Ben Klibreck
The weather forecast looked pretty grim for most areas but I sensed things might improve the further I drove north. A depression from the south-west appeared to be losing some of its wet and windy energy over the western coastal hills and my hope was that it would fizzle out before reaching Sutherland.
I was right. I drove past Bonar Bridge and Lairg in ever-brightening conditions and on by the lonely Crask Inn where cloud shadows speckled the broad rolling moorland. By the time I reached Strath Vagastie, where the road rolls down to Altnaharra and Strath Naver, the sun was shining although a dense cloud cap still smothered the summit of Ben Klibreck, the most second northerly of our Munros after Ben Hope.
Delighting in the dry and bright conditions I was happy to try and ignore the gusty wind that was flattening the moorland grasses as I trudged my way along a boggy footpath from the roadside towards Loch nan Uan. While the wind certainly kept the midges down it wasn’t conducive to good video-making. I was trying to film the ascent for my website but even the heavy tripod that I lugged along was in danger of being blown over.
It’s been some years since I visited Klibreck, even though I spent a lot of time in Sutherland last summer working on a television and book project. I love the wide open skies of these northern parts, the distinctive individuality of the mountains, and as I climbed higher above the wind-ruffled Loch nan Uan those hills began to make their presence felt. Arkle, Foinaven, Beinn Spionnaidh, Cranstackie, Ben Hope and the multi-topped Ben Loyal formed a semi-arc of shapes to the west and north, blue remembered hills that refute Sutherland’s reputation as ‘the empty lands.’
It was a bit of a relief to reach the steep grassy slopes that make up Klibreck’s main ridge – it protected me from the wind! This long curving ridge runs roughly south-west to north-east and while it looks fairly bland from the west great spurs extend to the south and east forming some very impressive corries that drain into Loch Choire and Loch a’ Bhealaich on the Caithness side of the hill.
The steep slopes that face west were longer than I anticipated so it was a blessing to come across a footpath that ran north along the slopes just below the ridgeline. It meant I could head for an obvious bealach below the main summit without having to face the buffeting wrath of the wind.
Cloud still covered the summit cone as I was blown along the A’Choich ridge of the hill and I had to take care climbing up the rocky slopes to the summit, Meall nan Con, the rounded hill of the dog. Mercifully, I managed to find a sheltered nook just below the summit trig point where I could set up my camera and tripod and get some good footage of Loch Naver and Strath Naver, scene of the some of the most dreadful clearances in the early nineteenth century.
The settlements of Grummore and Grumbeg, Rosal, Truderscaig and Achanlochy were all emptied of people by the Duchess of Sutherland and her infamous factor, Partick Sellar. The lands were then rented out to shepherds from the Borders with flocks of black faces and Cheviots. Meanwhile the people were allocated strips of rocky land by the sea shore. A shameful period in Scotland’s history…
The imposing tops of Ben Loyal dominated the landscape to the north, silhouetted blue in the afternoon light and. beyond lay the even bluer waters of the Pentland Firth with the dim outline of the Orkneys on the far horizon.
A longer route to Ben Klibreck starts at the Crask Inn and traverses the long curved ridge of the hill over Cnoc Sgriodain, Creag and Lochain and A’Chioch to the summit. From Meall nan Con descend to the south-east over Meall an Eoin and down to a footpath that hugs the north shore of Loch a’ Bhealaich. This footpath can then be followed back to the Crask Inn through the narrow portals of the Bealach Easach, a long and varied mountain day of about 15 miles that gives a real sense of what walking in Sutherland is all about, a wonderful combination of wildness, remoteness, wide open skies and rolling moorland.
