Conival and Ben More Assynt - Scotland Summer 2005

	After the cloudy weather during my walk the previous day I hoped for better weather after my arrival in Assynt, especially because one of my main reasons I had come here was to walk to the summits of Conival and Ben More Assynt. When I stood up in the morning and looked out of the window the weather looked quite promising. Not perfect, but it was dry and the clouds were high and looked like they were lifting. The decision was easy, this was going to be the day where I tackled Conival and Ben More Assynt. Along River Traligill and through Gleann Dubh I walked to the foot of Conival, then up to the bealach between Beinn an Fhurain and Conival and finally to the summit of Conival. After just over 2.5 hours I arrived at the summit, time to enjoy the views.

Normal pictures don't really do the views justice, the vast landscapes really require a panoramic view to take them in. Here are two views from the summit of Conival, both are also available as QuickTime VR panoramas (you need the QuickTime VR plugin to view them): First a view east from the summit of Conival. Ben More Assynt on the other end of the ridge in the centre of the picture. Beinn an Fhurain to the north, the ridge leading to Càrn nan Conbhairean to the south. Second this view south west from the summit of Conival: The view ranges from Glen Oykel in the south to Loch Assynt in the west. Also good views over Canisp (Suilven is hidden behind it).
	From Conival I walked over the ridge to Ben More Assynt, an interesting and challenging walk as a large part of the walk is over sometimes loose scree. At least it was dry, I wouldn't like to walk on it in wet conditions. More great views were to be enjoyed, among others to the Coigach mountains (left). From the ridge I had an amazing view north west over Quinag, Glas Bheinn and Beinn an Fhurain (below left, names from back to front). Having returned to Conival I enjoyed the best weather of the day with great views over Loch Assynt with The Minch and even Lewis in the distance (below). I could only just make out Lewis on the horizon, but considering it is about 40 miles away I was still impressed.

Having not seen anyone on the hills earlier in the day I finally met the first other walkers on the way back from Ben More Assynt to Conival. I then met a family from near Dundee on the summit of Conival, we had a nice chat before they left for Ben More Assynt. For me it was time to return to Inchnadamph, as I had told the hotel that I would be back by late afternoon or early evening. On the way back I also saw a bit of wildlife, first some deer on Beinn an Fhurain (sorry, no picture), then two different types of frogs in the boggy parts of the path or in the grass next to it:

After just over 9 hours I arrived back at the hotel, time for a relaxing bath and then a large dinner. While the weather wasn't perfect (still quite a few clouds around) it turned out to be a right decision to go up on this day, as the next two days turned out quite cloudy with quite some rain at times. The map used for this walk was Explorer 442: Assynt & Lochinver. A good description of the walk can be found in Walking in Scotland (Lonely Planet Walking Guides S.) by Sandra Bardwell et al.

Rogie Falls (incl salmon leaping) <- Scotland Summer 2005 -> The Old Man of Stoer