KYQ4: Rum Cuillins

The approach from Mallaig

For several years I have been planning a trip to Rum to climb the two Corbetts on the splendid Cuillin ridge. I have been thwarted by ferries being fully booked, bad weather, Covid restrictions, and my intention to go on a day of good visibility. But with few Corbetts left to climb, I was running out of time. A fortnight earlier I had been prevented by the Saturday ferry being rescheduled because of a low tide. The forecast was ok, with white cloud and good visibility with a strong westerly breeze. The bunkhouse had restricted access because of Covid so the campsite was the only way to spend a night and see a bit of the island and then to have time to climb the two Corbetts which according to the guidebooks was a 12-hour walk. It took 50 minutes to get through to CalMac to make a ferry booking and the campsite had to be booked online by a company called pitchup.

John had offered to come along although he had climbed the ridge about 4 years ago whilst I was in London for Easter. It was reassuring to have some company for what is a challenging walk over some fairly rough terrain with little likelihood of other walkers. We left on a Friday morning to catch the 12:30pm ferry. Parking in Mallaig was difficult with the long stay car park full and we had to take our luck parking on the edge of the space for coaches. We collected our tickets from the CalMac booking office and the ferry left about 20 minutes late.

The ferry was comparatively empty with a couple of vehicles including an oil tanker and a few people travelling on to Canna. The Rum hills were partly in cloud and it was a duller day than the forecast had suggested. It is a ten-minute walk from the ferry jetty to the campsite. The site is well positioned next to the sea and close to the fairly new bothy that was empty apart from a group of men repairing the roof on Kinloch Castle. There is an open shelter on the campsite that came in use for cooking and the toilets are halfway back to the jetty. We set up the camp and went for a walk to Kinloch. The centre is a compound that contains the community hall, post office/shop and cafe. It was occupied by half a dozen children, some dogs and locals who seemed to have started the Friday evening drink session. We ordered some tea and cake and watched the comings and goings of the cars, bikes, children and dogs. The lively woman who served us disappeared as we were having our afternoon tea in a van that was called 'Bus' to catch the afternoon ferry to Mallaig, apparently for a night out, she was certainly dressed for it. She had not told those left in charge of the shop that she was going and they had no idea what to charge us.

We had a walk around the unoccupied red sandstone Kinloch Castle and its estate before retreating to the campsite and sitting on the grassy bank of the bay watching the tide come in. We cooked (or should I say boiled) some food: soup, couscous, and tea and retired at 8:30pm ready for a 7am start on the big walk tomorrow.

Saturday, 12 June 2021

Ascent: 1859 metres
Distance: 23 kilometres
Time: 10 hours 32mins

g Hallival 723m 2hrs 5mins
c Askival 802m 3hrs 20mins
c Ainshval 781m 5hrs 32mins
Nameless Corrie 759m 6hrs 8mins
Sgurr nan Gillean 764m 6hrs 23mins

We were ready to start at 7:00am, having packed our sleeping bags etc. into larger rucksacks and left them in my tent. We headed to the castle, crossed the river, and headed along the reasonable track towards Coire Dubh. It was grey and cool with a steady breeze that kept the midges at bay. The incline was fairly gentle at first until we reached a strange piece of artwork telling the story of the Manx Shearwater that migrate from Argentina to Rum every year and nest in burrows high on the hills. Their chicks are favoured by the sea eagles that patrol the ridges of the Rum Cuillins.

After crossing the burn by a water intake, the slopes steepened until we reached a rock-strewn plateau of Bealach Baic-mheal. As the slopes steepened again we entered the cloud and walked up grassland that was entrenched with hundreds of burrows. The shearwater birds are at sea during the day but there were signs of recent occupation and occasional piles of feathers where the birds had become prey. The final hundred metres of ascent to Hallival was a continuous scramble with the occasional chimney to haul ourselves up.

There was nothing to see from the summit so we continued to descend steeply over tricky slabs of rock to the bealach before Askival, it was quite difficult and slow going. The initial climb to Askival was straightforward and a narrow path then went below the ridgeline to the left. Again we were walking through dozens of sheerwater burrows and from the feathers there had been recent kills. Like so many paths during the day, it eventually petered out and we were left with a final climb through rock bands requiring some stretching and a couple of laybacks to the summit.

The rough stone-built trig point is the highest point on Rum. I had anticipated this moment on many occasions but visibility was minimal in the cloud and we were exposed to the strong breeze so continued for a while to find some shelter at the start of the next descent. The Met Office forecast had predicted sunshine and excellent visibility by 11 a.m. on Askival. It had been wrong on both counts and the strong breeze had the feel of rain about it. We were behind schedule but not by much and we had given ourselves a generous amount of time to complete the ridge.

I had downloaded a route on the OS maps online app and this included the route down, we veered south to avoid the crags and found an obvious descent route but we followed it too far, others must have made the same mistake and when we emerged from the cloud we were heading for the bealach below Beinn nan Stac. We had not lost too much height so turned 90° and made for Bealach an Oir. We had probably lost another 20 minutes so decided to give Trollabhal a miss, it was in the cloud and if the descent was the same as the last two descents we would lose more time. We contoured around under the crags and made the easy climb to Bealach an Fhuarain.

The climb to Ainshval followed a narrow path for a short distance and then involved a steep climb up some large scree blocks until the final grassy but steep path leading to the summit. It was coming up to 1pm so we were well within the time to catch the evening ferry. We relaxed on the summit and had some lunch. My objectives for the day were done but the sense of achievement was dimmed by the conditions with no views available. The next part of the walk over the two tops of the Unnamed Corrie and Sgurr nan Gillean was fairly straightforward.

John had previously made a difficult descent from Sgurr nan Gillean to the bothy at Dibidil and was a bit anxious about it. I had read that it is better to head due south to 600 metres and then head east, this way avoids the crags. It did, and we made a fairly quick descent reaching the bothy in about an hour. I had collected some stones in my shoe so entered the bothy to remove the debris and some outer clothing. The bothy was filled with building materials suggesting that the Mountain Bothy Association was about to start some refurbishment. We read the visitor book, studied the collection of empty whisky bottles, ate some food, and lingered for a while secure in the knowledge that we were well within time. Perhaps we should have climbed Trollabhal as well.

It is a 9-kilometre walk back to Kinloch along a very boggy path with several river crossings and rain was imminent, it was time to move. The first river was the most difficult crossing it involved a jump over a gushing current onto a rock that sloped back to the water. If you slipped it would be a waist-deep dip but our shoes gripped sufficiently to keep us dry. Not that this proved much compensation the boggy path ahead ensured wet shoes and feet for the rest of the walk. There had been recent work on several parts of the path, usually in 50-metre sections, reconstructed with stone and gravel and trenches dug to save further erosion. These sections probably comprised no more than 750 metres over the entire length of the path. The path climbs to 200 metres and gives good views over the coast and towards Eigg. It took two and a half hours, much of it in the rain and which included time to put on all waterproofs. My trousers take about five minutes to put on over trail shoes by loosening zips, velcro, and poppers and then refastening them. It is time to replace them with something simpler, John recommended some OMM Kameilka pants.

Arriving at the campsite, the breeze had blown itself out and we were welcomed by legions of midges. My midge net was somewhere in the bowels of a wet rucksack, so I dropped the tent and packed it whilst they feasted themselves. Although there was a shelter on the campsite, it too was a midge trap so we walked along to the jetty and killed an hour or so before the ferry arrived. The rain had stopped so we could remove waterproofs and sort out our gear. We made a brew of tea, emptied our sacks of food, and chatted to two cyclists and two walkers who had been to the Castle and Kilmory. The Calmac ferry back to Mallaig was an oasis of calm, with no vehicles onboard, only a handful of passengers and coffee and a bag of chips as a reward for the day. We were back at the car by 9:30 p.m. and home just after midnight. Only five Corbetts remaining.