The Herald - The Herald Magazine
The walk A dark world of exaggerated form
Location: Grade: Distance: Time: Sutherland
WE had retreated to the far north-west for a few days with a hitlist of hills we wanted to climb, lonely beaches to explore and a disposable barbecue in the boot. The hills, as always, didn’t disappoint and nor did the beaches, but a barbecue doesn’t have quite the same appeal when you’re wrapped up in waterproofs and a balaclava.
We had approached the watery wilderness of the Reay Forest from Lairg, then along the empty miles beside Loch Shin where man-made islands are used as nesting platforms by black-throated divers. Water run-off from the surroundings hills, due to overgrazing and forestry, has increased considerably in recent years and the traditional nesting islands are often flooded.
The artificial islands rise and fall with the water level. Breeding levels have been successful and the bird’s melancholy call seems to embody the spirit of these northern parts. The great Highland writer Seton Gordon once described the wild and compelling cry as one that might come from “one of the uruisgean or gruagachan which in tradition and folklore people those sea-girt isles”. It’s an eerie sound in the half-light of a late summer evening, especially if you’re camped by a remote hill loch.
Ben Stack wasn’t actually on our hitlist but, since we were passing it en route to Laxford Bridge and Durness, we reckoned it would make a good warm-up. At 721 metres it falls short of Corbett height but I had nevertheless admired it often enough, a rocky, conical and isolated peak that rises from the shores of Loch Stack in two steep bands of cliff-line.
Its blunt, western nose is steep too, but beyond its roof-like summit ridge its south-eastern slopes fall away in a gentle and rounded ridge, the Leathad na Stioma.
Footpaths curve their way round the west and south of the hill and the A838 hugs the shoreline of Loch Stack below its western cliffs, offering alternative circular routes.
We decided to tackle the steep west-facing nose first, before ambling down the Leathad na Stioma ridge with the wind at our back, returning to the car along the quiet road. Having just returned from the Western Isles, we’d endured more than our fill of boggy footpaths.
A well maintained stalker’s path zig-zags its way from the road up to Loch na Seilge and from there it was simply a matter of getting the head