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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
| > Home > Newsletter > Climbing > Jubilee Weekend Meet in Skye |
Jubilee Weekend Meet in SkyeIt rained. A lot!Myself, Andy Platell, Trish Murray and David Ballantyne were hoping that the fact that Skye usually has different weather to the rest of Scotland would happen for us yet again but fate, or was it the Queens wrath for not attending a street part or similar, was against us ...… We traveled up on the Thursday evening and, despite it pouring down for most of the trip up the west coast, we were able to pitch our tents in Glen Brittle on dry ground. The following (late) morning found the Cullin covered in clag so we headed round to the Elgol peninsula for a spot of breezy but dry cragging on some sandstone sea cliffs. That evening saw the start of things to come, and it rained for most of the evening and night; Neil Reed and Jean Mansar arrive just before it started to rain but we wouldn't want to associate them with the weather ........ (:o) Saturday saw us all going to the north end of ridge to Sgurr nan Gileann, with Neil and Jean taking the Tourist Path and the rest of us doing a D scramble called Pinnacle Ridge. This was done in very windy but dry conditions, until we left the top when it started to ......rain! We had dinner at the Slig', dessert at the Carbost pub and it was still raining when we woke up the next morning. The others just couldn't conceive that we'd be watching the England v. Sweden world cup game as we traveled up but the clag on the Cullin and the rain on the campsite forced us to seek out sea cliff climbing to the north with a quick visit to Portree on the way. As it was also raining in Portree, we found what must have been the only open pub in the area with the match on and stood quietly at the back with the locals who were all cheering on England Sweden. Neil & Jean were, at this stage, getting soaked on the Cullin. We did finally manage to get in a couple of route at Floddigarry sea cliffs but the rain catch up with us again. The Monday morning saw us having breakfast under canvas and the Cullin under clag (again). The weather forecast was going from bad to worse, so we decided to cut our losses at this stage and head back home early. Neil & Jean decided to have a day away from the Cullin but the weather forecast on the radio didn't give them much hope ....… Neil 'Bomber' Harold |