#arnisdale

[scotianostra]

Highland cow, Corran by Arnisdale, Scotland by vinco camm Via Flickr: A friendly inquisitive highland cow came to say hello. Strangely the clouds seem to provide a shroud perfectly around his head.

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The Prawn Creeler

Peter is one of the few remaining creel fishermen working out of Arnisdale. He was kind enough to take us out and give us a sense of what is involved. Even in the summer it can be wet work.

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Sandaig Islands, Low Tide

[last100munros]

#218 Beinn Sgritheall

Route: Reverse of the SMC route, starting in Arnisdale, cycled back 4km once hit the road

Height: 974m

Date: 15 October 2016

Time to summit: 2h 46mins

Total time: 5hr 35mins (including cycling)

With: Philip

Weather: Very windy, showery, clear on the summit consistently.

Notes: We had a reasonably late start having not been in a rush to leave on account of the weather not being great and because it took a while to drive over from Glen Shiel. Parking on the loch front in Arnisdale we followed the sign “Path to Beinn Sgritheall” up between the houses along the river. This started off quite steep and only got steeper as we made our way up from the sea. The path was fairly easy to follow through the grassy and heathery slopes. It possibly could have been a bit boggy if it had been wet but seemed fine today. The path basically followed the line of the fence posts reasonably high above the river, zig-zagging occasionally to provide a bit of relief from the steepness.

We dropped down into the river valley and passed a man who was on his say down before continuing our way up. A bit before the bealach it seemed like there was a bit of respite from the wind so we sat and ate our lunch. There were some very noisy stags quite close by as well as others up on the ridge - they seem to be a definite feature of walking in the highlands at this time of year. We continued on and hit Bealach Arnasdail where it was very windy - it was the right decision to have lunch lower down!

The way continued up steeply, now more rocky and scree-y. The path also became more intermittent, but we managed to pick our way up, the wind, and now the rain being a bit more of an issue. We eventually found ourselves at the 906m top where there was a very good view along the reasonably narrow but grassy ridge to the summit. There were also good views over to Knoydart and north to Glen Shiel, although most of the other Munros seemed to have their tops in the mist. We followed the path down a short way and then along the ridge to the summit with its broken trig point. It was almost straight down it seemed to Loch Hourn and there were good views over to Eigg and Rum and even to the Cullin on Skye.

We didn’t linger long at the summit on account of the wind and bits of rain. I started briefly following a path that went straight steeply down the edge of the ridge from the summit, however my dad had gone off in the other direction. We probably should have done my way as there was a path but we ended up going down the small valley between the summit and the 928m top. This was good in that it was sheltered from the wind although we did have to pick our way reasonably carefully across rough ground of wet stones and boulders. When we’d gone down some way we tacked a bit back towards the ridge coming from the summit and met the path again.

The gradient had levelled off here a bit and it was a fairly easy route going across quite grassy ground until we got to the lochan. At a cairn, and after checking that the path didn’t seem to continue further in the direction we’d been heading, we took an almost 90 degree turn and began heading very steeply down towards the road. It got much sheltered here and by some coils of fence wire we stopped for second lunch. The decent to the road was very steep through pretty birch trees that were just beginning to turn. It was quite good to have the trees to hang on to at times!

Eventually we made it down to the road by a cairn. If it wasn’t for the cairn, there wouldn’t be anything that was particularly obviously signalling that this was the way up. Close by was a layby with parking for a car or two at a push. We’d left the bikes about 1km west along the road locked to a bench in a biggish parking area (we are camping here currently) opposite Eileen Ràrsaidh. After using the varying phone signal to check the weather we then road back to Arnisdale, the road seeming to have much more up that it had felt driving along it!

Further Notes: The number to ring to check about stalking on the Arnisdale Estate between 15 September and 20 October is 01599 522701 (Ewan Ballantine - Estate Manager)      

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The winkle pickers

Monty Don was quoted in The Times this week as giving up on self-sufficiency as a life style option. Living off the land, he has concluded, is a non-starter. “At best it consigns you to a life of dreary repetition and terrible food.” And at worst? “Your teeth fall out, your breath stinks and you erupt in boils and you sink into 13th-century malnutrition. The Good Life indeed.” But he hasn’t…

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Glen Arnisdale and Loch Hourn

Glen Arnisdale and Loch Hourn

After our recent visit to Arnisdale I have not had the opportunity until today to look through the pictures I took. A few more images from a most enjoyable trip are included here.

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Glen Arnisdale

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