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Decided to head south to do a Monadhliath corbett today; wasn't sure whether I'd opt for Gairbeinn or Meall na H-Aisre, but the small parking area at Garva Bridge was quite full, so I was happy to head a few miles further along the single track road to its end at Melgarve and do Gairbeinn. Hadn't been this far along the road before, only to Garva Bridge when doing the munro Geal Charn 4 or 5 years ago .
Couple of other cars there when I arrived, but room for about 10 to park so plenty space. I didn't see anyone else walking on the hills here today, though did see 2 separate cyclists on the track.
More or less followed the WalkHighlands circular route to do a longer walk - Gairbeinn could easily be done as a quick up and down on its own, but I had all afternoon to walk a bit further. Passed the bothy, all locked up with signs up saying it's shut because of covid. Ascent up Gairbeinn was wet but still an enjoyable walk. Can't remember ever being on a hillside with so many small rodent holes - I did see a couple of the creatures themselves briefly (shrews? voles? I have no idea...), but scores of their burrows seen on the way up.
- From the early part of the ascent up Gairbeinn looking back down to Melgarve and the bothy - the car parking area is by the patch of forestry centre left
- The way up Gairbeinn, summit not visible here
- Loads of these burrows up this side of the hill. No wonder there were a couple of birds of prey (possibly sparrowhawks...?) circling around here
- An expert could probably tell from the droppings who the residents are. I'm no expert though...
Nice slightly rocky ridge line to the summit. There's a cairn, but it's beside the slightly higher point of a nearby rock (I see an earlier walk report shows a small cairn on the rock, but it's not there now). Views not great because of the low cloud, though fortunately just about high enough for me to see my way.
- At the summit, looking slightly down on the cairn, in the direction of Melgarve
- View over to Corrieyairack isn't looking too promising
No fun going over peat hags for the next stretch of the walk, but eventually the going improved again. No views from Corrieyairack Hill either unfortunately, but still a nice extension to the walk rather than just doing the up-down to tick off the corbett. From there it was a quick and easy walk down to the General Wade road at the Corrieyairack Pass and a nice relaxing no-brainer walk all the way down the track back to the car.
- Arriving on the track at Corrieyairack Pass - not quite the high point which is a little further west (this looking east, the way back down)
- View of the descent route a little further east, just before the route starts the zig zags down. The track /General Wade Road out of the corrie is visible across the middle of the picture
- Looking back up at the Pass, corrie and Corrieyairack Hill (in the low cloud), glad that I made it off the hill while the cloud was still okay (just!) to navigate easily
The WH route instructions for this walk must be a few years old as the Denny-Beauly power line was being constructed then, so some minor points no longer apply (the construction road has been 'demolished' so you don't cross it now when going up the hill, though you can tell from spread around bits of rubble where it was [the road is still very visible to the east, but not here]; when going to the Pass from Corrieyairack Hill, you no longer head below power lines, I assume they must have been the old ones but the new ones are on the other side of the track; and the fording of the second burn is no longer necessary, there is a good bridge to the side of the ford).
Wasn't the weather for anything higher today, was glad to do this (mostly) enjoyable walk (peat hags being the only bad part...)
EDIT: WalkHighlands route description now updated to take account of the changes described above.
