Winter Walking, Ullapool (February-March 2026)

A team of hardy winter walkers assembled on the Friday at the very comfortable Kildonan

House in Ullapool. Anja and Heather enjoyed excellent accommodation for the week at

Judith’s lovely new house, which was just round the corner. Once everything had been

unloaded – including food for the week – a priority was to check out the hot tub. It passed

muster! We enjoyed expertly flipped venison burgers for dinner, fresh from the House of

Bruar.

The forecast for the week looked poor but Saturday turned out fine and David Watts led

everyone who was able up Breabag, a fairly flat-topped Corbett in the shadow of Ben More

Assynt.

Breabag summit

The panoramic views from the summit were fantastic, out to sea, the islands, and

nearby hills.

Descending from Breabag

We descended via the Bone Caves, which lie in limestone at the foot of a cliff

and have been excavated to find both animal and human remains. Fortunately, there’s no

bones left there!

The wind forecast for Sunday was poor so we checked out the local tourist attractions:

Knockan Ridge, where old rock sits above newer due to the collision of tectonic plates; the

ruins of Ardvreck Castle where we enjoyed Phinella’s guide to the historic goings-ons of the

local clans (unfortunately she’d forgotten her card reader to collect tips!); Lochinver, where

the pie shop was inevitably closed; and finally the Wailing Widow Falls, where we met David

White perched mid-river with his camera and tripod!

Wailing Widow Falls

On Monday, Anja sadly joined Susan and David White on the sick/injured list but the rest of us dodged the local wild-roaming goats on the road to climb Sail Mhor. This Corbett lies at the end of the An Teallach range and we were treated again to fantastic views from the top.

Sail Mhor summit

Phinella and Patrick climbed the Corbett Beinn a’ Chaisteil which turned out to not be the

expected sludge and trudge!

Beinn a'Chaisteil summit

Tuesday – fortified by a breakfast of bacon and sausage baps, five of us (David Watts, Patrick,

Stephen, Patricia, and Phinella) drove up to Inchnadamph to climb Conival, a Munro at 987

m. The path up narrow Gleann Dubh followed the river at a gentle gradient but steepened

as we approached the bulk of Conival. The wind got up and the snow patches grew larger.

We met someone coming down who said he’d turned back because of the snow and thewind. We clambered up rocks onto the shoulder of the hill to avoid steep icy snow and

passed another descending walker who had reached the summit.

Making progress on Conival

Our confidence increased once we’d put on micro-spikes and before long we had negotiated the final ridge leading in

the mist to the summit cairn.

Conival summit

After a quick obligatory photo, we headed back down and

visibility gradually improved. After a late lunch we were soon back in the glen and enjoying

the late afternoon sun glinting on Loch Assynt. We agreed that the day had been rather

more of a challenge than expected – real Scottish winter conditions.

Descending Conival

Karen led a walk up Cul Beag (765 m) followed by Heather and Anja. It is described as “a

very fine and steep little Corbett.” It was certainly steep and didn’t feel that small when we

climbed the first summit to be confronted by a considerable climb to the real summit. The

views over Stac Pollaidh and the coast line were spectacular.

Cul Beag summit

Karen then went on to climb Stac Pollaidh and caught the sunset from the top while Heather

had a swim at Ardmair beach.

Stac Pollaidh sunset

Wednesday – Patrick drove round the coast past Achiltibuie to the hamlet of Culnacraig with

Tushar, Karen, Patricia, and Phinella as passengers. The so-called Fiona (formerly Graham –

don’t ask) Ben More Coigach (743 m) was the objective. There were excellent views out to

the islands and we spotted the Stornoway ferry on its way.

Ridge walk to Ben More Coigach

As we wove along the narrow

ridge past weathered outcrops of red sandstone we thought of Anja and Heather on the

coastal Postie’s Path below.

The weather started to close in before the summit and the

second peak of Sgurr an Fhidhleir (705 m), another Fiona, was invisible. We reached it with

the help of an old-school bearing taken by Karen. The weather cleared and we scuttled

down an easy slope with some final stormy views out to sea and returned to the car. We

agreed that the odd scenic “Fiona” was worth the effort.

Heather and Anja wanted to take things easy on Wednesday so opted for a 7km coastal

walk – known as the “Postie’s route”.

Postie Walk start

It was pretty strenuous, and it was a bit of a mystery

how a postman could manage it with a mailbag. The walk was made more strenuous by the

fact that they strayed off the path and found themselves beating up a stiff heather cliff and

over a rock escarpment. They were rewarded with great views of the Summer Isles.

Our last day dawned rainy and grey and so some of us headed for retail therapy and coffee

shops in Ullapool. Patricia, Tushar, Stephen, David White and Karen headed to Lochinver (for

pies!) and then to Point of Stoer, the most westerly point of Assynt, where there’s a fine

lighthouse and a soggy walk to the Old Man of Stoer, an impressive sea stack.

Old Man of Stoer

We finished the week with a celebratory dinner in The Seaforth Restaurant – the Shetland

scallops, Loch Broom Langoustines and fish and chips were popular choices! As ever, many thanks are due to David and Susan Watts for organising yet another successful and fun Scottish week and to all participants for being good company on and off the hill.

Final dinner

By Patricia, Heather, and Phinella.

#ibexwalkers