As it was getting later in the year and we both had leave to take, we booked a self contained pod in Culkein. We had stayed in the Assynt area before and love it for the stunning mountain scenery. This time we were right at the end of a single track road which during this pandemic, meant we weren't putting ourselves or the local community at risk. Assynt is a beautiful area at any time of the year but I was blown away by it’s autumn colours.
Stunning view of Suilven from the Elphin Tearoom
Looking towards Quinag with Ardvreck Castle on the shore of Loch Assynt
A close up view of Quinag
The view over Culkein Bay from our pod
Our first days walk was a circular route from Stoer Lighthouse along the coast, past The Old Man of Stoer and returning inland over Sidhean Mor.
Stoer Lighthouse, constructed in 1870 and automated in 1978
The Old Man of Stoer, a 60m sea stack popular with climbers
Me and Lesley on Sidhean Mor
Sidhean Mor trigpoint
13 shot pano of the Assynt skyline
PeakFinder app photo of the Assynt mountains
Our walking route
The Wednesday was a bit wet and windy so we headed into Lochinver for our dinner and a look around.
Great view of Suilven from the Culkein to Lochinver road
After our dinner we went on a recce' to suss out the starting point of the walk we had planned for the next day.
Waterfalls across from Ardvreck Castle
Loch Assynt tree islands
Thankfully the weather had cleared for our mountain climbing day of Canisp at a height of 847m which would take us around 6 hours.
The start of our route
Over the footbridge into the boggy floodplain which, after the recent heavy rain, didn't make for good progress
The pathless route hand-railing the Alt Mhic Mhur chaidh Gheir burn, the going underfoot wasn't any easier than the pronunciation of said burn, at one point I had to run to get out of a near knee deep mud hole
Lesley leading the way as we headed up the steeper slopes
Away from the bog and onto the boulder field with great blue sky views of the Canisp summit
Climbing around the west flank to be met with this stunning view of Suilven, what a great feeling to be up here
Lesley in the summit windshelter
Me posing for the camera, shortly after this I realised I had left my dinner in the pod fridge
Great views of the Quinag mountain range
Our fantastic mountain day route
After leaving Assynt on the Friday, we drove to Cromarty for our pre-booked boat trip with Ecoventures, hoping we would be lucky enough to see some dolphins in the wild again.
Lesley and I were seated in front of the 400bhp engines
Our luck was in as the dolphins surfaced nearby
Some of them got pretty close
Dolphin acrobatics
We have been very fortunate both times we have been out with Ecoventures, it is an amazing experience to see dolphins in their natural habitat, well worth the trip.
Good stuff bro, we were sailing with the dolphins in Mexico, sea of Cortez, 35 degrees, any colder forget it. :-)
ReplyDeleteCheers, must have been some sight to be sailing alongside them, haha think it was around 12 degrees with us.
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