UKC

Appears the start of the Cuillin can be approached from Glenbrittle or by boat from the South. 
 

But having completed the route and arriving in Sligachan some 10-12-14hrs later, how does one return to the start of the route. Is there a taxi service or is there an easier return approach on foot the following morning? 

We camped at the Slig, drove to glenbrittle to do the ridge then the next morning went tent to tent until we found someone who was heading that way.

As above. Stay or camp at the Slig. It may be a safer bet booking a taxi this year as hitching could be difficult. Plenty of taxis in Portree.

Forget the boat from Elgol as it leaves too late to allow you to do the ridge in a day. Unless you want to camp and carry your kit on the route.

I would also advise having a couple of days on the ridge first to familiarise yourself. It's a long and complicated undertaking if you have never been before (maybe you have). 

Camp at slig, leave bike locked there, drive to glenbrittle. Walk. Use bike the next day to collect car. Requires no taxi, hitching, or bus.

Edit. I wouldn't worry. Unless you're a demon navigator and can solo VS, you'll likely decide drop off the ridge back to glenbrittle. The odds of succeeding on first push, no prior knowledge etc aren't in your favour. 

Partner‘s girlfriend‘s car in my case

I picked a guy up last summer who jogged off the path (clearly looking like he'd done a one-dayer which he had!), stuck his thumb out - deserted road so I slammed on the brakes and all good.

I've done the two car option with friends.

A 'good' sneaky way back if you're ever on your own is to go down Gillean West ridge, traverse north under Am Basteir, up to top of Fionn Choire, down that to Bealach a Mhaim, and out to the Fairy Pools car park. A couple of times I've jogged the tarmac and if you are lucky you might get a lift. 

Folk clearly don't like my comment. But with no prior knowledge, I'd aim to just push to An Dorus, learn the route, enjoy the location etc.. 

I was going to say something similar to this.  I did the ridge solo 4 years ago after weeks of weather watching. Got to Fairy Pools carpark at about 11pm having driven from Manc.  Locked my bike to a telegraph pole there and then drove to Glen Brittle at around 5am.

Did the ridge, finishing on Gillean just as it got dark.  Then head north through Coire Bhasteir till you're out of the gnarr. Then contour round the hill West to Bealach a Mhaim.  Head through that to the SW and then your only 2km away from the Fairy Pools car park.

Jumped on my bike and cycled south down Glen Brittle back to the van.

To make a fabulous day even fabulouser, it started to rain as I got the the van.

I'm a complete punter, but I've got to say I felt thoroughly proud of myself getting from Manc after a kid's doctor appointment in the morning, all the way to Skye the soloed the ridge and got myself back to the van unsupported.

Definitely leave the bike at Fairy Poolsz not Sligachan, that would be a hellish cycle.

From memory after failed attempt from Elgol boat a couple of years back. There are buses from Sligachan to Broadford and more infrequently from there to Elgol (not running late). A combination of hitching/taxis and buses next morning might help. Buses from Sligachan to Carbost and hence to top of road to Glenbrittle also.

it's a bit over an hour if taken leisurely without any break. But what's the rush, I had a break after the ascent, little snack, drink etc.. 

Given the quality and quantity of information now available, (I'm thinking the Harvey's map and GPS which means the fact that a compass does not work is now much less important) I think doing it in one push first go with no prior knowledge is a reasonable ambition. You just need to be very fit and competent. It counts as one of my longest, hardest days in the mountains.

Hadn't thought of this. Looks a nice route on the map. 

It would an interesting test.

Two folk with zero prior knowledge. One with the above, the other with an old school written description, rockfax or similar.

A mate and I did it in 1983, no prior knowledge, an SMC map and the climbing guide description. We were in mist from Alaisdair onwards, went off course and had to backtrack twice. I really want to do it again, probably taking 2 or 3 days this time. I need to be much fitter first though.

That's a good effort, as you're no doubt aware. I'd speculate it's more an exception than the norm for first attempts in poor visibility. 

We were young, very fit and climbing well, so all climbing, scrambling etc. was straightforward. I think the nav is also fairly easy in good visibility. The beer in the Slig went down well afterwards!

Kudos if you've done it in an hour directly after coming down from the ridge traverse. I just feel that to maximise your chances of success it makes sense to reduce the cycle distance to a third and eliminate the uphills by around 250m.

If you're the ridge at 7pm, after a long day then that hour saving might be the difference between success and failure.

Which actually brings us onto the second reason... If  you leave the bike at FP then it gives you more options for bailing earlier. If you leave it at Sligachan then you'd have to walk back to GB if you bailed and then pick the bike up later.  Not a major issue, but worth considering.

Doh. Just spotted this bit:

Hadn't noticed that the OP was doing a two day attempt   in which case, fine, the 15 mile cycle would indeed be a pop the next day.

When we did the Ridge we had driven up from Hastings overnight planning to have a rest day before tackling the Ridge. We arrived mid morning in Glen Brittle and pitched our tents. On checking the weather forecast we saw that the rest of the day was going to be lovely, but a mixture of sun giving way to low cloud the next day, and then rain for subsequent days. So we decided to go for it there and then, taking just the minimum of food and water, and no stove to save weight. We hadn't really planned how we would get back to Glen Brittle from Slig, leaving that to be a problem to be solved when we got there, but were hoping we could hitch a lift.

We reached Gars-bheinn mid afternoon and started along the Ridge, getting past the TD Gap and continuing to just before Collies Ledge where we found a level patch ideal for the bivouac. After a reasonably comfortable but chilly night, we got away early, but progress gradually slowed during the day as we encountered more and more low cloud making navigation more tricky, but we managed, despite following one or two false ridges to dead ends and having to go back. 

Mid afternoon we saw another party coming towards us and we stopped for a short chat. They were doing the Ridge the other way. After saying goodbye and good luck to them, we heard one of them shout "How are you getting back from Slig?" We replied that we were hoping to hitch. He then said "Could you do us a favour? We'll give you our car keys, if you are willing to bring our car round to Glen Brittle!?" After a further chat about where they had left their car, it's number, and satisfying ourselves that we would be covered by the owner's insurance, and where to leave the car in Glen Brittle and hide the keys for them, we took the keys and carried on.

Because of the delay which had been caused by the tricky navigation in the cloud, it was dark by the time we reached the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean. The descent to Sligachan seemed endless in the dark. We could see the twinkling lights of the hotel, but they never seemed to get any closer, until at last we arrived feeling elated but very tired. Just one quick pint of Heavy each, no more because one of us was going to drive, and we found the car and drove back to Glen Brittle.

Unfortunately we have lost touch with those kind people who were prepared to lend their car to two total strangers they had met on the Ridge, we were so grateful to them, but mountaineering was like that in those days. It was like a brotherhood/sisterhood in that you gelled and trusted other climbers you didn't know and had never met. We were in touch with them afterwards and learnt that they had successfully completed the Ridge too and found their car OK. They said that we had also done them a favour, by solving their problem of how to retrieve their car from Slig.

So if you guys read this please do get in touch through UKC, it would be great to catch up!  

God no. Lock bike at slig with a tent. Eat, sleep, breakfast... then cycle to glenbrittle mid morning. 

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!! Great community this. 

In normal times you'd be able to hitch back to Glen Brittle no bother from Sligachan. Just catch someone as they try and leave the car park   However, I imagine this virus world may be unfriendly to hitchhikers. 

Purists would say this isn't a proper traverse, but I have done it from the boat, starting up the Dubhs ridge. You miss out the first Munro and the overall distance is quite a bit shorter, but it's much more enjoyable than the slog up Gars Bheinn. We even made last orders at the Slig.

It's a long way back round to Elgol, so you'd really want two cars for that approach.

Don't rely on hitching... we left our car at Glenbrittle ahead of a a two-day traverse but arrived at the Sligachan hotel at around 2am.  We were a bit frazzled from getting lost on the Bhasteir gorge slabs, our phones were dead and there wasn't a single car on the road so we settled down to sleep on the tarmac outside the hotel.  Pretty bleak considering we'd been fantasising all day about a slap up dinner and drinks in the pub! Luckily two of the hotel staff finished their late shift and phoned a taxi for us - cost £50 which was a bit of a stinger but to be honest I'd have paid triple that to reach the food and tents in the car.

If you plan to get a taxi then put some nubmres in your phone beforehand and save battery in case you reach civilisation 'out of hours'...