Luinne Bheinn, 21st August 2021

 Knoydart has been on the horizon for a long while now and we decided to set a date, book a ferry and campsite and go for it while Summer is still with us.

Plans were made well in advance (unusual for us), and final arrangements firmed up through the week and before I knew it, I was getting up at 0450 to head off to Toezi's for 0600 and then straight onto Mallaig. 

We arrived at Mallaig just before 0900 and had passed through a few showers on the way, nothing particularly bad. However, I had the aircon on - it was about 18C outside and quite humid.

Steg appeared not long after and we headed for the slipway to get the Western Isles Cruises out to Inverie. Cloud level appeared to be about 50m.

Boys on the boat

Approaching Inverie

We arrived a wee bit earlier than the scheduled time of 1100 and headed straight for the campsite, making note of the location of the pub for later on.

Tents were put up and we left the campsite at 1140, still hoping that the cloud would clear. We headed up the Mam Barrisdale track past Loch an Dubh-Lochain, up to the high point at 450m. It was roasting and humid, so layers were stripped, plenty water drank and some food consumed.

The next part seemed to follow the line of some old fence posts, but now it was starting to rain very heavily. It was a slow trudge up hill, skirting around the contours and then pressing up onto the summit. We discussed turning back, but we were close and not in any danger, so pressed on. We hit the summit at 1545, touched the cairn, then made the decision to head back to the Mam and make use of the good path to get us back quicker than heading over Meall Buidhe. It will wait for a nicer day so we can see the views.

Luinne Bheinn's actual summit - a bit further on than the big cairn

We found a more direct but steeper path back down. 

Atmospheric

Yes, that's enough atmosphere for one day

All the rain had turned small burns into raging torrents. The Allt Dubh footbridge which seems to have been washed away recently meant that what was an easy crossing earlier was now a raging torrent. Fortunately it forks and flattens a little downstream and we were able to get across, but not without a few leaps of faith.

Allt Dubh in spate, bridge gone

From there it was just the long, damp walk back to Inverie.

Heading back to Inverie

We arrived back just after 1830, and got into some dry clothes for a visit to The Old Forge. That's another story, and I'll tell you in person!

Here's the Relive:

Distance: 25km

Hiking Time: 5hrs 56mins

Hiking Ascent: 1007m

Munros Completed: 184