Bla Bheinn

For a long time, I had truly believed that Bla Bheinn would be my last Munro. However, once I had booked Sconser Lodge hotel for a couple of days with my good friend, Ayman, I had other ideas. The intention of the two days was to finish the 4 Munros I had on Skye but this would necessitate great weather, and an appreciation that Ayman had never set foot on Skye, never mind the gabbro. The forecast was good but one has to be sensible (to a degree) on Skye and so my plan was to introduce Ayman to the Cuillins by taking on Bla Bheinn after our long drive North. as we drove down the wee road to Torrin, the clag was low down so I wasn't sure we should do it, especially if it was raining. We sat and had a coffee in the wee cafe in Torrin and assessed the mountain - I swear I could see the clag lifting. We agreed that a wee walk up to the waterfall was the least we should do, and then see how things go.

We drove round and parked up in the car park. It was mild but still claggy and while I really wanted to add to the Munro count today, I also wanted to ensure it was a memorable experience for the right reasons. We needn't have worried. We headed up the excellent path alongside the allt, and while the clag didn't lift entirely, we had snippets of what loomed above. 

We eventually passed the waterfall and after a couple of kilometres, we crossed the allt to start the climb proper. The path was generally good but on occasions would peter out, or we had come off it. This wasn't a problem until at around 550m, we encountered a funnel of rock that seemed to take us into quite steep ground. We took our time and then continued the climb up until we reached a cairn and the path was visible. 

From here, it was an entertaining walk up past the Great Prow and exploring some of the chasms that yawned away North of the hill. Dramatic stuff. After a couple of hours, we then began the final rise to the summit trig point and topped out somewhat disappointingly without a view. That all said, we had a great time just focusing on the rock and path, distracting us from work pressures and tasks. 

Munro 275 was in the bag and we began the descent back down the hill, picking the best route down which caused no difficulty. Ayman handled the terrain well (his 2nd Munro!) and i was confident, he'd be ok on the ridge from a technical perspective. But could he handle the open and vast space below him if it was a clear day???? Our plan was the ridge from Sgurr a Mhadaidh to Sgurr Banachdich so it would really be a different challenge. Tune in for that installment!