Fionn Bheinn

This was our last morning on Skye, and we had to get Howard to Inverness by around 6pm to catch an evening flight. We could therefore fit in another walk somewhere on the way. Fionn Bheinn seemed like the obvious choice as the weather forecast was again pretty bad and we reckoned this was a mountain that could be climbed "in any weather". The starting point at Achnasheen was also conveniently situated on our route so we didn't even need to make a detour. The only drawback was that Alasdair had already done Fionn Bheinn and so was putting his Traversers Club membership in jeopardy for the second time running. Everyone was up around 7 and we were finally packed and on the road by about 9.20. The petrol was very low but fortunately it got us to Carbost where we put in a quarter tankful. Then we continued on in clear weather, although the Cuillins were in cloud. At Kyle of Lochalsh we filled up the petrol and then got onto the fast road to Achnasheen. It had been clear with showers for most of the journey but now we stopped in a heavier shower. We sat and had some lunch in the car, wondering if we were completely mad to try to climb something in this weather. By the time we had eaten and got booted up, though, the rain had stopped and things looked more hopeful.

We set off just before twelve noon, and as we began toiling up the very boggy path on the north-east side of the Allt Achadh na Sine, the weather continued to clear.

Looking south-east to the hills of Strathconon

A very boggy path up the hillside

The view south-east

Eventually, when we reached where the slope levelled off and we could see the summit clearly ahead of us and its shoulder, Creagan nan Laogh on our right, we were actually in bright sunshine.

Meall a

The sunshine stayed with us for a while as we angled up the west flank of Creagan nan Laogh, although it was still very wet and boggy underfoot. We also saw a herd of deer up ahead of us about here. Now the wind was really picking up though and we stopped for lunch in a vaguely sheltered spot while we could. Soon after that we were into the mist and it began to hail, and this continued pretty much without let up while we toiled on laboriously to the summit in very high winds. There we dutifully touched the trig point then quickly set off down again. It was rather a shame not to be able to do anything more, as this was Howard's 150th Munro, which seemed to merit a little more ceremony. We met two couples coming up as we began our descent off the summit ridge. Then we were weaving our way between the bogs and peat hags and got back onto the path by the Allt Achadh na Sine. At this point I took off in earnest and headed down fast. The path was of course very boggy, but the rain gradually eased off. I got back to the car ten minutes ahead of Alasdair and Howard and changed into some dry clothes.

The walk had taken us just 2 hours 50 minutes. This left us plenty of time to sample the delights of Achnasheen, in particular the Studio gift shop and café beside the railway station, where we had tea and cakes.

The three Munroists of Achnasheen

Achnasheen Station

Then it was off to Inverness Airport to drop Howard in plenty of time for his flight. Alasdair and I continued on to Newtonmore for a meal at the Chef's Grill Diner. We then headed on down the A9 to Perth where I dropped Alasdair at the train station to catch a train to Dundee, and finally I was on my own on the long road home to Marseille. Appropriately enough, the first radio station that I picked up as I sped across to Glen Farg was playing "Take me Home, Country Road"… I was only going as far as Edinburgh that night, however, and got to Mum's just after ten o'clock.

It took three more days to drive back to Marseille. In view of our adventurous exploits on the Cuillin Ridge over the previous few days, I couldn't help a wry smile at this sign below the cliffs at Samphire Hoe near Dover where I stopped for a rest before catching the ferry to Boulogne.