I had a choice of starting points for the ascent of the Sub 2000 Marilyn, An Cruachan, on the Isle of Skye, either Glen Eynort or Glen Brittle. I settled for the latter, accessed along a single track road from the B8009 south-east of Carbost, parking in the bell mouth of the track into Glen Brittle Forest, (NG419250) a Right of Way to Loch Eynort.
It was windy and noisy amongst the trees with a slight loss of height to reach a junction of tracks where I took the right fork followed by an easy ascent through the forest. Large areas had been harvested with more open space and views than expected. The downside was less shelter from the wind.
At the next track junction I took a left and continued along the track as it swung round to the Bealach Brittle before leaving the track and crossing a wet and boggy area to a gate in a stock fence. Oddly this rather old gate had a chain and padlock at both ends.
Once over this gate I headed onto Guala a’ Choire Mhoir, where on a couple of occasions the wind brought me to a halt as it tried to rip the rucksack off my back.
A short steep section was reached and I made it to the rocks just below the trig point, almost upright, where I dumped my rucksack. I then climbed to the trig on An Cruachan, buffeted by the wind, before returning to the relative shelter of the rocks.
I took a break here looking across Loch Eynort to the Marilyns, Beinn Bhreac and Biod Mor, which I still had to climb. Afterwards I returned to the Bealach Brittle and decided to include the Hump, Beinn Staic. I located a firebreak and it was an easy ascent through the trees onto the open heathery and windy hillside.
This ascent was steeper than climbing the Marilyn with lots of buffeting from the wind. The gradient later eased and after reaching the small summit cairn I descended north towards Bealach Eadar da Bheinn.
Lower down I turned east and dropped to the forest edge looking for a route through the trees. I settled for a line between young trees and felled timber. Although a bit awkward in places due to brash and trees growing close together it wasn’t as bad as expected although it slowed progress. This led to the forest track used earlier in the day which returned me to my car.
- Time taken – 3.75 hours.
- Distance – 10.5 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 640 metres.