Skye 1977

Skye 1977

Following last years camp the Venture Scouts had gone to college or otherwise moved on.
We decided to have a leaders reunion and we upgraded our accommodation from a tent to a hired caravan perched by the fence overlooking the sea at Glenbrittle.  Ian Holland, Alec Webster and Mike Beck were all in attendance.
The main walking exploit of the week was Ian and myself attempting the full ridge.  We did manage around 13 miles and 8250 ft in just over 12 hours, but it must be said that we came nowhere near to completing even half the ridge.
With an early start we made our first mistake and headed into Coire Ghrundda, balancing our way up the poised boulders to the main ridge.  (We should have headed straight for Gars Bheinn).  Once on the ridge  we turned South and took in the tops on the way to Gars Bheinn, the end of the ridge.  Now we set of in earnest, repeating at first the tops of Sgurr a Choire Bhig and Sgurr Nan Eag.  Before reaching Alasdair we hit the awesome drop into the Sgurr Dhubh Gap.  This revealed a spectacular drop to a small Col then an unclimable ascent out the other side.  It took us all of 10 seconds to realise that we needed to find an alternative route, so we retreated and descended west to try to get back up further round.  We were pushed farther and farther off route and forced to miss Sgumain and Alasdair.  Nothing daunted we kept to high ground and linked up with the Great Stone Shoot and used this to descend quickly to Coire Laggan.  Instead of calling it a day we climbed back up to the ridge and took in An Stac before heading on to Banachdich and Thormaid.  As we reached Thormaid it was going dark and we knew we were defeated.  Coire an Eich gave, thankfully, a quick descent.  We vowed to return.

Another day this week saw us (Ian and Mike Beck) ascend Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach a 652 metre top on the way from The Slighachan Arms to Sconser Lodge Hotel.  There was a full gale on top and we sat just below the ridge, in the lee, lobbing stones in the air and watching then be carried away as they left the shelter and entered the blast.  Alec ran taxi for us.

It was this week that saw lively goings on based around the Slighachan Hotel Public Bar.  This otherwise characterless and dingy place was transformed into the noisiest, liveliest hostelry we had so far encountered.
We were of course familiar with the place from last year, and it was a convenient calling shop from various excursions around the Island.

One night we arrived warm but damp and decided to live up to our motto of "Making the most of every available opportunity".  We met up with Neil, a smooth dressing entrepreneur, accepted his invitation to dinner, and ended up back at his house with a number of locals and Neil's drunken, German, wife.  The evening progressed, with myself taking Neil to Portree Hospital for stitches in his hand, Alec lecturing the Macdonalds on Macdonald history, another visit to the Slighachan, and an involvement with an accordionist who was eventually driven home by Ian in an 'Automatic'.  These escapades must await a full recounting in another epistle.

It was this trip that we walked the length of the Storr Ridge, saw a running fox, and finished the day watching a giant of a Highland Bull rampaging through fencing, down the road, and crossing a small Lochan to reach the ladies of the species. This despite being chased by the farmer and family hurling rocks and abuse. Such is love.

We also had a day exploring the wonders of the Quirang, with its rock formations, bowling green, and gullies.