Skye Trail Day Five

Day Five Sligachan to Camasunary

Sligachan Campsite

Well what a wild night. Not a lot of sleep due to the heavy rain and gale force winds.  Very surprised that tent still had all the tent pegs in and the guy ropes were still there.  During the night kept having a check though the door as you could hear cars moving and voices.  Once up and out of the tent you could see who was left. Not many.  Some tents have gone others were flat on the ground. Ours were ok and stood the worst we been in with this tent. I think mainly because of the alloy poles and it was low tent.

We went off for Breakfast at the hotel.  Full cooked breakfast for £10 plus all the cereals and toast.  We then checked the forecast again with free wifi and it was showing to clear up with the winds dropping. The case was do we carry on or wait a day. So we packed up and carried on as it looked like it was clearing since we had breakfast.

Our route today was to head down Glen Sligachan, where we have a choice of two routes at a path junction.  One would go right and over to Loch Coruisk and we would camp around there. This is one of the finest lochs with the Cullins as a backdrop. The next day this route would carry on a long the shore and involved the Bad Step.  Due to the wet weather and as the day went on the cloud came back in. We went for the other option as if you slipped on the bad step you would end up in the sea. Big rucksacks and wet rocks did not mix.



Not the Best Walker to meet on a narrow path

 So our route along the Glen took us along the River Sligachan with the dark rock of the Cullins on our right. Being cover with cloud and then showing them selves again. On our left lies the red cuillin. The path is good with a few small burns to cross and few a little deeper with overnight rain. On the path we met a couple coming towards us with a very large fishing rod attached to his rucksack. From his face it looked like they did not catch anything and they had a rough night in the tent.

At the fork in the path we turn left to carry on towards Camasunary our campsite for the night. The paths heads towards Loch  an Athain as four RAF jets thunder low and sweep down the Glen.  We meet a jolly mountain biker who is having fun in the peat bogs and a girl walking towards us, who looks happy but not dress for the mountains.  We come across the girl another 3 times on this trip as she keeps popping up in different areas.  As the path heads towards Loch na Creitheach we were trying to find a river for some water for lunch.  But with all the rain all the rivers seem to under ground or are dried up on this side.   So our pasta mug shots stay in the rucksack and we just have the pate and oatcakes.

As we come over the brow of the hill to Camasunary we can see the white wash lodge and another building further on. Which we found out was a bothy. The land around belongs to the John Muir Trust and the buildings and the bay is in private ownship.

Camasunary

As we head down the path we always start looking spots to camp and water. The only suitable place was on the grass area near the beach or just above the man track next to the river. None of the spots were that good and we choice one little higher up from the track and little out of sight of the lodge. (If we known about it or checked the map we could have walk about 1 mile 2 miles further on and there was a nice spot on another beech)

Wild Camp at Camasunary.

So we set the tent up and have our meal washed down with more red wine. Keep popping our heads out looking at the sea view. Would have been nice if it was not raining and blue sky with a good sunset. So that was not on the cards but what we did get was a stag came down to the beech and was drinking from the river. We were up wind from it and I don’t think it knew we were there. Very large beast it was and tried to take a photo, but the rain was hitting the lens.  So could not get it to focus. If we carried onto the next beech we may well have not seem him

Not the Best Shot. Rain Hitting Lens thowing focus out