Day Sixty

Friday 6 May – Elphin to Little Assynt

It rained over breakfast but, as S, my kind host dropped me near Elphin, the clouds were clearing; within 20 minutes I had stripped off my coat. The path alongside Cam Loch was lumby and bumpy but easy to follow. Already the dominant feature, presently in front of me, was Suilven, possibly the oddest-shaped mountain of all in this region, although there is hot competition.

After nearly two miles, I was looking for a junction of paths, one continuing by the loch, and another (the one I wanted), turning away from the loch to climb over a shoulder into the next valley. The straight-on path was clear, but mine was not, so I took the general direction I needed, aiming to correct my course when the first of three lochs came into view.
 

Loch 1 duly appeared, I turned to avoid it, and ended up within a few yards of where I need to be, alongside Loch 2, or Lochan Fada as it is named on the map. Alongside the water, the path was clear. At the loch’s end, the path crossed the outlet burn, then followed it closely down Gleann (Glen) Dorcha for about a mile.
 

It was now warm, and the walking was highly enjoyable. Progress is necessarily rather slow on paths like this, as they twist and turn, ford burns, and are frequently rocky or splashy; but as long as you are careful, there are no particular terrors. And no noise – the nearest road was now miles away, and few planes cross this area. No sheep ventured this far. There were a few trees, as usual tucked into the sheltered valleys of small burns.

Now rising up ahead of me and to my left was the magnificently ugly bulk of Suilven. Loch na Gainimh opened up between me and the mountain, whose lower slopes drop directly into the water. From some directions, Suilven looks like a two-humped camel, but side-on it has at least seven humps or lumps, brown in sun and black in shadow, an awesome sight.
 

Beyond the burn, the track becomes wider. Someone has gone to rather a lot of trouble to make it fit for vehicles, although they would have to be pretty rugged. Some rather comical decking had been cobbled together from logs to bridge the deepest ruts; other ruts were plugged with logs laid lengthwise. Two new bridges have been built over the outlet from the last loch. I understand that this area might be part of a recent community buyout; the community are probably now trying to generate some income by getting stalkers up into the hills.
 

I had briefly spoken to two women walking alongside Cam Loch earlier; now I met a chap on a bike, followed some way behind by his wife. They were scouting a possible route to climb Suilven. Then I saw two more people, sitting on a bluff above the burn. Honestly! It was getting really crowded!

Another junction was approaching. The vehicle track continued West  to Lochinver, but I need to turn off to head North, on a narrower but quite clear path which climbed steeply out of the glen, passing near to the bothy at Suileag. Three more miles, roughish but fairly level, took me to the main road into Lochinver, but I crossed it and walked my last mile or so through a fantastic place called Little Assynt.

This estate was bought by the community, and a series of paths, including an all-abilities path, wend their way past lochs and tree-planting, with Quinag, the next weird and wonderful mountain, providing a glorious backdrop. Reaching the car park, I was whisked away for more luxurious living.