Walk Report for Sunday 21st August 2011 by Dee Taylor

 Coir ‘a’ Ghrunnda.

Driving to glen Brittle we’d gone through some torrential rain, but by the time we arrived the day was dry, although cloud was down to about 300 metres. Eight of us left Glen Brittle on a good path heading east from the campsite. The path climbed gently for the first few kilometres. We saw a couple of grebes on a small loch. When the path reached some crags, the path turned south and followed round the base of them. It then began to climb quite steeply in zigzags, into the coire. We stopped for a short break with occasional views through gaps in the mist of Soay and Elgol. Then the path took us up into the cloud. We could hear water falls to our right as we followed the path up the coire. The steep path became a scramble up rocks until we reached Loch Coir ‘a’ Ghrunnda. We had our lunch at the side of the loch in thick mist. It was strangely quiet, quite eerie really. After lunch we decided to walk round the loch. It was frustrating knowing what views we would have had if it had been clear, especially if we’d climbed up the last bit to the Cuillin ridge. However it was very atmospheric. The loch was very clear with a sandy shore and there were weird, spiky rocks surrounding the Loch which looked like petrified choppy waves.

By the time we were heading back, the cloud base had lifted to about 400 meters and there was even some sun and patches of blue sky. The walk back down the path gave us some lovely views of Soay, Rhum and beyond. We finished off with a walk across Glen Brittle’s lovely sandy beach. Some of us also stopped off at the Sligachan hotel for a very welcome beer.