Having never been to Skye before, this trip was aimed at slowly making my way there, bagging a few Munros on the way up, spending a day or two exploring Skye, and possibly bagging more Munros on the way back, subject to weather and energy levels.

I drove up to Tyndrum on Friday night, spending the night there, then headed to Kinlochleven on Saturday morning to do the four eastern Mamores. Having read up on the route beforehand, I was expecting a similar challenge to the Ring of Steall – a bit longer, but with similar amounts of ascent and descent, and without the wire bridge and waterfall crossings.

The weather was glorious – sunny and very warm. After briefly getting lost in the forest at the start of the walk (this is common apparently, as there are too many paths to choose from) I eventually ended up on the correct, very good path, with glorious views back over Kinlochleven and Loch Leven.

I kept overtaking and being overtaken by a couple of walkers with a dog – they were walking faster than I was but kept stopping to faff, so I would overtake them when they stopped and then they would eventually catch up and overtake. Eventually we introduced ourselves – turned out she was a mountain leader called Kirsty, enjoying a day off with her friend Colin. The dog was Colin’s and was called Jura. Kirsty was just aiming to do the first two Munros; Colin planned to continue on to the third with Jura.

From memory the views for quite a long time were pleasant but not particularly spectacular, until I reached the bealach below Sgurr Eilde Mor, where the beautiful lochans surrounded by dramatic peaks conjured up a feeling of having enters an entirely different world. With my first Munro summit now clearly in view (though sadly not in any of the below photos, being off to the right of these shots) I took a few photos and then continued on to the summit.

The views from the top of Sgurr Eilde Mor were spectacular – with Aonach Beag, Aonach Mor, Carn Mor Dearg and the arrete leading to Ben Nevis in prime position.

Thankfully I found a couple of spots to refill my water as I went round, as the two bottles I’d taken would never have been enough on such a warm day. I even stopped for a dip in the tarn below the second Munro, Binnein Beag, to cool off before tackling Binnein Mor.

The third Munro, Binnein Mor, was by far the most difficult, involving a fairly boggy and mostly pathless ascent of a grassy hillside to reach the summit ridge. I was exhausted by the time I made it up to the ridge, but the views were well worth it. I had spotted Colin and Jura on the summit in the distance as I headed up, and I suspect Colin may have been waiting for me to arrive before they headed off. We had a quick chat and then they started heading down and I carried on to the final Munro, thankfully a very straightforward down and up along the ridge line.

The top section of the descent was pretty awful – steep and loose to start with, followed by steep uneven grassy hillside for a good few hundred meters before eventually reaching a path. Still nowhere near as bad as the descent off the Ring of Steall though!

Overall it was a fabulous though exhausting day – and much longer than I’d anticipated. It ended up with a bit of a race to get down in time to check into my b&b in Ballachulish- the owner wanting to get away by 8pm to catch a ferry across to his own home for the night. I was moving as quickly as I could, but it still took me just over 2 and a half hours to get down; thankfully I didn’t have far to drive once I got back to the car. I finally arrived at the b&b around 7.45, so just had time for him to let me in and show me my room before he dashed off to get his ferry.