Just before we departed for our holiday I read this
about our destination. It’s considerably more erudite than I could ever be. I
am not sure people realise quite how far away Assynt is, but it’s a good 13
hour drive if done continuously from my home and it definitely has an “other
worldly” feel to it. We chose to break ours up with an overnight in Glasgow. It
was still a relief to arrive at the cottage late on the Saturday afternoon and
see my brother and his family who were across from Aberdeen for a few days
camping.
Lily and I attempted to go wild camping on Ben More Assynt, but were thwarted as Lily ran out of steam just before the bealach. It speaks volumes of her fatigue that I pitched the tent mid-afternoon and she crawled in, ate her lunch and promptly fell very soundly asleep. Over an hour later she awoke and it was clear that the best option was to head back down, despite her protestations that we could finish the job the next day. It would have been easy to figuratively crack the whip and get us up to the summit, but I wanted Lily to enjoy the experience and want to grow to love the outdoors – we will have many other opportunities to wild camp. Thankfully she appeared to survive the experience with no loss of enthusiasm for future adventure.
I managed to do a bit of climbing on the sea rocks, of which
there are many, however, not as much as I had hoped. Guy also visited us and it
was during this time we decided to experience a bothy for the first time. Lily
was desperate to join us and to be honest I was a bit nervous of taking her
given the Spartan nature of their reputation has, so when the opportunity to do
a reconnaissance mission presented itself I took it. What a superb place it
was, it even had a dart board!
The walk into the bothy at the base of Suilven was without
incident albeit it was very, very windy. We had even managed to pick up a set
of darts from one of these wee shops you find in villages that seem to have all
sorts of games in them – I could tell they had been in stock for a while with
the pictures of Jocky Wilson and John Lowe adorning them! To say Lily was
thrilled with the place would be an understatement. I was able to carry in some
logs so once it got a bit chilly we got a fire going and after a few rounds of
darts (which I won remarkably!) we ate our simple, but delicious pasta dinner.
Initially Lily wanted to have one of the rooms on her own, but the solitude and
wind led to her bravado deserting her and she asked if I could share her room
(sweet!) Guy and I shared a dram of Laphroig watching a beautiful moon pass
over Suilven and realising that exactly a year from that point we ought to be
summiting The Matterhorn. As Guy pointed out we would be reflecting the night
in the bothy when we did that.
I got little sleep as the wind howled but it was a great
experience for us all, even to the extent that Lily thought it was the
highlight of the holiday and was so effusive that her younger sister wants to
go next time as does, even more remarkably, Debbie too!!!! Lily decided not to
tackle Suilven the next day as the winds continued to be very strong, so again
my ambition for getting height was thwarted, but I couldn’t blame her. Guy gave
it ago but had to turn back before the summit and the cloud had dropped so we
missed nothing.
Next day was Stac Pollaidh and it’s fair to say I have never
experienced so many midges in my life, they were awful. They were so bad that
in swallowing some Debs had cause to vomit. Once in the breeze and out of the
trees it was much more pleasant and we enjoyed a pleasant stroll around the
base, whilst Guy summited the Eastern Buttress before scrambling across the
traverse to the higher Western Buttress. In his words, “I could have played up
there all day the scrambling was so good!”, no wonder it’s often referred to as
Scotland’s best small mountain.
As Guy departed the end of a fabulous break loomed, but not
before I visited surely the smallest castle in the world, made of concrete and fits one at a squeeze on the nearby Achmelvich Beach.
Apparently it was built by an eccentric who stayed there one night before abandoning it - all very bizarre.
On the final day I got up Quinag, what a great wee mountain that is too. It proved to me beyond doubt that height isn’t everything. All in all it was a great way to bring the holiday to a close.
Apparently it was built by an eccentric who stayed there one night before abandoning it - all very bizarre.
On the final day I got up Quinag, what a great wee mountain that is too. It proved to me beyond doubt that height isn’t everything. All in all it was a great way to bring the holiday to a close.
Now back in the metropolis that is the South East it’s less than a year until The Matterhorn. Guy and I have a winter expedition
planned for February, a summer jaunt (to get out of here when the Queen’s
Birthday celebrations are on) next June and a family trip to Skye later this month all
part of the training towards the ultimate goal.
As a bit of a footnote, I really wanted to see the recently
released Everest in the cinema. Unsurprisingly Lily wanted to go with me, but I
was concerned when Natalie also expressed a desire to go. Thankfully that
prompted Debs to join us as Nat lasted barely 10 minutes before her upset led
first to tears then the exit with her mum and Lily took the opportunity to join
her. They grabbed some dinner and Natalie in particular had to be convinced by
Wikipedia and other such resources that Everest was considerably bigger than
The Matterhorn! Most expensive film I have ever watched, but thoroughly enjoyable as a climber.
Finally, it shouldn’t be too long before the opportunity to
sponsor me becomes available, watch this space!