Author Topic: Wild camp routes in north west Scotland? (Assynt/Sutherland/Suilven/Ben More)  (Read 3174 times)

Billyoxford

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Hello


Me and my friend are looking into doing a walking trip in the far north west of Scotland that incorporates some wild camping. The really remote and rugged area of Assynt or Sutherland (Ullapool upwards really) really interests us. I would love to do a route that maybe involves mountains that have always fascinated me such as Suilven or Ben More Assynt (maybe camping on either and watching the sunrise). We are looking to do a 3/4 day route with at least 1 night of wild camping (although I realise there's not many campsites or accommodation in this area for the nights that we are not wild camping).


We are quite experienced walkers and I have climbed Stac Pollaidh, a few miles north of Ullapool where I experienced astonishing views north of Scotland's beautiful far north west, which really captivated me and I'm desperate to go back.


However we are struggling to work out a route as I understand many paths that do exist do not in fact exist on the OS map! Has anybody done any multi-day routes in this area? Or have any ideas of what we could do?


Thanks!
 
Billy

MoelPysgod

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This is an ongoing project of mine. I stayed at Inchnadamph Lodge last September and spent five days looking out the window at cloud and rain. I'm trying again this September and often spend half an hour if my day trying to "nail" a perfect route. The problem is that many of the mountains are hard to link up with one another, often being seperated by impassable lochs and often quite far apart.

  One idea is to start on the path near Knockan Crag at NC184078 and climb Cul Mor before descending to the north and heading for the narrowest point between Loch Veyatie and Fionn Loch at NC145161 - I've read that this is usually crossable, though obviously this would depend on recent rainfall. You could camp here. The next day cross the river before climbing Suilven, then either walk out to Lochinver, stay at Suileag bothy or climb Canisp, possibly heading out to Inchnadamph. There's scope for three summits and one or two nights' camping/bothying.

There's a good post on a bothying trip in northern Assynt on BackpackingBongos. Search that site for "bothy vagabonds in the far north".

I'd welcome any ideas you might have too by the way.

MoelPysgod

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Should probably have said that the route from Cul Mor to Suilven would be pathless. The paths marked on the map running to Suilven and Canisp do exist.

Billyoxford

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That sounds like a really good idea, I like the sound of joining Cul Mor and Suilven and possibly doing Canisp. I just need some inside information really as it's hard to tell whether some of the land is crossable, what with all the water/Lochs. Thats good to know that you can cross the water between Loch Veyatie and Fionn Loch. If the water is not too high then this sounds like a good route. Obviously it all depends on weather. I suppose if we did link all the mountains and loop back around to Inchnadamph, we could then just walk directly south parallel to the road back to Knockan Crag where we would have left the car (not sure whether this is a good place to leave the car?).


I had one idea that maybe we could start in Lochinver and do some of the Sutherland Trail (sutherland-trail.info/map/index.cfm). We could follow it east and then maybe camp the first night on Suilven or Canisp. Then continue on it the next day to Inchnadamph and then climb Ben More Assynt and maybe camp on Ben for the second night. Then the next day get back on the Sutherland Trail and follow it back west until it meets the A894 road, cross the road and if we have enough energy, climb Quinag. From there we would head south west back to Lochinver, but this is where I am unsure. There's no obvious route other than follow the A837 back to Lochinver. Sounds good on paper but not sure whether this will be do-able.  

 
Thanks for your suggestion though! It sounds like a perfect route (in good weather)

tonyjhc

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There is a track which runs between Ledmore Junction and Glencanisp Lodge which passes the bases of Canisp and Suilven.
A branch off this path  3/4 of the way along Cam Loch takes you to the north side of Fionn Loch and via the Kirkaig Falls to Inverkirkaig near Lochinver.
There is a route down from Canisp to Inchnadamph from where you can hike out to climb Conival and Ben More Assynt.
Inchnadamph is also the start of a path to Kylestrome via the highest waterfall in Britain.
I wild camp and fly fish in this area for several months each summer and can assure you that there are a multitude of sites for wild camping in the area with the bonus of a shelter in Suileag bothy near Suilven in case of really bad weather.
Plenty of water supplies en route to camp near and avoid the need to carry water

 

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