17 members were on the bus for what was expected to be a good weather day on the Assynt hills.
First of all, a warm welcome to our new member Caroline.
First off the bus, at Inverael, were George and Derrik. Their plans were to tackle the Beinn Bhreac and then walk through the glen and meet up with the rest of us at the pub stop, Ferry Boat Inn, in Ullapool. Well, we all met up in the Ferry Boat Inn, but it would appear that their trip to the Ullapool involved a little hitchhiking!
Next of the bus, near Knockanrock, was Bill, with the aim of tackling Cul Mor. Like most of the other routes, the weather started off fine but as he approached the summit ridge a weather front came in and he decide to return to more enjoyable weather lower down and circumnavigate some of the lochs before tackling Knockan Crag.
The next stop saw Andy getting off to tackle Canisp. However, he met the same fate as Bill – good weather in the morning and mist coming in early afternoon. Like Bill, Andy opted to avoid the summit and do some low level walking.
The next stop saw Joe get off at the Breabag layby. Joe set off for a high level traverse/run from Breabag, up the south ridge of Ben More Assynt, over Conival and then keeping to the ridge northwards to finish on the summit of Glas Bheinn. Then descending to pick up the bus at its final stop of the day at the Quinag car park. Unfortunately, like all good plans, the weather meant Joe had to make some changes to his original adventure. On reaching the north summit of Breabag, Joe was almost blown off his feet. So, for once a little bit of sanity prevailed and he reckoned that the precipitous arete leading up to Ben More Assynt was no place for a solo walker in a hurry to catch a bus when a howling gale was blowing. The south ridge of Conival looked even worse given that the scrambling on it is technically harder. Joe decided that the only reasonable alternative left to take him back to the bus was a long descent to within a stone’s throw of Inchnadamph, and the old manse and then back up, firstly along a good stalkers path and then over bog to the Bealach east of Glas Bheinn. From there Joe turned his back to the hoolie, climbed the ridge to the summit and descended to the bus. A fine wander, and one some of you might like to undertake on the next weekend meet to Inchnadamph!
The next drop off point was the Inchnadamph car park, where, Gordon, Caroline, Dottie, Malcolm and Tom set off with the intention of covering Conival and Ben More Assynt. Just before we reached the summit ridge to Conival we met up with two Germans and their dog. The joined us for the scramble up to the summit ridge. However, that is when the hoolie hit us and we had to struggle to stay on our feet. When we reached the shelter at the summit of Conival, it was decided that it was best to turn back and leave Ben More Assynt for a better day. A pleasant walk back down with Florian and his dog was rewarded with a glass of Auchentoshan at the Inchnadamph car park – where Florian had left his campervan.
The final stopping place was the Quinag car park, which saw Heavy, Ray, Stewart, Dave, Jake, and Maggie set out to tackle Quinag. Heavy had clearly done his research before joining the bus and had told everyone about the changing weather conditions for the afternoon – but it would appear that this group got the best of the weather! You can read Heavy’s much better report here and see some photos here: https://heavywhalley.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/windy-day-on-quinag-but-a-grand-day-out/
Anyway, we were all safely back to the bus and our pickup points on time and enjoyed a nice refreshing drink in The Ferry Boat Inn before enjoying a full moon lighting up our return to Moray.
Just a reminder that there is no bus meet in November and that the next bus meet is the Christmas meet.
