After the disastrous effort on the three Munros at the East end of Glen Shiel in May, I had a monkey on my back. I knew I had to get this one done sooner rather than later so that it didn't hang undone for too long.
Sàil Chaorainn has been one of a few Munros that my other regular hill buddies had already done and so, when a free Saturday came up and they weren't available, I took my chance.
As of late, I've been leaving at 6am and getting on the roads before they get too busy. The forecast was for a decent day, a little cooler than recently but as I drove up the road, I passed through low cloud and fog and I started thinking I might end up in the clag all day. Fortunately, that all passed and I found myself starting the run in lovely sunshine and very tolerable temperatures.
I headed up the way we had come off in May, heading up the Allt Coire Làir at 0922. It was a little breezy but I ended up with the hill sheltering me. The pace was dropped fairly quickly as I headed off the path and up the steep slope to Meall Breac.
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| Allt Coire Làir |
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| Marsh Orchid |
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| Bell Heather |
The wildflowers were in full bloom and everywhere, with cottongrass adding to the summer meadow.
I made it onto the ridge of Meall Breac, and pressed on, aware of trying not to burn out all my energy on the ascents.
As I got to the 900m mark, the view into Gorm Lochan appeared and it was as lovely as I remembered it from the last time.
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| Gorm Lochan |
From there, all the climbing was pretty much done, and I headed over Drochaid an Tuill Easaich to meet some clag.
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| Drochaid an Tuill Easaich |
Rather than relive the experience on Sgurr Nan Conbhairean, I skirted the path below the summit, maintaining my height. Then it was a fast run down to the bealach at 914m. I pressed on uphill for the last 90m of ascent to the summit of Sàil Chaorainn, which I reached at 1118, 1hr 55mins from the start of my run.
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On the Summit
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| Looking over to Mam Sodhail and Carn Eige |
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| Summit Cairn |
When I was on the summit, I checked my phone map and I was a few metres away from the dot - when I moved myself to be bang on it - I was on a different little rise away from the cairn. I do believe this is slightly higher and matches the OS Map, so I think the cairn might be a little misleading, but if you've come all this way, you've done the hill, no matter what.
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| Actual summit on the left? |
I stayed for a wee while, enjoying the views and some haribo to keep me going, then it was time to descend. I went pretty much the way I came up and it was quite a bit faster on the descent - my knees felt fine.
I made it back down to the car at 1245 and it was a nice and sunny day down in Glen Shiel. I took my swimming gear and headed down under the bridge for a clean up and cool off.
Here's the Relive:
Distance: 13.77km
Hiking Time: 3hrs 22mins
Hiking Ascent: 1057m
Munros Completed: 183
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