Abhainn Mhor River
View of Suilven
After a short paddle, breaking ice on the way, we reached the Abhainn Mhor River for our first portage round the waterfall. This one’s fairly easy; over the bridge and down the track passing the fish farm to Loch Veyatie.
We reached the Uidh Fhearna River flowing into Fionn Loch. It was very
shallow and rocky
which meant wading and lining all the way down. Tobey enjoyed this part. With a slight breeze behind us, we had a pleasant paddle, stopping for lunch at the sand bars between Loch Veyatie and Loch a’ Mhadail.
At some point, I lost my balance and ended up sitting in the water! My muck boots were full of water but at least my feet were still warm. I was glad to see a perfect camping spot at the end of the river, which would give us easy access to Suilven in the morning. We didn’t have a fire as the ground was so dry and we had already seen fires on the moorland in the distance. With camp set up and settled down to cook chilli and rice for tea. It wasn’t the kind of weather to sit about camp so we went to bed as the sun dropped behind the hills. Again the temperature dropped to -11C. Although our US modular sleep system sleeping bags are bulky and heavy, they are worth having. Despite the cold, we were toasty warm all night. Tobey was also warm in his sleeping bag and bivvy bag.
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