Cuilllin Ridge 2005; Sron na Ciche

The path to the Headland, Glen Brittle

Friday 27 May 2005
Caravan at Glen Brittle Campsite
Travel up to Skye on the overnight bus the usual ordeal
Arrive at Sligachan and Chris from the campsite collects us and takes us back to the site where we are hiring a caravan. We would have liked to stay in the cottage again but it is not available this time. The caravan is quite old, reasonably large and smells of mould but I know we will come to love it once it has been the base for some of our adventures.
We plop our bags down, sort out some climbing gear and go out climbing. We go to the Cioch where we do Collies Route to the Cioch, up Arrow and slab, and squeeze through a small hole onto East Gully which we then do.
Norman Collies account of his route –
“We traversed slabs, we worked up cracks and went right away from the Cioch into the gully on the East side of the Cioch altogether. Then we fortunately found a queer traverse that led out of the gully across the perpendicular face of the cliff and back in the direction of the Cioch. But the Cioch itself we could not see, until having got round several corners, suddenly it came into view and we found ourselves on the end of the knife-edge. We sat down on that knife edge and slowly made our wat to the great rock tower at its end and John and I were mightily pleased.”

Saturday 28 May 2005
Caravan at Glen Brittle Campsite
Today is very rainy; we hear it battering the caravan roof and get up late as there is nothing to be done in the rain. The caravan is placed quite near the site shop and the gate to the toilets, in some grass and close to the path. From the windows we can see rabbits hopping about on the grass. Having decided it is going to rain for a while we take the bus to Portree for shopping and lunch. Then we get stuck, as there is no bus back until 4.30 so we go to watch the accordion and fiddle festival in the Plaid Bar. When we get back we run along the coast path the one that leads South down into the unknown, uninhabited peninsula until we get stopped by floods across the path. Instead we then run upstream. Alongside the flooding river looking at the mountains, the Ridge.