Sitting upon a grassy hilltop, beer in hand, watching the sun set behind Suilven. Where else could one possibly want to be? So began the weekend for a handful of people who walked up Cnoc Breac, the wee hill behind the lovely hut in Elphin belonging to Grampian Speleological Group. The forecast for the weekend wasn’t ideal for the tops but Friday night was gorgeous and too good to miss. The grass, grazed short by sheep and underlaid by porous limestone gave an unusually pleasant surface on which to walk. No thigh high heather and knee deep bog here, more like a walk in the park surrounded by some of the most splendid views in the country.

A relatively small group gathered for the weekend, and given the strong westerly winds and low cloud two options seemed to trump all others. One was to go for a low level walk from west to east and the other was to embrace the very purpose of the hut and get all Speleological. Kelly describes her day below with Maggie, Sheena, Drummond and Dan.

“It was a day of getting down and dirty in the dark with relative strangers…! This was my second outing with the MMC and I spent the day on my hands and knees (if I was lucky) staring at the person in front’s backside… Our first adventure took us to the bones in the cave AKA the Bone Caves.

With everyone dressed in various types of onesies (industrial types) and Drummond stealing the show in his fetching green rubber onesie, the intrepid explorers began their descent… on their knees… then onto their bellies. We spent a good while trying to squeeze our bodies through small holes determined not to be the one who got stuck. After much giggling (and swearing!) we decided to move on and have a look at Rana Hole before moving on up to see A.N.U.S.” (Allt na Uaine Stream Cave for those who were wondering…)

“In this cave we discovered many things… Dan’s creative streak – we spent a good half and hour traipsing up and down a section of the cave whilst Dan shouted instructions (nae, barked instructions); come forward, stop, stand still, write an ‘M’ – what Dan?! – write an ‘M’ with your torch… um, ok..!

We also discovered that Maggie was in actual fact a Troglodyte! She was loving it! We couldn’t pass a hole without losing Maggie down it… Great stuff! All in all, we had a great day! A very good choice considering the dreadful weather, we got back to the hut just in tie to witness the return of the drowned rats… AKA the rest of the group! Brilliant day out!”

The other group hatched a plan to walk from Lochinver to Elphin through the wild open land that lies between Suilven and Canisp. Ella, Evelyne and guest Caroline were champing at the bit before the others had had breakfast so they sped off westwards to begin. The rest of the group breakfasted leisurely in the conservatory while watching the summits of Suilven appear momentarily from the blanket of cloud before the next grey juggernaut came thundering from the west to obscure the hills once again.

Bags were packed and bodies piled into two cars destined for Glencanisp Lodge and the path that leads into the wild. Progress was stopped when Fiona announced that a stop at the Lochinver Pie Shop was required. Some pies were bought for later, and then it was announced that a journey into the wilderness shouldn’t be attempted without a coffee so cappuccinos were ordered. And, well, it’d be rude to be sitting in the pie shop and not eat pies…

After the impromptu stop the group made their way to the car park at Glencanisp and by early afternoon were on foot and easterly bound. Inevitably, lunch was high on the agenda so and with a cool blustery wind raging up the glen, Suileag bothy was the chosen venue. The great western ramparts of Suilven drew closer on the way to the bothy and figures could be seen on the summit ridge when the clouds lifted sufficiently. Although one of the group suggested that the presence of people might mean that conditions weren’t so bad up high, others shuddered at the thought of being on such a precipitous mountain in those conditions. Later in the day a helicopter was spotted, and the next day it was discovered that the people on Suilven had phoned Mountain Rescue that morning, around the time that the Moray Mountaineers were ordering cappuccinos, because they were stuck and couldn’t move.

Just as everyone left the bothy the heavens opened. Not to worry though, it was one of several passing showers and wasn’t to last. The walk continued through ever changing scenery and with a wind that varied between being a moderate breeze and strong enough to blow people off their feet, but always from behind. At one point the group split and Alan, Jake and Robert decided to wander over Canisp. It seemed a long way to come without climbing a hill, it was a wee gentle traverse with the wind behind them and all three are veterans of the high summits of the Greater Ranges. What could possibly go wrong?

Leaving the “Gentleman Mountaineers” to their peak-bagging mission, the rest of the group, consisting of Faye, Fiona, Joe and Sheila continued their perambulatory tour of the country. The two groups reconvened at Cam Loch, with the three who had “gone high” reporting tales of crawling on hands and knees, desperately clinging to rocks, being unable to continue yet unable to return the same way and having to contour round the west side of the hill in order to get to the north-east side. This of course left the four “ladies” very smug in their choice of route.

Sunday morning was like a facsimile of Saturday morning. Though nobody yet knew of the dire consequences of the previous day’s ascent of Suilven, they didn’t need to. There are no confirmed reports of any summits being climbed, other than the 280m Cnoc Breac of Friday evening. Some walked to the Falls of Kirkaig which were very impressive with the extra overnight rain but with the disadvantage of having to walk back into the relentless wet westerlies, unlike the previous day. One lucky fella was able to arrange transport in order to traverse the “postie’s path” along the coast under Ben Mor Coigach from Culnacraig, to arrive at Blughasary very wet, covered in mud and with a new found respect for the posties of old.

The weather wasn’t great but the location and the company more than made up for it. Assynt really is a special place, and as if to prove it this year the Moray Mountaineering Club is having two weekend meets there. June in Elphin will be followed five months later by November in Inchnadamph. Will the sky be blue and the ground white, crisp and frozen, or will the weather make the weekend just past feel like a placid summer’s day?

Report Author: Joe
Photos: Dan and Drummond