Sgurr Coire Choinnichean - "Peak of the mossy corrie" - 796 m - (Corbett)
Happy New Year! - Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!
Ahh ..... New Year on Knoydart - marvellous. So Hogmanay evening kicked off with an amazing meal of roast Knoydart venison, (thanks to John & James who slaved away in the kitchen all day). Followed by an amazing pavlova, (courtesy of Rosie), and an inordinate amount and variety of cheeses, (courtesy of Jim & Laura) and fruit and basil mojitos - yum. We stayed for the bells in the Old Byre and then headed down to Knoydart town hall at approx. 1.00am. We were greeted by a packed room and some sort of techno highland music. There was nothing to be done but to join them. Jim, Kate and John popped back at intervals to bring us some booze and in the end we had an amazing night of dancing that lasted until 6.00am. Staff at the Old Forge mentioned the next day that this was the first time the locals had been out-danced in living memory - so proud! Special mention must go to - Findo, who had all the moves! including spinning on his bum; to Jim for being so full of bonhomie; to John who danced all night - yes really!; and to Kate who managed to "borrow" someones stetson towards the end of the evening; and off course to the locals for being so tolerant of our shenanigans......
Anyway so we staggered home, (in some cases quite literally), at six in the morning and fell into bed. Only to find that J and I were wide awake and feeling surprisingly chippa about three hours later. So rather than moping around the house on new years day we decided to head off up a hill. We went on our own as no one else had surfaced from the night/morning before.
We took a good path that leads through the woods above Inverie village to a ladder stile at the forest fence. After crossing this, the open moor is trackless until we reached the gullies of Slochd a’ Mhogha, where a path leads over to the south-west ridge and up to the summit.
Luckily the weather was pretty amazing - not too cold, clear and dry. We had some amazing views from the top of the ridge as the sun broke through the clouds. I have to be honest and say it was a difficult walk for both of us. We were pretty shattered and my goodness my legs hurt. As much from dancing and jumping up and down all night as anything else..... still, it was well worth the effort!
I should probably mention that the following day we soaked our aches and pains away in the hot-tub at the Old Byre.......
Heading over to Knoydart by boat
Low mist in the hills as we headed out
Just above the forest after heading up from Inverie
Looking back down towards the Old Byre
The gully that had to be crossed, to get to Sgurr Coire Choinnichean
Some of the views
It was reasonably chilly at the top, still icy and snowy
Me at one end of the ridge, Jackson at the other
From the summit were spectacular views over to Skye and the Cuillins, Rhum and Eigg
