HT550 northern loops part 2

HT550 northern two loops. Part 2, Glen Golly to Suileag bothy.
We woke up to a very different Glen Golly. Sunshine and a nice breeze! I’d warned up overnight but our tents and clothes were still wet from the night before. We tried to dry things out the best we could but eventually had to pack up and head off.
The area around the loch where we’d been aiming for turned out to be waterlogged so probably a good thing we camped where we did. A wet but defined trail led past Lochan Sgeireach and towards An Dubh-loch. We rode what we could but there is a fair amount of hike a bike here. The path sometimes disappears in the peat bog and can be hard to follow. We eventually made it down to the loch which is surrounded by dominating cliffs. A very dramatic spot. It was raining as we forded the river and cast our eyes at the massive push out of the valley which skirts the edge of Foinaven, another majestic mountain. It’s a big old push up which took us a while before we could start riding again. It was cold at the top but the views towards Arkle were superb.
We were rewarded with a long and fun descent down to Loch Stack where we had some lunch. Next was a short road section before turning up and climbing along the edge of Reay Forest. Another long and steep push brought us to the ruins at the top of the pass. Rich had a mechanical here as his clipless pedals started playing up but we sorted it and continued down the fun descent to Kylesku where we had a beer in the restaurant. Continuing on we found a camp spot next to Loch Unapool.
The following day our first stop was at Drumbeg stores which was fantastic. Refuelled and resupplied we continued along the road to Achmelvich where we camped for the night. Nice to have a shower!!
The next morning we stopped in Lochinver for a famous pie, which was excellent. Leaving Lochinver we turned on to the track that would take us past Suilven. We’d been thinking that we would stop and climb it but the weather wasn’t as good as we’d hoped so we stopped at the Suileag bothy to consider our options. We decided to stop there and climb Suilven in the dark the next morning and arrive on the summit for dawn. Kit was a pleasant day spent at the bothy but a very early night was required if we were going to achieve our goal the next morning.