Luinne Bheinn & Meall Buidhe

14.5.08 - Knoydart Trip, Day 3

Area 10: Loch Eil to Glen Shiel

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Luinne Bheinn939m3081ftM234#148
Meall Buidhe946m3104ftM222#149
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Morning mist on Luinne Bheinn

Day 3 of our trip to Knoydart, and we were well fed, well rested and even reasonably clean - it was time for some serious Munroing, in other words, Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe. We were up with the generator at 7 o'clock and out by ten past eight - pretty impressive! There was a light mist on the tops of all the hills, but of the sort that looked like it would burn off soon in the sun.

Looking back to Barrisdale

Soon we were climbing up the track to Mam Barrisdale, retracing our descent of the previous evening. We made good time, taking not much longer to get up than we'd taken coming down the previous day. And sure enough, as we climbed the mist gradually cleared from the hills around us.

Loch an Dubh-Lochain from Mam Barrisdale

So before long we were at the top of the pass, with the view down into Gleann an Dubh-Lochain opening before us.

The view back to Ladhar Bheinn - and fenceposts!

We had a brief rest at the top of the pass, but we weren't planning to take things as easy today as the previous day on Ladhar Bheinn. So we set off up the path towards Luinne Bheinn, and before long we came upon the first of the rusty fenceposts. Yes, these have even found their way into the remote fastnesses of Knoydart! The path followed them for quite a way as it angled gently up the hillside.

Inverie Bay, Sgurr Coire Choinnichean and Loch an Dubh-Lochain

I had an extra half litre water bottle with me today and filled it from a nearly dry stream around this point. However there was no room for it in my pack so I had it strapped onto the side. Fifteen minutes later I found it had fallen out of the straps and was gone.

Looking over Choire Odhair to Meall Buidhe

Well, look at that, there appear to be a few snow patches up there near the summit of Meall Buidhe - perhaps I'll survive with just the one litre bottle again today!

Our route up Luinne Bheinn

By now we'd come quite a way along the southern slopes of Luinne Bheinn and hadn't been climbing all that much. We now decided it was time to abandon the fenceposts and the path, which was petering out anyway, and strike steeply up the slopes. After cresting a rise we could see the summit ridge ahead of us and decided to aim for the stony gully left of centre in this picture.

Barrisdale Bay from the summit of Luinne Bheinn

This gave us a short steep pull up onto the midpoint of the summit ridge, where we weren't too sure which way to turn for the real summit. There was a sizeable cairn at a point that didn't look especially like the highest point, but in any case we visited everywhere that might have been the actual summit. There were some impressive views from here down to Barrisdale and Loch Hourn.

Howard gets a signal!

We were now heading for the East Top of Luinne Bheinn, seen here on the left. It's only 2m lower than the summit and is a Munro Top - it also happened to be on our way towards the ridge that we would follow round to Meall Buidhe.

The main summit ridge from the East Top

The main summit ridge from the East Top

Descent from the East Top

The path continued clearly over the East Top and on down towards the Bealach a' Choire Odhair. For some reason I had interpreted the word "rough" in guidebooks describing this ridge walk as "rough and pathless", and I now began to be more optimistic about the going on our route over to Meall Buidhe. Meanwhile all this time we were in beautiful sunshine with spectacular views.

Meall Coire na Gaoithe

In fact, although the landscape is indeed extremely rough, there is a perfectly good path all the way from Luinne Bheinn to Meall Buidhe, passing over Meall Coire na Gaoithe'n Ear (try saying that while you're eating your sandwiches…) and Druim Leac an Shith. I don't know who invented Gaelic spelling but whoever it was I think he'd been at the <I>uisge-beatha</I> when he did.

Over Coire na Gaoithe

Over Coire na Gaoithe

Approaching Meall Coire na Gaoithe

And so we continued over various unpronounceable knolls and bumps. I'd been psyched up for a long and arduous slog, so this pleasant, sunny ridge walk was a nice surprise.

Looking south-east to Ben Aden and Sgurr na Ciche

We were now getting views eastward towards Loch Quoich and the hills around - Ben Aden, Sgurr na Ciche and even Gairich in the far distance. The walk was also made more interesting by the many tiny lochans on the ridge, which gave numerous picturesque photo opportunities.

Lochans on the ridge

Lochans on the ridge

Meall Buidhe and the path

This picture shows how good the path is, winding its way as it does around the roughness of the landscape.

The view back to Luinne Bheinn

Somewhere along here we met the first other walker we'd seen that day. I think he'd come up from Inverie and was going to do Luinne Bheinn and head back via Mam Barrisdale. He commented on how many ups and downs there were on the ridge - obviously he hadn't been reading the right guidebooks!

Approaching the final ascent

The sunshine and views continued, although more clouds were appearing by now. The top of Ladhar Bheinn had in fact been in mist all morning, so we congratulated ourselves on not having left that one until today. And then we were at the final ascent, the last long pull up to the first top of Meall Buidhe.

At the summit, the South-east Top and Sgurr na Ciche beyond

We reached the South-east Top at about 1 o'clock. By this time we were feeling hungry but decided we couldn't have lunch with the summit within such easy reach, so we pushed on and stopped for lunch there instead. The clouds had now come over, but the views were still great. This was also my number 150, so there was cause for celebration there as well.

Barrisdale and Luinne Bheinn from Meall Buidhe

Barrisdale and Luinne Bheinn from Meall Buidhe

A bottleful of snow

I was now out of water, so I headed off ahead of Howard to fill up my bottle from the nearest snow patch - this was becoming a habit! In fact this time I was filling a completely empty bottle and discovered the main drawback of this system. Even on a reasonably warm day the snow takes a long time to melt. Fortunately during the afternoon it was melting just about fast enough to prevent me from getting very thirsty.

Luinne Bheinn from the ridge

Luinne Bheinn from the ridge

Sgurr na Ciche and a lochan

So now we had the long tramp back along the ridge, but it was still very pleasant, and by now the sun had come out again. We met several more people on the way along including a party of about six - Knoydart was beginning to seem distinctly crowded all of a sudden! The air was getting clearer by now so the views were actually improving, especially inland in the direction of Loch Quoich and Sgurr na Ciche.

Luinne Bheinn and Howard barefoot

We were making good time, and we were not intending to try to heat the water again this evening, so there was no great hurry to get back to Barrisdale. We stopped for a leisurely rest at some point on the ridge for some foot-airing - this was also becoming a bit of a habit on this trip.

Looking east to Gairich, Sgurr Mor and Ben Aden

Looking east to Gairich, Sgurr Mor and Ben Aden

Ladhar Bheinn and the southern slopes of Luinne Bheinn

Howard had left a cache of water not far from the Bealach a' Choire Odhair, which he now recovered - a slightly more straightforward way of not carrying a lot of water around all day. Meanwhile I was holding my bottle against my face, shaking it around and so on, trying to melt the snow...

Ben Aden, Sgurr na Ciche and the tiny lochan

Back at the bealach below Luinne Bheinn we consulted the map. We were planning to return via Gleann Unndalain on the far side of Luinne Bheinn and decided we needed to climb back up the east ridge for some way in order to find the easiest route down the other side. On the way up we spotted this bizarrely situated little lochan perched on top of a rocky outcrop.

Gairich, Sgurr Mor and Loch Quoich

Gairich, Sgurr Mor and Loch Quoich

Beinn Sgritheall and Loch Hourn from the east ridge of Luinne Bheinn

In fact we seemed to have to climb higher than we'd expected, but then we discovered a clear path heading down quite steeply at first, but definitely going towards Mam Unndalain. We managed to stay on this path most of the way down although it was often quite faint. In the end we lost it altogether and found our own way down a steep gully by a small burn, joining the main path some way below Mam Unndalain.

Beinn Sgritheall from Gleann Unndalain

Beinn Sgritheall from Gleann Unndalain

Feet-paddling spot in Gleann Unndalain

It was a beautiful walk down Gleann Unndalain. At one point we stopped by a burn and I took off my boots, gaiters and socks and soaked my feet in the water - bliss!

Ladhar Bheinn from Gleann Unndalain

Howard set off ahead of me, expecting me to catch him up. There were still loads of photo opportunities, with Ladhar Bheinn now coming into view and the afternoon sun on the hills behind us.

Looking up Gleann Unndalain to Sgurr a

The hill on the far side of Mam Unndalain is Sgurr a' Choire-bheithe which at 913m is an almost-Munro, and possibly in line for a more accurate survey. We did discuss the idea of nipping up it, just in case, but not really seriously. To be honest, if it is found to be a Munro at some time in the future I personally will welcome the excuse to come back to Barrisdale to do it!

Caledonian pines above Barrisdale Bay

Caledonian pines above Barrisdale Bay

Barrisdale

Barrisdale

A pine tree that looks like it was struck by lightning

A pine tree that looks like it was struck by lightning

The ruined croft and Barrisdale Bay

This ruined croft is a reminder that Barrisdale was obviously much more populous in the past than it is today. As late as 1841 the population of the peninsula was still nearly 1000. In fact Knoydart played a notorious part in the history of the Highland Clearances. In 1852 400 of the inhabitants, probably nearly half the population, were given notice of eviction from their homes. While 330 sailed to Canada the rest refused to leave their homes and had to be forcibly evicted.

The fearless deer

And this of course is what the Clearances were mainly about in Knoydart. I got back to the Stable ahead of Howard at about 6.30 to find a young deer grazing in the now deserted campsite. It didn't seem at all worried by my presence, even when I approached it to try to get a good photo. In fact the first couple of photos I took looked so much like a cow grazing that I had to throw my stick on the ground to get it to look up in slight alarm and thus look a bit more deerlike! We were leaving Barrisdale the following morning so we had a big meal of bits and pieces that were still left, then collapsed in the armchairs for a relaxing evening. We didn't bother trying to heat any water this time.

Looking back to Luinne Bheinn

<u>Knoydart</u> 12th-14th May 2008

Up are the damp sweet zigzags under hazy sun
Down is the desperate, deerless, dancing, deerlike run
On are the long, long, lochside miles into the setting sun
And at its setting there lies paradise, the journey done

Up are the bluebells and the bracken and the cliffs of Coire Dhorrcail in the sun
Down is the burn that tumbles until snow, bog, stream and sea are one
On and up the slopes of Stob a' Choire Odhair reach toward the sun
And at the summit there lies paradise, and one more done

Up is the mist upon the mountain tops dissolving in the morning sun
Down is the distant glimpse of heaven's loch, the other one
A highland heart, this crude cathedral and Columba's sun
And precious paths of paradise, the prize is won