Nothing to See at the Top: Walking in Scotland Part One. . .

We've been home a few weeks from our Scottish hiking holiday and it's been busy so I am only now just getting around to posting some photos from one of our favourite parts of the world.  We split our holiday week between a few nights in Ullapool, followed by a sojourn on the banks of Loch Maree in the Torridon area, several miles south.

This was the view from our hotel a little way out from Ullapool on the shores of Loch Broom. So peaceful and beautiful.

You can see Ullapool in the distance, just jutting out in front of that range of gorgeous mountains.

The first two days of our trip were the worst, weather-wise, especially in terms of rain. Our first walk was up Cul Beag, a very steep climb over varied terrain (there is no path). You start climbing from the moment you leave the van (which you can see just parked on the road below) and essentially don't stop until the top.  The day was not looking good. It was raining at this point with low cloud.

But the theme of the walk was certainly autumnal - the moorland was just covered in the most intense, rich hues of every shade of  orange and rust you could imagine, although mixed into this natural carpet were greens, yellows, purples and reds too.  Below, we're about two thirds up and you can just see the summit in the cloud.

And a stunning view to the east of us with the promise of maybe some sunshine for the top.

This next photo below is looking behind us as we took a quick break before the summit.  Alas, it was not meant to be. The weather in Scotland can change every five minutes. By the time we got to the top, we were engulfed in thick cloud, there was absolutely no view to be seen and worse of all, the winds had really picked up and we were being blown every which way.  It would have been too unpleasant to try and wait for a clearing so we headed down.

And on the lower slopes, we were at least able to see again.

So we got to the top, but no view. Still - that orange!!!!!

Day Two: Our objective - the mighty An Teallach.  We had wanted to climb it two years ago when we were in Ullapool but the weather didn't co-operate.  It's a mountain that we could see from our hotel window and it dominates the landscape as you drive towards it.  It usually features in hikers' lists of top ten favourite mountains to climb, mostly for the view at the top. At least that's what I'm told.

It was looking good as we started up. And at least there is a discernible path.

Not looking so good about two hours in.  And that's not even the summit that is in the cloud.

 We got two-thirds up and the winds again were so strong, it would not have been safe to continue.  We wouldn't have seen a thing anyways.  And so we headed down a different route into the valley.

It was still beautiful, especially all the unique colours in the stone.  We were so relieved to get out of the wind but An Teallach definitely still feels like unfinished business.  The good news is that while the wind still continued to be an issue for the remainder of our holiday, we did see more clear skies and had some fabulous walks which I will relate in two more upcoming posts.