Friday 28 – Sunday 30 August 2026

It was great to return to the magic Assynt, especially to the hut with a panoramic view of Suilven and Cul Mor (or their direction anyway).

On Saturday, 2 parties of 3 set off to cloud-covered Canisp, the long way and the short way (the logistics making the short way the longer walk in the end). A group of 4 escaped the rain (but not the midges!) by caving in Rana and ANUS, a first caving trip for 2 of them – thanks to Andrew for organising. The rest of us explored beaches, geology and the pie shop. In DMC tradition, the main chef couldn’t be there on Saturday evening, but with others stepping in, Steph’s vegan curry was reported to turn out splendid, as was Nick’s crumble. Nice evening was spent in the conservatory, with cask whisky offered by our new member and Suilven finally showing its head from the cloud.

Sunday, cloudy but dry, saw 4 people climbing Conival and Ben Mor Assynt and visiting the Avro Anson WWII crash site on the ridge. The others went to Achmelvich beach (Sun Club swim included), via Elphin Tea rooms for some.

Then it was a long drive home, uneventful for us this time, as we’ve already done our traditional Elphin break down on the way in.

• Report by Elena Knatko
• Photo by Paulina P