.

Sail Gharbh starts to appear as a very dark shrouded lump, still well and truly murky.

Closing in on the walkers path up to the Spidean, the bedrock breaks through more and more, and creates great foreground for me.

Odd bits of sunshine travel across the landscape adding to the atmosphere of the view. Which is kind of empty; just dead grass, but very photogenic, and also kind of full of hidden gems of stones, moss and lichens.

It’s decision time; left or right; 1000 feet or home. I’m at the edge of the big plateau between Spidean Coinich and Sail Gharbh.

Losing time earlier means that the sun is now too low if I carry on to my left, so I knock it on the head and go right.

But the sun is still just about hitting the little loch near to the path; below my chosen altitude, but begging for a photo! Sail Gharbh summit still only vaguely visible.

Back at the car park, I turn around and see that the summit ridge has finally broken cover, so I nip back across the road to finish my short day.

Southside: Creag na h-Iolaire Ard to Coire Riabhach

Picking up where I finished last time, just off the Glen Leraig path, I decided to tackle the section overlooking Loch Assynt.

Sun shining; a lovely day!

I used the opposite end of the footpath to get up there, and got a couple of great views on the way.

Arriving at 305m/ 1000ft, I stopped for coffee near to a small cairn that had clearly been there a while, according to the lichen and moss growing on it. A lizard shot past, too quick for me.

I’m walking on a grassy terrace, and it’s pretty easy going most of the time. Not even close to the main crags and buttresses. There are a couple of burns and small waterfalls. Some of the burns I hear but don’t see; they’re running just below the surface in gullies.

I don’t see a single person after I leave the road, not even on the top. At one point I think I hear voices, so I stop and listen, but it’s running water deceiving me. I was on Suilven yesterday; it was much busier than this!

Part of this walk involves some negotiation or compromise at Creag Mhor; my contour goes straight through a section that looks like a steep cliff on the map. Don says I’m going to need wings or hooves. Actually neither…. I’ve been following a deer path for a while, and as I get to the tricky bit, the path gains about 100 feet onto a grassy plateau above the crag. No problem, thanks to someone else’s hooves!

Lunch is up there, on a flat rock, next to one of a number of erratics sat perched looking at the same view as myself. Loch Assynt below and Conival, Canisp and Suilven in the distance. Behind me, the peak of Spidean Coinich is visible most of the time, but its not that close or imposing. My chosen lens for the day is wide-angle, so it looks even smaller.

Just past my lunch spot, I find quite a big bone on a rock, so I speculate that an eagle might have had a “table for one” and dined on venison. It must’ve had a similar view to me with my cheese sandwich!

Heading east, I’m conscious that the Cambrian Quartz of the Spidean is getting closer to the sandstone that I’m walking on, and wonder where the two meet and what it looks like. The rock strata are at entirely different angles.

Suddenly, I’m on the new rock, standing next to a juniper, and it’s time to descend. Below me are two lochs, Loch a Choire Riabhaich and Lochan an Duibhe. 

I had intended to walk between them on my journey back to the van, but it was well soggy, so I skirted both and followed the burn.