Sgurr na Ciche

A more remote Munro you would be hard to find. 

We were attracted to the steady plod up the shoulder from Loch Nevis and were dropped of by a boat near Sourlies bothy. It was a very long and unrelenting slog up tussocky grass slopes with knobs and rocky barriers everywhere. We were pretty exhausted when we dragged ourselves up the steep scramble onto the knobby top. 

The descent down to the saddle was fraught with slippery rocks and rotten snow in the gullies. It was too late to consider the second top, so we headed straight down from the bealach and it was well that we did as we had to negotiate a steep gully filled with wobbly slippery rocks and lots of rotten snow with water rushing underneath. I lost count of the number of times I went through to waist level and we had to take extra care not to end up in the torrent. The steep descent to the valley below was a maze of knobs, crags and gorges - reminiscent of the Emyn Muil hills in Lord of the Rings. There were many blind alleys and walk-arounds before finally getting to a rocky track that lead back over a rise down to the Finiskaig river. We got back to the boat late and exhausted, but pleased to have made the most of the day before the weather changed.


The extra is a White-Tailed Eagle that we spotted from the boat on the way round to Loch Nevis.