Our idea was to get to Glen Shiel, park the car at the end of the South Glen Shiel (Cluanie) ridge, and catch the bus to the Cluanie Inn. However, we missed the bus and although it did occur to us that we could thumb a lift, for some reason didn't want to bother. No way were we going to do the ridge and then walk 5 miles to Cluanie Inn - so four Munros rather than the whole seven it was to be. We drove to Cluanie and parked near the inn, crossed the bridge and followed the track up the hill. We left the track eventually at a sharp bend onto an obvious and eroded path. The path wasn't quite so clear further on but we had seen some climbers way ahead past a large tree high up so we aimed for that point. Past there and going up over some crests we reached the point where we knew we were not quite on course but could clearly see roughly where we had to aim for [we never did manage to connect the guidebook directions with the route
we took]. We aimed for a grassy rise which seemed to lead to the ridge though someway off the summit when Graeme spotted the previous climbers going up a rising ridge over on the left. It looked awfully narrow and scrambly to me and I determined to continue up the slope. Graeme elected to try the ridge so went off on his own. The grassy slope, which in reality wasn't that bad, got to me psychologically. It was concave and so got steeper the higher I climbed so that near the top I was on my hands and knees and beginning to imagine all sorts of things such as reaching the stage when I would be unable to go any higher or, even worse, reaching the top and finding it to be a cliff edge. It was of course none of this and when I finally crawled onto the crest found I was on the ridge with a clear pathway along it. It left me with a few hundred yards to walk back and up to the summit.
Graeme of course was long there before me. His route had been a little hairy with one patch having a narrow path with steep, rocky slopes on either side, but no real problem. In fact someone had passed him running up the ridge.
We wandered down the broad, grassy slopes past the point I had reached the ridge and on towards the next summit. It's difficult to see how this one could be a Munro. You don't seem to come that far down Creag a' Mhaim before rising towards a lump on the ridge which hardly even looks like a summit. Reaching the summit, however, proved to be interesting. About 200 feet away the ground becomes bouldery and develops into a sharp ridge. The direct way is over the top of the rocks and we followed this for a while. Then it gets quite steep and exposed though there is a path around the side. Graeme elected to go over the top and found it to be on a par with the ridge on Creag a' Mhaim and no real problem. Caution ruling I took the side path which the books indicate avoids scrambling and implies an easier route. Not so. This path was,
I am sure, much more hairy than the scramble as it edges across almost perpendicular slopes. The hand holds are good but I was distinctly nervous and ever so glad to see Graeme above me on turning a corner. Next time I'll try the scramble. From there it was only a short climb to the uninspiring summit. Still it was good that I had at least managed to cross a point where a head for heights was needed. Weather by now was pleasantly warm and sunny with Graeme decked out in his foreign legion hat. While sunny there was a strange wind about. A breeze would brew up and then for 3/4 minutes it would turn into a mini gale. It would then stop and for about half an hour all would be calm, then it would start up again.
It's funny but there is not a lot I remember about this mountain after leaving Druim Shionnach. Certainly the views were great looking over at Knoydart with its "bounds", whatever they are and beautiful views of Loch Quoich were coming into sight. I seem to remember that the pathway there down the hill and up the other side was straightforward and although you kept feeling it was going to get rough it never did. I also remember that as we got near the top it got stony and a little exposed in places but no problem and we made the top easily. It must have been a steep climb though as I posed for the camera pretending to be absolutely knackered (which I was). What I did look for when at the top was the "trembling" north ridge. If what I was looking at was the right place then you can keep it, it looked horrendous. No doubt not half so bad if you actually try it.
This we were told in the books is the narrowest and most exposed part of the ridge and the view was daunting. You could see a clear path going over a narrow ridge and in the middle there was a couple of large humps. I was a wee bit concerned but knew we had no choice but to go forward. I was also mindful of the fact that the books indicated that some scrambling was necessary coming off Aonach air Chrith. Well there was a bit of scrambling but it was fairly easy and pleasant and you were halfway through it before you realised you actually were scrambling. Actually it was more having to use your hands to help you get down than real scrambling. Then onto the ridge pathway which turned out to be a pleasant stroll. There were some steep slopes on either side but the ridge itself was wider than it had looked from above and there
was no real feeling of exposure. Some of the humps were a bit more exposed but all in all it was an easy walk, but with a steep climb at the end to the summit. The view of Loch Quoich was marvellous from here. This was where the final decision had to be made, whether to go on or call it a day. It didn't take much to decide to go down, the thought of walking a further 5 miles otherwise was the clincher. No real problems on the descent with a good pathway all the way and leading to a stalkers path. These are very handy when you are tired as they zigzag all the way down the mountain. Unfortunately they take away a lot of the adventure and feeling of being on your own as they are artificial. They are also rather unsightly especially when from the top of a mountain you look around and see stalkers paths going up and down almost every mountain side in view. Reaching the road and making our way to Cluanie Inn was the worst part of the day. On the map, and also viewing the road from on high, it didn't look too far and was probably only about a mile and a half. But it was agony and went on and on.
