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WALK FIVE

Suilven and Canisp

Start/Finish	Car park between Elphin and Ledmore Junction (NC 233 122)
Distance	25km (15½ miles)
Ascent	1790m
Time	10hrs
Terrain	The low ground is invariably boggy and to a large extent pathless. Canisp gives an easy ascent, but the full traverse of Suilven involves short sharp bursts of exposed grade 3 scrambling; there’s a non-scrambler’s alternative described taking in just the principal peak.
Maps	OS Landranger (1:50,000) 15; OS Explorer (1:25,000) 442 & 439; Harvey Superwalker (1:25,000) Suilven
Transport	Postbus service 123 from Lairg; alight at Elphin or Ledmore Junction
By Boat	The 7km paddle down Loch Veyatie to Suilven is one of the classic waterborne approaches to a Scottish hill, with stunning surroundings but no notable difficulty. Put in at Cam Loch, near Elphin, from where a short portage around a waterfall gains freshwater Loch Veyatie.
Accommodation	Hostel at Inchnadamph Lodge (01571 822218); Achmelvich Beach YH (01571 844480); Achininver YH (01854 622482)
Summits	Canisp 846m (‘white hill’, possibly); Suilven 731m (‘pillar mountain’, possibly, though obscure)
Sleeping Out	Loch-shore wild camping pretty much anywhere – try Loch na Gainimh or Loch a’ Choire Dhuibh. Bothy at Suileag (NC 150 211).
Seasonal Notes	Low coastal mountains not best suited to reliable winter conditions, but in a cold snowy spell the full traverse of Suilven is a grade II winter climb
Short Cuts	For a more manageable single-peak day simply omit Canisp

Assynt/Inverpolly is a composite landscape – equal parts water, rock and peat. Each free-standing peak has a unique organic form, sculpted by millions of years of weather. It is easier here to make the imaginative leap over the giddying gulf of geological timespans than perhaps anywhere else in Scotland. Suilven is the area’s headline mountain and among the best in the country, an improbable sandstone galleon riding a rippling sea of moorland and gneiss. Seen end-on it looks pillar-like, but a broadside view shows it as a long multi-topped ridge.

Suilven from Canisp

Suliven is a big day out from any starting point, and while a full traverse of the ridge gives some exciting scrambling, the highest summit alone can be reached almost hands-free. The hill is most often climbed from the coast, but the eastern approach is equally attractive, particularly if, as described here, Suilven is combined with neighbouring Canisp, a higher if less charismatic summit that offers stunning views of the other Assynt peaks.

Approach 4km

At the car park a signpost shows the path to Lochinver (19km). Follow this trail (wrongly marked on the 1:50,000 map) to the southeast end of Cam Loch, then through a deer fence and along the east shore, where steep slopes drop into the loch. The path soon peels away from the loch, climbing NW and then N on a low ridge.

On the hill 13km

Once close to Loch a’ Chroisg leave the path and head NNE over bogs, climbing rough slopes to reach a slight shoulder, marked by a large cairn. Continue uphill, bearing gradually left, to climb onto the broad southeast spur of Canisp, where a path appears. Views of Suilven and its surrounding peaks become increasingly impressive on the final climb to the stone-scattered summit, where there are two windbreak cairns.

Descend the well-defined northwest ridge, and where the angle markedly eases just above a lochan at about 500m trend left down boggy slopes to pick up a quad bike track. This heads roughly west, winding down a pronounced burn-cutting to meet the Elphin–Lochinver track in the glen bottom near Loch na Gainimh. Turn right onto this to cross a bridge over the loch’s outflow. Having done so leave the track and head roughly SW towards Suilven.

The main hillwalker’s path up the hill is soon met, but this doesn’t bring any improvement underfoot, since it is falling to bits on the steep sections and very boggy on the flat. The path climbs to a lochan-studded shelf beneath Suilven’s huge north wall, passing the idyllic Loch a’ Choire Dhuibh. Suilven’s formidable ramparts are breached by a steep scree gully running to the Bealach Mór, a col between the main summit, Caisteal Liath, and the lesser tops strung along the east ridge. The gully gives an unpleasant climb on an eroded path. On reaching the col a sudden view opens to the south over the wild watery heart of Inverpolly to the quirky peaks of Cul Mor and Stac Pollaidh.

Approaching Meall Bheag

Suilven (left), Canisp and Cul Mor from Stac Pollaidh

Turn right, passing through a gap in an incongruous stone wall to follow the dramatic but easy ridgeline over a minor top and on to the grassy dome of Caisteal Liath. This promontory summit is circled by steep cliffs, giving it a feeling of island-like isolation and spaciousness; the sea dominates the western outlook. The only safe way off is back the same way to the Bealach Mór. There are now two options.

Option A Non-scramblers could retrace their steps to the Lochinver–Elphin track, but it’s better to head SW down an eroded scree gully path, similar to the ascent route, to reach the shelf below Suilven’s south wall. Vague traces of path now lead along this, running below Suliven’s eastern summits to join Option B on the shoulder ESE of Meall Meadhonach.

Option B Scramblers are in for a treat. Follow Suilven’s spine eastwards over a minor summit with occasional light scrambling, then descend quite steeply into a pronounced notch. Suilven’s second highest summit, Meall Meadhonach, looms above; a worn path leads up broken ground and rocky steps to an unavoidable rock band that bars access to the summit. This is climbed via a series of ledges and steep walls, and although there’s a choice of lines none are easy. From the east end of Meall Meadhonach another steep broken descent leads into another tight notch. The lower final peak, Meall Bheag, is the most intimidating of all, a leaning rock tower sprouting from the side of the mountain. Cross a short arête to reach the base of the tower. Make an unnerving step left, then pick your own line up airy ledges and tricky rock steps on the tower’s north flank – serious ground that needs a cool head. The broad summit marks the end of the major difficulties. A path descends its far end (steep at first, but only slightly scrambly) to reach the easy-angled shoulder below, where Options A and B rejoin.

Return 8km

Follow the high ground ESE to the minor top of Meall na Braclaich. Hold roughly the same line down boggy slopes to meet a sketchy path near the shore of Cam Loch at a burn. This climbs to a shoulder overlooking the loch, where the approach path is rejoined.

Canisp (left) and Suilven’s eastern summits from the ascent of Caisteal Liath