Day twenty-seven - Saturday

Really nice to have a bit of a lie in again, up around 9ish to finish off my packing. Picked up Brett from his B&B, gave him a lift to the station via Wetherspoon's for a 'goodbye-Fort-William' fry up! Was very tasty, even though the sausages were square - what's that all about?! Not to mention the 1500-odd calories mentioned on the menu - would fuel me up for the truly awesome day ahead...

Took Brett to the station headed back to the house - I was now the last one standing in Fort William :( Loaded up the car with all my stuff then bade farewell to the MacRae's who have looked after me excellently during my stay. Left a bottle of vino, a postcard and some Kendal Mintcake as way of a parting gift! Set off around midday for the north, went via Glen Shiel, stopping off at Glen Garry to enjoy the dulcit tones of a ceremonially dressed bagpiper - was the perfect atmosphere, looking out onto superb Scottish highland wilderness with the sorrowful drone of the bagpipes ringing out. Before long I was looking at the impressive bridge over to Skye, the scene of my afternoon adventure!

Crossed over to the island and at Broadford hung a left, heading for Torrin and the Black Cuillin, home of Bla Bheinn, often described as the best mountain on Skye. I parked the Polo up in a layby for a shot with it in the background, including the incredible Clach Glas ridge to it's right, my objective for the afternoon!

The Polo with Bla Bheinn in the background - incredible scenery/weather

Parked up in the car park and although it was only 3pm as soon as I opened to door to start packing my bag I started getting midged! Quickly got my stuff together and set off. First bit was up the path to gain a bit of height, before then cutting right and gaining the top of Sgurr nan Each. Was a steep ascent, on some loose scree before reaching the ridge line. Scrambled over to join main ridge seperating Garbh Bheinn from Bla Bheinn - at this point hadn't decided whether to tick of the former. It's not a munro, and due to my late start I decided to just carry on towards Bla Bheinn to get the main objective, the traverse, done with time to spare, rather than losing time on the accessory. I'd definitely like to come back and tick it off though, looks like a great mountain. Turning round I saw what was ahead - truly spectacular!

Cut right up to the ridge line, then left all the way to Bla Bheinn (pronounced Blaven), with Clach Glas in the middle

Steep scrambling up Sgurr nan Each

Clach Glas, the Matterhorn of Sky, with Bla Bheinn to the right

The actual terrain wasn't as intimidating as it looked - although it was exposed the scrambling was always comfortable. Some of the rock was a bit loose, so required extra care. I'd brought my helmet so donned that to give some protection against any rocks coming astray from above! Also gets me in serious-mountain-route mindset, once the lid goes on I start to concentrate :) Before long I'd reached the summit of Clach Glas. I can't really remember much about the difficulty of the scrambling, no bits particularly stood out as being 'the crux' so I guess it was all ok! I was too busy staring at the incredible views out to the main ridge and all over the coastline.

The route ahead, PSYCHED!

The summit of Clach Glas, with Garbh Bheinn behind - next time

After descending the summit, getting a sweat on

Made my way off Clach Glas summit, some tricky downclimbing sections which were probably the hardest bits of the whole traverse. Went over this feature called the 'Putting Green', a very random patch of grass where the path actually goes horizontally for around 5m before plunging back into vertical rocky mayhem! Provided a nice spot for a sit down, bite to eat and rehydration. Stunning views over to an amazingly perched huge wall of rock on Bla Bheinn, thought there must be routes on it - sure enough there are but the only one up the main face is E5! Looks classic. There's a few HVS' that skirt round the edges. Definitely a place to come back to, just insane.

Looking back over the terrain covered

The crux chimney

From the putting green it was more steady scrambling, all straight forward until the crux chimney was reached. This gets 'Diff' as a rock climbing grade, as it's vertical with some smaller holds to start with. It's not exposed though - you could slip and you'd just go to the bottom of the chimney, rather than the bottom of the mountain like on some other sections! Pretty polished, and lots of crampon scratches (sorry wild cat claw marks). This would be one hell of a winter route! And then it was all over, I was on the summit - wow!

Does life get any better than this?

The dream route - the Cuillin Ridge, what a weekend this would have been for it

Wow. Wow. Wow! The traverse in all it's glory, fantastic.

I think I can safely say that it was one of the best days out in the hills I've ever had. I think the semi-exploratory nature of it made it even more satisfying - I'd seen it as a possibility on the map, but hadn't read anything about it in advance. Didn't really know how hard it was going to be, and was prepared to turn back if the climbing looked like it was getting serious enough for ropes/gear. In the end it was all very amenable, much more so that it's looks would suggest. All added to the euphoric feeling on top!

Spent around 30mins on the summit, soaking up the views courtesy of the type of weather one could spend years waiting for. As I was taking it all in two other walkers got to the top, and we got chatting. Turns out one of the pairs brothers is a 1st year medic at King's, and is going on the KCL Wilderness Medicine Society expedition to India this summer - crazy! Small world. Left them to the vista's and headed down.

Reached the car in good time, spent 3h30m moving with 30m on top. Superb. Learnt from my previous midging and just threw everything into the car before driving off with the windows open, blowing the midges away! So psyched - the afternoon had surpassed my mountaineering dreams, I was on such a high!

Skye - the place where dreams come true!

Headed round to Sligachan Hotel where I'd heard there was a nice bar - got a celebratory pint and chips in. They had a superb whiskey collection too, but decided to stear clear, maybe next time! That's the one thing that could have improved today - someone to share the experience with. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, it was the best afternoon I've ever had in the hills, but would be good to relive it with a friend over a pint. Just had to placate myself by planning the following day's adventures, and my bivi site for the night...

Celebratory pint, and planning tomorrow's adventure...