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After going around the Creag Meagaidh circuit with Fingeez on Saturday I decided to stay in the east for my Sunday walk. I knew this route was a long one and that it would place me in the middle of no-man's-land. The previous day was supposed to be fairly sunny, but that failed, Sunday was supposed to be the same, and again, that largely failed. Still tired from Saturday, I decided to park at the Dalmunzie Castle Hotel to cut some of the distance - this later proved a smart move. I arrived at 8am and the door to reception was locked so I decided to pay to park upon return. I set off fifteen minutes later and made my way past Glenlochsie Farm. I decided to cross the stream which was flowing pretty heavily due to the recent thaw. It probably would have been best to stay on the dismantled railway though as a footbridge takes you across at the Glenlochsie Lodge further up. This was the first of way too many stream crossings on this day. After reaching the old lodge I headed up the bulldozed track that leads all the way to the summit of Glas Tulaichean. Again, the cloud was thick and at the top I nearly decided that one munro was good enough for today as I didn't expect to see anything all day. But, I didn't think I wanted to make that walk in again and I had come a long way so I carried on. For some reason my GPS couldn't pick up a signal all day long, so I got the compass out and headed North/Northeast along the ridge, following 3 good sets of footprints until I got back below the clouds.
Once below the clouds I saw that I had come down pretty far left of the bealach where Paul's gps track takes you in order to reach the path under Mam nan Carn. However, a quick bumslide took me down to the stream and I found an easy way up to the path on the other side. From here I took a left turn and made my way to the lower slopes of Carn an Righ. Made pretty good progress up this hill, but a false top area dampened my spirits at one point. Finally I made it to the summit after over 4 hours of pretty tough going. I took a break at the top which I had all to myself and then got back down below the cloud. Things were beginning to brighten up at that point and I could see a large patch of snow that went all the way to the bealach. Ah the usefulness of the bumslide. I sat on my rear and slide 150m down off Carn an Righ - express elevator going down! Then it was back along the path that curves through the glen all the way to Loch nan Eun.
I had only seen 2 other walkers when I reached the frozen loch. 3 more met me as I curved around the right side of it and made my way to the point of descent for the long walk out. When I say long walk out, I mean LOOOOOOONNNGGGG walk out. It seemed to go on and on and on. Thankfully you follow the stream which has some nice waterfalls all the way down. At the bottom where things begin to flatten out I reached the old track which took me back to the hotel. I saw two eagles flying above Creag Dallaig and then my eyes turned back ahead to the great distance that I still had to walk. Ugh! This is true wilderness! With about two miles to go I had acquired a sharp pain in my achilies tendon and had to step gingerly the rest of the way. Thankfully this went away overnight and I sure hope it doesn't return next weekend at the Aviemore meet up. When I finally got back to the hotel I went inside to pay. It was only 2 pounds and the staff member asked me if I wanted a drink and some cake. Very tempting! But I needed a hot shower so I sped off back to St Andrews. This is actually a very nice, but long, walk in a truly remote place. There is enough to keep you interested at least as you slowly plod back to the car.
