A WEEK IN TORRIDON

 

Living in The Highlands is always an absolute privilege. We are surrounded by some of the most amazing mountain landscapes in the world, as testified by the huge amount of foreign visitors from across the globe. November is my quietest month, work wise. For our holiday my wife and I stayed local and had a fabulous week in Torridon, the finest mountain and loch scenery on the planet. We booked our cottage in Wester Alligin many weeks ago. Little did we know that we were in for a week of amazing weather.

MONDAY 2 NOVEMBER

Glen Torridon, the finest glen in Scotland. The road from Kinlochewe to Torridon village is 10 miles of the most stunning scenery you could wish for. I had a bike ride up the glen and then off road on easy forestry tracks into the Coulin Estate. What a pleasure to bike on peaceful roads with hardly any traffic around. A day of sunshine and showers. It was great to be back!

TUESDAY 3 NOVEMBER

A drop in temperatures across much of The Highlands today. Some snow above 800m on the high hills, coupled with strong winds. We brought our winter kit up but in the end we didn't need any of it. Today there was a lot of cloud on the Torridon hills and it seemed a better idea to stay low and seek out some wildlife. I was hoping to capture some images of Otter and Pine Martin on this trip. I didn't see either unfortunately but some great sightings of other wonderful species. In the short distance between Wester Alligin and Torridon House I spotted Grey Heron, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Grey Seal, Dipper and Whimbrel. Highlight was 6 Shag perched on the rocky cliffs above beautiful Loch Torridon.

Inbetween wildlife watching and photography there were a few sharp showers, some of hail at sea level. This gave way to glorious sunny spells and wonderful big, bright rainbows. I even managed to sneak in a well kept secret waterfall amongst the gorgeous Scots Pines.

Most evening we were treated to beautiful sunsets over Loch Torridon from our cottage.

WEDNESDAY 4 NOVEMBER

 Just occasionally I dabble in a bit of 'Roadside photography'. Not my thing normally but who can't resist capturing the classic profile of Liathach from Loch Clair? Someone else couldn't resist a swim either. A glorious morning of bright skies and clear mountain tops. The temperature had gone up a smidgen and the dusting of snow on Liathach had melted away. 

THURSDAY 5 NOVEMBER

Coastal walks in the NW are no walk in the park. Often rugged and boggy paths. The trail from Diabaig round to Wester Alligin is one such route. In all the years I have lived, guided and explored Torridon I had yet to walk this beautiful stretch of coastline. Until today. A brilliant day out. No one seen, only the wildlife.

FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER

BEINN ALLIGIN

A glorious day in store, weather wise. A forecast of temperature inversions with the higher tops poking out of the low cloud. What we got was actually completely clear skies by md morning. We welcomed that, no problem. A great day on Beinn Alligin. One of the 'big 3' of Torridon Munros. A classic circuit including a traverse over The Horns. We saw just 4 folk all day, only in the distance. Seemed like we had the entire mountain to ourselves.

The colours of November are outstanding. When the sun is low the golden light is mesmerising. This time last year it was much colder. We had received a fair amount of snow in The Cairngorms and it was a brilliant start to winter. Of course getting early snow in November does not in anyway indicate we are in for a bumper cold and snowy season ahead. Having snow this time of year is lovely. Having almost Sumer temperatures is also very welcome! We were down to base layers for a good chunk of today's Munro outing.

SATRDAY 7 NOVEMBER

BEINN EIGHE

Another glorious weather day. On Saturday there was hardy a breeze on the tops and wall to wall sunshine. Beinn Eighe seemed a good bet. It was such a wonderful day to be out on the ridges and tops that we retraced our steps after summiting the Munros of  Spidean Coire nan Clach & Ruadh-Stac Mor. 

The clarity of light was superb. From the ridge the visibility out to the west was very clear indeed. The Cuillin of Skye in particular were sharp as a pin, inpinn? :)

Just has we descended back into the coire there was a vail of cloud sweeping across Liathach and then melting away revealing the finest mountain in the glen. Very beautiful and atmospheric. Another stunning sunset back at base.

SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER

Last look for the elusive Otter and Pine Martin. Only a Great Northern Diver seen :)

Will have to return. :)