While Dave was working hard on the van last week, I went to Scotland for a week’s post-thesis/teaching holiday.  It was wonderfully sunny and equally wonderfully midge-free, and a reminder that in the right conditions the Highlands are difficult to beat.  Most of the trip was spent camping with Alison, David and Ruth at Ardmair just north of Ullapool.  The site was delightful: right on the shore with views of the surrounding hills and out to the Summer Isles, and it also afforded the opportunity to snoop at various camper vans staying there!

The weather and time of year meant long days on the hills, although some time was admittedly spent sitting on the sun-warmed rocks admiring the view!  Ascents of Ben More Assynt, Conival and Glas Bheinn; Cul Mor and Cul Beag; and An Teallach put us at the heart of the magical Assynt landscape: steep sided ridges of layered Torridonian sandstone rising from a lochan-strewn gneiss plain and capped with glittering quartzite, against the backdrop of an incredibly blue Hebridean sea.  It’s been eight years since I was last there on a first-year field trip, but I hope not to leave it that long next time – it would be a really fantastic place to explore in the van.

On the way to and from the far north, we made various stops: a weekend in Edinburgh to catch up with the duffer contingent there, Schiehallion (for David’s Munro completion), Beinn a’ Chuallaich north of Kinloch Rannoch, Ben Wyvis, and Ben Tee by Loch Lochy.

Some photos from the trip are below; there is a more extensive and better quality collection here.

David completing his Munros on Schiehallion

The beach at Ardmair

The view from Conival

Admiring Suilven

Stac Pollaidh

From the top of Cul Beag – what a view!

An Teallach