On Saturday 7th November (2020) Scotland was enjoying a brief spell of good weather. Where we live is tier 2, and so travel north and away from the Covid-19 hotspots was allowable. Sgurr an Utha had been ear-marked as a possible last Corbett - why? Well, last Munro had been Beinn na Lap with a whole bunch of people travelling up to Corrour on the train for the day (see report), so a Corbett with railway access (Glenfinnan in this case) had seemed like an idea. But with this year's restrictions, we had pretty well done the new hills possible as day trips, but this hill was do-able, so why not?
I should note that I do suffer conflicts about driving long distances for hills, and in general we try and make sure that if we are going a long way, that we stay a few days and get quite a few walks in to make the most of travel time. But 2020 has been different, hasn't it?! We did manage a short self-catering trip near Dornie in September, but otherwise haven't felt comfortable about the usual B&B trips. I hope 2021 bring some normality for us all, and not just for hill-walking - 2020 has brought life priorities into sharp focus, but I must confess that being in the hills is definitely my "Happy Place" - we have had so many wonderful days in Scotland especially.
We started from the lay-by on the A830 as described in the WH route. A short walk back over the bridge and across the road takes you to the start of the forestry track. Various reports mention the locked gate, but this has clearly now been replaced, and whether or not it is locked isn't an issue as it is rather easy to walk around!
- The new gate
After less than a kilometre, and at about 200m, a track leads off to the right. We had one of those "main track or side track?" moments!
I suspect that things have changed quite a bit around here with recent work on the hydro scheme, and so we carried straight on for a few hundred meters until we were looking straight up the Allt an Utha valley, and realised that the track we wanted, was well up to our right. A short cross-country diversion followed! The right track is shown in the photo below.- The right track.
The track goes quite a good way up the hill, and so helps considerably.
- Track up hill
At about 400m the path turns sharply to the south, and we branched off here, heading directly up towards the subsidiary top, Fraoch-bheinn.
From here the route is easy, and the views stupendous. Please note that the map is drawn from memory, and so is fairly approximate. (I have started experimenting with Strava now, and so will try and import an actual GPS file next time I post).
- Looking up to Fraoch-bheinn
- View to the Corryhully Horseshoe
- View west
- Back towards Fort William
- Distant Skye (Zoomed)
