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Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:10 pm
by Gordie12
An early start this morning, rising at 5am to get myself ready for the drive north. It was a bit of a surprise to find a frozen car on the drive and a temperature of -2.

I drove west to Pitlochry for an easy and quiet drive up the A9 then picked up the Fort Augustus road a few miles south of Inverness. I knew there was room for a couple of cars at the starting point so wanted to get their early to get my space. Arrived a few minutes before 9am and another car arrived a few seconds after me so car park full.

It was a beautiful morning but according to the car it was still -2 so a crisp cool start. The forecast was for more cloud cover then clearing in the afternoon but it turned out to be the complete opposite with high cloud arriving around midday.

I was first away from the cars and headed west along the road for 100 yards then took the left turn for the Dunmaglass private road quickly passing through the gateway to the estate with the osprey sculptures.

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Estate track at the start of the walk


After a short distance I reached the wider wind farm track and turned right on to it. After a few hundred yards I reached the first cottage at Achnaloddan and my presence was greeted by some kennelled dogs. They then passed the message on to their pals at the next couple of cottages so it was a noisy five minutes (apologies to anyone living there who was hoping for a Sunday morning lie in).

A few hundred yards beyond the cottages I reached a fork in the track (photo below).

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Left or Right??????????


I had my 1992 OS map (as much use as a chocolate teapot here), my Garmin and the WH walk info with me but I must have stood at this junction for ten minutes trying to decide which way to go and wondering if it would turn out to be one of those junctions where you deliberate for ages then find that 100 yards further on they merge and it didn't matter which track to take. The Wind Farm traffic is signed to the left but I was going by the WH report that referred to a sign to Loch Conagleann and Easter Aberchalder and I couldn't find the sign. I find the WH walk reports brilliant so not suggesting it was wrong, probably me having a geographically challenged moment. Anyway, chose to go left (wind farm track) based on reading Dogplodders report the night before.

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Heading up the wind farm track


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Looking down the glen towards the lodge


After a further half mile the track starts to rise more steeply eventually arriving at the point where I had to leave the WF track (remembered the photo from Dogplodders report).

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Time to leave the Wind Farm track


There is a brief pause in the climbing as the track drops down to run alongside the Allt Uisg an t-Sidhean burn.

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Rather than drop down to the ford over the burn I took the left fork to drop down to the bridge a few yards further on.

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Left here


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View down to the burn


After crossing the bridge there is a short steep climb and then I took another left turn at the next junction.

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After about a mile I came to a junction and turned left to walk upstream of the Aberchalder burn. There are four crossings of the burn and all of them were easy today.

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one of the crossings


This section of the walk seemed to take ages but eventually I reached the Diamond Jubilee Hut.

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Diamond Jubilee Hut


All that's left now is the final climb and it's very straight forward on a reasonable gradient. One right turn and I'm on the wide open summit with what looks like a weather station about 100 yards from the cairn marking the top.

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Looking towards Meall a' Bhuialt


Just time for my usual cheese spread and strawberry jam sandwiches before turning and heading for home. For about three miles I was looking at a track heading up Meall a' Bhuialt and as usual when I got close to the track I couldn't resist a quick detour so climbed this hill as well.

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Climbing Meall a' Bhuialt


I'm glad I made the detour as there was a herd of deer below me on the climb and at the top of the hill I could hear some red deer over towards Beinn Bhuraich.

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View from Meall a' Bhuialt


I considered extending the walk a bit further but decided it was time to head back for the car so retraced my steps to pick up the track that would take me back to the Wind Farm track.

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Heading home


For the last couple of miles the sun was out again and it was a really nice finish with some warmth in the sunshine and little in the way of wind.

I'm used to being knee deep in heather or bog when doing Corbetts so this was very civilised :shock: Probably not everybody's cup of tea but I really enjoy long walks on moorland tracks (with or without hills) so this was always going to be one for me to do.

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:49 pm
by dogplodder
Glad to hear our mistakes proved helpful! :lol:

We enjoyed this walk too.... but to be honest think we'd have enjoyed anywhere that wasn't within 5 miles of home. 8)

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:48 pm
by rockhopper
Nice day for it - one of the few, as you noted, more staightforward corbetts. Have to admit to taking the easy way out as I cycled the whole way to the summit cairn 8). Great cycle back :D - cheers :)

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:44 pm
by BlackPanther
I remember this one, it was Lucy's first mountain.
A lot of people take bikes to the summit, we walked it but if we had known about the new windfarm tracks, we would have cycled it, too.

There are a couple of nice Subs nearby, can be done from the same starting point:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=79495

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:23 pm
by Gordie12
dogplodder wrote:Glad to hear our mistakes proved helpful! :lol:

We enjoyed this walk too.... but to be honest think we'd have enjoyed anywhere that wasn't within 5 miles of home. 8)


Very helpful - thank you :lol:

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:24 pm
by Gordie12
rockhopper wrote:Nice day for it - one of the few, as you noted, more staightforward corbetts. Have to admit to taking the easy way out as I cycled the whole way to the summit cairn 8). Great cycle back :D - cheers :)


Hi RH

If you managed to cycle all the way to the top I'm impressed - I'd have been walking after the first flat mile.

Re: Carn na Saobhaidhe from Dunmaglass

PostPosted: Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:25 pm
by Gordie12
BlackPanther wrote:I remember this one, it was Lucy's first mountain.
A lot of people take bikes to the summit, we walked it but if we had known about the new windfarm tracks, we would have cycled it, too.

There are a couple of nice Subs nearby, can be done from the same starting point:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=79495


Now you tell me about the Sub 2000's I could have tagged on :lol: :lol: :lol: