Hills: Easaval and Arnaval (South Uist)
Date: Wednesday 18th August 2010
Company: Myself and Beinn
Time: 1Hr 15Mins and 1Hr 45Mins
Dog friendly: Yes, except for fence on Trinival
I wasn't really planning to ascend hills today, however, I managed to squeeze in a couple of small ones during a trip to South Uist.
I parked beside a church for the ascent of Easaval. I then walked down the main road for approximately 50m until reaching the start of a track.
Track towards Easaval:
I followed the track, passing through a couple of gates, before taking to the hillside.
Looking back to start:
It was pretty-much a case of head up avoiding the deep heather.
View towards Beinn Mhor:
Lochboisdale from summit of Easaval:
On reaching the large summit cairn, I checked my GPS to confirm if I was at the actual summit. There are numerous cairns near the top of this hill.
Beinn bagging the summit cairn:
I headed for one of the more Southerly cairns before returning to the starting point. This cairn provided a good viewpoint for Eriskay.
Eriskay from Easaval:
After a visit to Lochboisdale, which didn't take long as there is very little there, we headed to the road-end to the South of Loch Eynort
From the road-end, I ascended directly, and steeply, up Trinival.
Loch Eynort:
There is a barbed-wire fence running across Trinival. Beinn managed to squeeze through between the two bottom wires – thanks to me standing on the bottom wire while pulling on the next wire up.
Sheaval from Trinival:
Loch Eynort from Trinival:
Arnaval from Trinival:
From the summit of Trinival, I descended to the Bealach Arnaval, losing around 100m of height.
The ascent of Arnaval was quite straight-forward.
Ascent of Arnaval from Bealach Arnaval:
View towards Stulaval:
Beinn Mhor from summit of Arnaval:
Beinn at summit of Arnaval:
From the summit, I returned to Bealach Arnaval via the same route. I then attempted to skirt round Trinival. Skirting Trinival
was slow progress and I ended up getting fed up and heading back over the top of
it. As this was a family day out (despite bagging two Marilyns) we visited beaches. The beach on Benbecula near Borve was quite nice, with views of Beinn Mhor in the background.