2016, it was a very good year...I had a week off at the end of March, the week before I was off there had been a long spell of fine, settled winter weather with 'alpine conditions' on the mountains. I only caught the last day of this with the rest of my week seeing more usual weather (low cloud, rain).
I began the week with a 3 night's stay at the Killin hotel, a convenient base for the hills around Glen Lochay and Glen Lyon that I wanted to do. I arrived there on a Saturday evening and the next day I drove down Glen Lochay, parked at the far end of the Glen. Followed the path alongside the river the heading uphill to Sron nan Eun (the south-east ridge of Creag Mhor)
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| river Lochay |
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Creag Mhor
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From the summit of Creag Mhor I had to descend a steep snow bank and then lose quite a bit of height before the ascent of Beinn Heasgarnich.
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Ben Lui hills
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Crianlarich hills
From the summit of Beinn Heasgarnich I made my way eastwards to the road that goes over to Glen Lyon, walked this road back to the car park.
The next day I did Meall Glas in poor weather (I'd done Sgiath Chuil, the hill it's usually paired with some years earlier). Made my way up to the ridge near Beinn Cheathaich, then followed the ridge to the summit of Meall Glas. Descended to the river Lochay and back to my car.
On the Tuesday I checked out of the hotel and drove to the dam at the end of the Glen Lyon road. I had two easy hills to do either side of the dam, Stuc an Lochain and Meall Buidhe. I went up Stuc an Lochain first, got views for most of the way up, it was just the very top that was in mist. Went back to the car for a sandwich then up Meall Buidhe, same again, in mist at the summit.
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| Stuc an Lochain |
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| Meall Buidhe |
After doing these 2 hills I drove a little way along the Lairig an Lochan road and wild-camped discreetly just off the roadside, the next day I did 2 Munros, Meall a' Choire Leith and Meall Corranaich in zero visibilty. The good thing was, I'd now done all the Munros around the Glen Lyon and Loch Tay area. I celebrated with a lunch at the Killin hotel, after lunch I drove to Glencoe, where I'd be staying for the next 2 nights.The weather on the Thursday was so awful, that doing any kind of walk was out of the question.
Good Friday's forecast was a lot more promising, I parked up on the Glencoe ski centre car park, and walked over the moor to the foot of the Sron na Creise. I picked my way up the steep nose, indulging in some exposed scrambling moves. Emerging out on the Sron na Creise it was easy walking along the ridge to Creise and onwards to Meall a' Bhuiridh, descending from there down the ski slopes.
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| Meall a' Bhuiridh and Creise |
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| Buachaille Etive Mor |
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| Sron na Creise |
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| Buachaille Etive Mor in profile |
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| summit slopes of Sron na Creise |
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| Rannoch Moor |
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| Looking towards Ben Nevis |
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| Creise summit |
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| Creise |
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| Meall a' Bhuiridh |
After having a good day on the hill, I drove down to Inveraray, where I would stay for the weekend. The weather wasn't very good on the Saturday, just did a low-level walk in the woods. Sunday was a bit brighter, I went for a drive along the Loch Fyne road, parked up at Glen Kinglas and headed for the Corbett, Beinn Luibhean. My plan was to combine this hill with the neighbouring Munro, Beinn Ime.
There are many fine Corbetts in the Arrochar alps, The Cobbler probably being the best known of them, but Beinn an Lochan looked very impressive on my ascent.
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| Beinn an Lochan, Glen Kinglas |
I had a close encounter with a mountain hare on the summit of Luibhean, but the creature hopped away before I could get my camera out. The mixture of sunshine and cloud made for some good photographic conditions, it was just a shame that I didn't get the views from the summit of Beinn Ime.
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| Beinn an Lochan |
Above; contrasting views of Beinn Narnain and The Cobbler, taken from Beinn Luibhean about 30 minutes apart.Above; contrasting views of Beinn Ime from Beinn Luibhean |
| The Cobbler, with The Brack in background |
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| Beinn Luibhean and Beinn an Lochan |
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| Beinn Ime and Beinn Luibhean |
Returned to Inveraray for a last night at the hostel, drove home on Easter Monday happy with my week - added 10 Munros, not bad considering the mix of weather. May 2016 - passing the 200 mark...
I'd got two weeks off at the end of May, in previous years that month had been good to me. This time I was going to be concentrating on the Munros in the north-west, around the Ullapool area. It was somewhere I'd never been before, so there was going to be plenty for me to go at.
I broke the journey north with an overnight stay at Stirling youth hostel. Drove up the A9 in the morning and parked in on of the lay-by's at the pass of Drumochter and set off along the broad track heading up towards A' Bhuidheanach Bheag. Bearing in mind that you're setting off from 400 metres above sea-level from the roadside, it doesn't take long to get up to Munro height. To me, the landscape is more of a moorland plateau than a mountain scene. From the top of A' Bhuidheanach Beag I crossed this moorland to Carn na Caim - my 200th Munro! Celebrated with a half-pint of ale in the Glen Hotel at Newtonmore, then set off for my next stop for the next few days, The Aultguish Inn.
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| Heading towards Carn na Caim |
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| zoomed view of the Cairngorms from A' Bhuidheanach Beag |
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| on Carn na Caim |
I'd booked in for a few days in a hostel room at the Aultguish. There are good hostel facilities here - excellent large self catering kitchen, clean comfortable rooms. There are plenty of Munros nearby, the Fannaichs being closest, Ben Wyvis is just down the road. There was a change in the weather from my jaunt on the Drumochter hills, on the Monday I set off from the parking area at the western end of Loch Glascarnoch and had to negotiate the river crossing (which I did with dry feet). Walking with a chap from the hostel, we made our way towards the long south ridge of this sprawling hill. There was some visibility but the summit was in cloud. Made our way down by the same route (that problematic river crossing had to be reversed) and back to the hostel for a pint in the bar at Aultguish.
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Am Faochagach summit
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| on descent |
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Abhainn a' Gharbhrain, Loch Glascarnoch
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The next day I tagged along with 2 lads from the hostel and went up the Corbett on the opposite side of Loch Glascarnoch from Am Faochagach, bring a bit lower we were below the cloud base and actually got some decent views of the nearby hills. We were down from the hill early in the day, so we went for a drive into Ullapool then back to the Aultguish.
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Beinn Dearg group and Am Faochagach from Beinn Liath Mhor a' Ghiuthais
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On the Wednesday I left the Aultguish and drove along the Ullapool road, turned off at Braemore junction to take a look at Corrieshalloc gorge. It looked like brightening up a bit, so I set off for the Corbett, Beinn Enaiglair. Clouds were shrouding the higher hills, but again being a bit lower my summit was cloud free. Drove down to Ullapool were I would be staying a few days, parked my car outside the youth hostel then walked along to the Arch Inn, to check out the pub where I'd planned to watch the night's big event - Europa League Final, Liverpool vs Sevilla. It turned out to be a game of two halves if there if ever was. These things take time...
The Thursday morning was raining heavy, it made me smile when a chap said at breakfast 'it's thinking about raining'...
It did brighten up however during the morning so I took a drive up the road and walked a stretch of the 'Postman's Path' - a coastal walk from Blughasaray to Achiltibuie. It's a very scenic area, just the drive out of Ullapool provides fantastic views. I was listening to 2 Lochs radio (a local independent station) and this song came on, it seemed to fit the moment perfectly.
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| coastal views on the Postman's path |
The forecast for Friday was much better, so I drove down the road to Inverlael, the starting place for Beinn Dearg and it's neighbouring Munros. I used my fold-up bike to cycle along the forest track, it's only a few kilometres but it would save a bit of time and give my legs a rest on the way back. It was still a long walk up the Glen since there is no weakness in the crags on the northern flank of Beinn Dearg until you reach the stone wall that leads the way to the summit. Mist came over on the summit but it soon cleared. I descended from the summit by the way I came up then from the Bealach an Lochan Uaine I made the short ascent to Cona' Mheall. Returning to the bealach, I then made the short ascent to Meall nan Ceapraichean, a nice summit with good views across to Beinn Dearg. Heading North, then East over a couple of minor tops, I descended to an area dotted with a few lochans and from there up to Eididh nan Clach Geala, my fourth Munro of the day. Many baggers do the long out-and-back walk to take in Seana Bhraigh, but I decided to save this hill for another day and the finer (and arguably longer) approach from Strath Mulzie. I had the straight-forward matter of the descent into Gleann na Sguaib, get on my bike and return to the car.
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| heading up Gleann Sguaib |
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| upper Gleann Sguaib |
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| Beinn Dearg |
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| Cona' Mheall |
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| view from Beinn Dearg, Seana Braigh in distance |
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| Beinn Dearg from Cona' Mheall |
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| looking towards the Fannaich range from Cona' Mheall |
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| a rainbow over Freevater, from Cona' Mheall |
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| view from Meall nan Ceapraichean |
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| Coigach hills from Eididh nan Clach Geala |
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| looking towards An Teallach on descent to Gleann na Sguaib |
At the weekend I did a coastal walk from Ullapool to Rhue then in the afternoon to the hill overlooking town. On the Sunday I drove up to the Coigach hills, went up Stac Pollaidh in the morning (frustratingly I was unable to reach the summit). In the afternoon I did Cul Beag - a fine hill with great views of this beguiling landscape.
The Sunday was my last night at the Ullapool hostel, and with the chances of favourable weather forecast for the week ahead I was optimistic of getting some Munros in.
The Fisherfield Munros
On the Monday morning I parked up at Corrie Hallie, packed camping gear and two days of food supplies and set off on the long walk in to Shenavall bothy. Most approaches to these Munros start from here, with many people opting for an overnight stay at the bothy. My plan was to camp somewhere high up, roughly halfway around the circuit.
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| near the start of the path from Corrie Hallie |
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| Fisherfield hills |
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| Fisherfield Corbetts, Beinn Dearg Mor and Beinn Dearg Beag |
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above Shenavall bothy
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Took a lunch break here, then waded across the river. Dried my feet then took the path into Gleann na Muice and branching off into Gleann na Muice Beag looking up to the craggy south face of Beinn Dearg Mor, steadily gaining height to pass to the north of Ruadh Stac Beag and aiming for the two lochans named Lochan a' Bhraghad and then picking my way up the steep, bouldery northern flank of Ruadh Stac Mor
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| Shenavall |
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| An Teallach |
It was just after 5:30 pm when I arrived at the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor and the views were astounding, particularly so looking towards An Teallach in the early evening sunlight.
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| view from Ruadh Stac Mor |
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| pano from Ruadh Stac Mor |
From the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor, I descended steep ground to the narrow pass inbetween this one and A' Mhaighdean, finding a good path from here leading all the way up. A' Mhaighdean is regarded as the most remote of all Munros, being the furthest away from the nearest public road. It certainly did have that feeling of remoteness when I stood on it's summit. |
| Ruadh Stac Mor |
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| Fisherfield Munros |
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| view from A' Mhaighdean looking towards Slioch |
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| Fionn Loch from A' Mhaighdean |
Incredibly, I only took these 2 photos from this magnificent viewpoint, but these are all I have. I would have set up camp there and then on the summit, but was low on water, so I had to descend the hill a bit to find a trickle to refill my bottles. It was still great vantage point to pitch up, and take in the sights of some of the most impressive mountains in Scotland, to see them slowly change colour in the long evening light.
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| Fisherfield pano from high camp |
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| Lochan Fada and Slioch |
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| Fisherfield Munros |
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| alpenglow on Slioch |
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| Lochan Fada, Slioch |
After packing the tent away, I had a lot of ground to descend to the bealach, then up steeply to the north ridge of Beinn Tarsuinn.
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| looking back to A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor |
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| from Beinn Tarsuinn |
There was a bit of cloud hanging around on the summit of Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair, but I was confident that it would have shifted away by the time I was up there, and sure enough I was rewarded for my efforts with a cloud-free Munro.
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| view from Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair |
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| Sgurr Ban |
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| Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair |
Onwards to the next Munro along the ridge, Sgurr Ban which was very bouldery in descent on it's north flank. It took me an hour to do the descent to the bealach but there was still one more hill that I wanted to take in.
Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is no longer a Munro, having been re-measured in 2009 and found to be a few feet short of the magic 3000 feet mark. As a consequence many baggers choose to omit this hill when doing the Fisherfield round, I decided that as part of the circuit, it deserved a visit and I'm glad that I did, since this hill rewarded me with superb views of the hills I'd traversed over these last 2 days.
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Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, Beinn Dearg Mor, An Teallach from Sgurr Ban
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| Beinn a' Chlaidheimh |
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| Beinn Dearg Mor from Beinn a' Chlaidheimh |
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| Fisherfield Munros from Beinn a' Chlaidheimh |
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| pano from Beinn a' Chlaidheimh |
I descended to the east from the summit, it was pathless and I had to cross the Abhainn Loch an Nid, from there was a path that took me to the track that would lead me back to Corrie Hallie. It was after 8pm when I got back to my car. I drove along the road to the campsite at Badcaul, a nice little site on the shore of Little Loch Broom.
An Teallach
Regarded by many as the finest mountain on the Scottish mainland, An Teallach certainly lives up to it's reputation. With 2 Munros and many other tops that exceed 3000 feet, it is a sprawling mass of ridges, spires, summits and buttresses. The most straight-forward approach would be to walk in from Dundonnell, knock off the 2 Munros and walk out the same way. I had the idea of doing an east to west traverse, to take in some of the finest aspects of the mountain, with some scrambling but avoiding the real scary stuff.
Starting from Corrie Hallie along the same path towards Shenavall, up to the pass then making my way to the Sail Liath ridge of Stob Cadha Ghoblach.
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| An Teallach |
As I gained height on the ridge, the views opened up to the Fisherfield hills.
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| Fisherfield hills |
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Sail Liath ridge, distant view of the Fannaichs
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From the top of the Sail Liath, I got my first close-up dizzying view of the main ridge of An Teallach. I had to sit down for a few minutes to try to take it all in.
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| An Teallach |
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| An Teallach peaks above Loch Toll an Lochain |
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| Sail Liath top |
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| view from Stob Cadha Ghoblach |
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| Loch na Sealga |
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| Fisherfield hills |
I took the traversing path below the Corrag Buidhe Buttress, to avoid the difficulties and danger of tackling this direct. This path would take me all the way to Sgurr Fiona had I chosen to stick with it, but I felt as though I was missing out on the finest part of being up on the ridge. All it took was a bit of easy scrambling to bring myself up to the ridge, just to the west of Lord Berkeley's Seat - quite possibly the airiest summit of any in Scotland.
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| Lord Berkeley's Seat |
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| Sgurr Fiona, Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill |
From Lord Berkeley's Seat it was a delightful walk along the ridge and up to Sgurr Fiona, the first of the two Munro summits, I took a short break at the summit and took in the magnificent views.
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| classic view of Lord Berkeley's Seat from Sgurr Fiona |
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| Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill |
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| Sail Mhor and Little Loch Broom |
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| looking west from Sgurr Fiona |
It was a short walk over to the second Munro - Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill
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| on the way up Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill with An Teallach peaks in background |
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| view from Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill |
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| An Teallach pano from Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill |
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| Glas Mheall Liath from Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill |
It was 4pm when I was on the summit of Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill, to make my descent I headed northwards to the col below Glas Mheall Mor and then into the Coire Glas Tholl, where I encountered a flock of feral goats.
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| looking back to An Teallach |
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| feral goats |
Lower down I found a path that I followed to the road, a short distance from Corrie Hallie where my car was parked. I called in to the bar of the Dundonnell Hotel for a nice pint of An Teallach ale on the way back to the campsite.
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| Badcaul campsite |
The Fannichs
This large range of hills with 9 Munros on the north side of Loch Fannich (the outlier Fionn Beinn is on the south side of the loch). I decided to split these 9 into two long days, starting with the 5 westernmost ones. Setting off from the parking area on the A832 near Loch a' Bhraoin and heading for the long northern spur Drum Reidh then making a traverse to Bealach Toll an Lochain and from there it was an easy walk to the summit of A' Chailleach.
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| looking towards A' Chaillech and Sgurr Breac |
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| hill-fog on A' Chailleach |
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| misty view of the Fannichs |
My views from the summit were blighted by a patch of hill-fog, which dogged me on my next Munro, Sgurr Breac.
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| view from Sgurr Breac |
From there it was a big descent and a re-climb to get to the third Munro, Sgurr nan Each.
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| Sgurr nan Each |
By this time (it was about 4pm) the fog had cleared and I had un-obscured visibility for the rest of the day.
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| Sgurr Breac (An Teallach to the right) |
Heading northwards, it was a good ridge walk up to my fourth Munro, Sgurr nan Clach Geala (also the highest hill of the day) where I was rewarded for my efforts with magnificent views in all directions.
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| Sgurr nan Clach Geala |
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| heading towards Sgurr nan Clach Geala |
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| Fannichs panorama |
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| Sgurr nan Each |
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| Sgurr nan Clach Geala |
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| looking towards An Teallach and Fisherfield hills |
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| Sgurr Breac |
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| Sgurr nan Clach Geala |
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| Sgurr Mor Fannaich |
With the hardest part of the day done, all that was required was to take in my fifth Munro, Meall a' Chrasgaidh and from there make my way down to the Glen and find a path by the Allt Breabag towards Loch a' Bhraoin and back to my car.
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| Allt Breabag |
Fannichs (part2)
After a night's rest at the Aultguish Inn, another big day out was on the agenda to take in the other 4 Munros to the north of Loch Fannich. Setting off from the parking area at the Western end of Loch Glascarnoch and following a good track on the Eastern side of Abhainn an Torrain Dubh, heading towards Loch Gorm and the northern flank of An Coileachan. It took me around 3 hours to get to the summit.
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| heading in to the Fannichs |
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low-flying aircraft in the glen
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| mist lingering on the Fannichs |
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| above Loch Gorm |
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| Fannichs from An Coileachean |
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| looking towards the Beinn Dearg hills |
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| looking over Loch Fannich towards Fionn Bheinn and the Torridon hills |
A short time later I arrived at my second Munro, Meall Gorm where I took this nice panorama shot.
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| Fannichs panorama from Meall Gorm |
It was a splendid ridge-walk heading towards Meall nan Peithrean, and my next Munro, Sgurr Mor.
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| walker heading towards me |
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| Fannichs range |
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| An Teallach, framed by the Fannichs |
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| Torridon hills over the Fannichs |
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| a look back along the ridge, heading up Sgurr Mor |
At around 4:30 I arrived at the summit of Sgurr Mor, at 1108 metres (3635 feet) this is the highest of the Fannich hills and the highest of any for many miles around. The views from the summit were commanding in every direction.
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| An Teallach and Coigach hills from Sgurr Mor |
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| looking over to Sgurr nan Clach Geala, Torridon hills in distance |
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| a look back along the ridge towards Meall Gorm |
From Sgurr Mor I made my way to Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich, my fourth Munro of the day.
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Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich
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My descent took me over Creag Dubh Fannaich and it's eastern ridge to return to the Abhainn an Torrain Duibh and back to my start point, 10 hours after I started in the morning!
After my exertions over the past few days, I was due an easy day, so the solitary Munro along the road from where I was staying, Ben Wyvis fitted the bill perfectly. I managed to find a space on the car park at the foot of the hill (it being a Saturday and a popular mountain) I followed the well-trodden path to the summit, then continued over a subsidiary top, Tom a' Choinnich, then following the south-western ridge down to the forestry track I'd started off from.
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| approach to Ben Wyvis |
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| Ben Wyvis summit ridge |
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| view from Ben Wyvis summit |
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| panorama from Ben Wyvis summit |
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| me, on Ben Wyvis |
It was the Champions League Final that evening, Real Madrid vs Atletico. After having a few beers in the Aultguish Inn, I settled down to watch the match on Youtube on my tiny LG smartphone screen. It went to extra time and penalties an Real won.
The Mullardoch Four
The four Munros situated to the north of Loch Mullardoch are quite remote and would involve a big day out, however you choose to do them. I'd been given a tip to use the boat service that will ferry you across the Loch for a price (£20, per person, minimum of 4 required per journey), luckily for me there was another group already booked and there was a confirmed sailing on the day that I wanted to go. Having under-estimated how long it would take to drive from Aultguish Inn to the Loch and I had to run down to the shore to catch the ferry at 10am.
After disembarking from the boat, myself and my fellow passengers set off on foot towards the westernmost of the 4 Munros, An Socach.
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| on the approach to An Socach |
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| An Socach |
It was a mostly cloudy day with the occasional shower, but the visibility was mostly good.
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| a bit of weather on the Mullardoch Munros |
There was an improvement in the weather by the time I'd got to the second Munro, An Riabhachan. There was more breaks in the cloud, but still with the odd short shower passing through quickly, it made for some interesting photos.
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| An Riabhachan |
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| somewhere, over the rainbow |
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| Sgurr na Lapaich |
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| An Riabhachan |
By the time I got to Sgurr na Lapaich, the third Munro of the day, it was around 5pm. This was the highest mountain of the four and the views were the best by far. I was particularly transfixed with the view to the north of Loch Monar and the hills to the north of it, these are also remote hills and would make for grand days out in times to come. |
| Loch Monar from Sgurr na Lapaich |
I lingered for a little while on Sgurr na Lapaich, enjoying the views.
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| Panorama from Sgurr na Lapaich |
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| me, on Sgurr na Lapaich |
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| Carn nan Gobhar |
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| Sgurr na Lapaich |
At 7pm I arrived at Carn nan Gobhar, the last Munro of the day and it was getting on for 9pm when I got back to my car. I then had a drive to Drumnadrochit and the Loch Ness Backpacker's Hostel, where I would spend the last night of my stay.
I'd had 2 great weeks of hill-walking, particularly the 2nd week when I bagged 21 Munros! to add to the 7 in the 1st week, taking my tally up to 226.
A September Spree
I'd got 2 weeks off work and had big hopes of getting more Munros done, but on the eve of 10th September I was so un-enthused by the weather forecasts for the Highlands of Scotland that I pondered the idea of booking a flight and doing a trek in the French Alps. Actually the only thing that put me off from doing so was that the refuges in the French Alps all close down for the winter on September 15th!
So I resolved to drive north on Sunday, booked in for 3 nights at Callander Hostel. I went for a bike ride and a low-level walk on the Monday and Tuesday and then on the Wednesday I made the decision to drive north, heading for Glen Shiel with my eye on getting in a Munro (or two).
Setting off from a parking area on the A87 by Loch Cluanie, and following a good path it didn't take long to reach the summit of Carn Ghluasaid (an outlying Munro of the 'Cluanie horseshoe'), I was in mist from about 2000 feet up, so didn't get anything in the way of views. Returning to my car via the route of ascent, I drove down the road and parked up by the Cluanie Inn, had a sandwich then set off along the boggy path alongside Allt a' Chaorrain Bhig up to Bealach a' Choinich and from there ascending the southern flank of Ciste Dubh. Again, I was in the mist high up, but then it began to clear on the summit and I got some views and a few Brocken Spectres for my trouble. It actually made a scene for some very atmospheric photographs. The night's accomodation was a wild-camp spot near the Cluanie Inn, just to the east of the Inn, down by the little bridge over the Loch.
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| mist clearing on Ciste Dubh |
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Ciste Dubh
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| Brocken Spectre |
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| Ciste Dubh |
I awoke in the morning after a sound night's sleeep to mostly clear skies with patches of low lying cloud. Drove down Glen Shiel and parked up at the start point for The Saddle. I'd done the Forcan Ridge before, in 2008, but only visited one of the two summits of The Saddle (visiblity that day was so poor I could not see the other one!) so I'd long since harboured hopes of a return visit on a better day, and today was most certainly the day for it. By late morning I was at the foot of the Forcan Ridge and any lingering low cloud was mostly gone. The ridge itself was a very enjoyable scramble, I by-passed the tricky part that would involve a downclimb and once that was out of the way it was a spectacular high-level ridge walk to the summit.
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| low cloud at the foot of Forcan Ridge |
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| Forcan Ridge |
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| looking down the Forcan Ridge |
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| magnificent view along the Forcan Ridge to The Saddle |
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| Sgurr na Forcan, Forcan Ridge |
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| The Saddle |
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| view from the west summit of The Saddle |
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| Glen Shiel hills |
Continuing my walk, I made a descent to Bealach Coire Mhalagain and from there up to Sgurr na Sgine, a Munro that lacks the glamour and excitement of it's near neighbour.
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| Sgurr na Sgine |
From the summit of Sgurr na Sgine, I followed the ridge northwards over Faochag then descended it's north-east ridge which took me down to near to where I'd started out from in the morning.I'd booked in that evening at Ratagan SYHA, only for 1 night, then I was off again. The next day the cloud seemed to be sticking to the higher tops, so I just did a nearby Corbett, Sgurr an Airgid. I was spending the night just over the Skye Bridge at Kyleakin, hoping to see the Chelsea vs Liverpool match in a pub there, unbeknown to me there was a motorbiker's meeting in the village and the pubs were full of noisy bikers. Ended up watching the game on a stream on my tablet in the hostel.
Leaving the island the next morning, I drove up to Strath Carron, parking up at Coulags, then following a path alongside Fionn abhainn, branching off and up to Bealach a' Choire Ghairbh and up the steep southern flank of Maol Chean-dearg, it was clear on the summit on my approach but I was in mist by the time I'd got to the top. At least I got some views on the way up and back down.
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| Maol Chean-dearg |
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| An Ruadh-Stac |
After coming down off the hill, I turned up at Gerry's Hostel, Achnashellac, a place I'd heard many stories about. The man himself had passed away a few years previous, and the hostel was now being run by his son, Simon. I found the hostel to be a relaxing place to stay with a good ambience (almost everyone who stays there are walkers), and the lounge with it's fireplace and comfortable chairs and large collection of vinyl records was a great place to unwind after a day on the hill.
The forecast for the next day was good in the morning, with rain coming in the afternoon. With this in mind, the hill I chose was Moruisg. Starting off at 8:45from a parking area just a short drive up the road from the hostel, I was on the summit of Moruisg at 10:30. I continued the walk to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean (until 2009, a Munro but then decreed to be below the magical height of 3000 feet). The weather did start to deteriorate here, but I was down and out of it and back to the hostel before the worst of it came.
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| Torridon hills from Moruisg |
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| Sgurr nan Ceannaichean feom Moruisg |
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| the altitude reading on my phone must be wrong! |
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| looking back to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean |
The forecast was better for the next day (Monday 19th) so I chose to do two nearby Munros, Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh. Starting from a parking area by Achnashellac station and following a track that is a through-route to Glen Torridon, leaving this path at the foot of the south-east ridge of Beinn Liath Mhor up and over it's subsiduary tops to the summit itself. There was spectacular views of the Torridon hills from here.
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| Beinn Liath Mhor |
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| Sgorr Ruadh |
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| Beinn Liath Mhor |
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| Sgorr Ruadh and Torridon Hills |
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| Loch Torridon |
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| Panorama from Beinn Laith Mhor |
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| Beinn Liath Mhor |
On reaching the summit of Sgorr Dearg the clouds descended, obscuring the views, but it soon cleared as I made my way down and I had fine views of Fuar Tholl, a neighbouring Corbett. |
| Fuar Tholl |
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| A look back to Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor |
A big Day on the Loch Monar Hills
Using my bike, I cycled from Gerry's up to Glenuaig shelter, a small bothy with electric lights! Leaving my bike here, I set off on foot towards Maoile Lunndaidh, aiming first for the spot height 759 marked on OS maps and then up to the broad, grassy summit. My route from the summit took me over Carn nam Fiaclan and making a steep descent of a ridge to the west to an area named as Drochaid Mhuilich with a few small Lochans and from there climbing steeply to emerge on the ridge just to the west of Bidean an Eoin Dearg, formerly regarded as a Munro, but merely a 'top' on the current list. However, it is a fine viewpoint. From here I followed the ridge westwards to take in the Munro Sgurr a' Chaorachain and continuing to another Munro, Sgurr Choinnich and then re-climbing Sgurr a' Chaorachain and making my descent of the Sron na Frianich to take me back to Glenuaig and my bike. Annoyingly I got a puncture on the ride back, so had to push the bike back for the last few kilometers. Good thing I had a spare inner tube in the car to fix it, because I'd be needing to use my bike again tomorrow.
