Creag Ruadh (a quickie Kinloch Laggan graham)

[gld73]

3 days of beautiful sunny weather on the 3 days I'd been working in Kingussie ....then Monday morning came, and so did the rain and clouds. Grrr! Still, it might not have been a day for munros, or maybe even corbetts, but there was a quickie graham nearby I still hadn't done and conditions were good enough for that - Creag Ruadh. It had never been on my radar when I'd been down the road on previous occasions to do the munro or corbetts from Garva Bridge or Melgrave, otherwise I'd have done it already as an easy addition on the drive there or back.

Quickest way up and down would be to park at Sherrabeg on the Laggan to Garva Bridge minor road, though just to make it slightly longer, I parked a couple of kilometres away, near the Spey dam, and walked along the single track road to Sherrabeg. I knew the route involved heading for a gap between forestry areas, but as I approached Sherrabeg, I couldn't for the life of me see a gap. And even when I went through the gate into the field (sheep and lambs in this one) and headed over to the next gate, I still couldn't see a gap.

View west to Creag Ruadh and Sherrabeg from the walk along the road

Through the first gate and into the field ...still not an obvious break in the forestry visible, but it is there as you follow the track

Fortunately the grassy track is easy enough to follow and goes up alongside the trees, avoiding ploughing through the forest. There are some traces of paths continuing towards the hill after that, but by then the hill is directly in front and I just made my own way over on a fairly direct line (one deer fence to climb over). The terrain was quite pleasant walking all the way, nothing too swampy or too deep in vegetation.

Looking back once I'd passed all the forestry area and climbed over that deer fence

The wind increased markedly as I emerged on to the summit area, so I wandered over to the trig point but didn't hang around for too long. When I'd originally thought about doing this hill I'd intended to make a circular route of it, but the rain reappearing made me decide heading back the same way was the most appealing option today.

Creag Ruadh summit trig - view down Loch Laggan

Heading NE back down the hill, looking over to Glen Markie and Beinn a Chrasgain

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[aaquater]

It's not easy to link Creag Ruadh with anything else - but that just makes it a perfect hill for a day like this, the walk then devoid of 'I could've gone on'-style regrets

[Jaxter]

Nice - I think we have this one down as one I might manage on a good day (although it would be by the easiest route!) I've not been down that way in ages - looks nice despite the rain!

[jmarkb]

If you are able to, it is really worth visiting Dun-da-lamh as part of this walk - an amazing piece of construction that deserves to be better known.

[gld73]

It's not easy to link Creag Ruadh with anything else - but that just makes it a perfect hill for a day like this, the walk then devoid of 'I could've gone on'-style regrets

Your walk report doing the hill from the other side was a more interesting route, I'd probably do something like that for variety if I do this hill again (though I enjoyed the route I did, nice easy one for the conditions!)

Nice - I think we have this one down as one I might manage on a good day (although it would be by the easiest route!) I've not been down that way in ages - looks nice despite the rain!

Really hope your recovery speeds up; it's great that you're still getting out in the hills, but it must be so frustrating that you can't do your epic multi-mountain treks just now. There are a few good options for smaller hills in this area, I've been working in Kingussie a bit recently and always try and do a hill before heading back up the A9. Haven't always been lucky with the weather so have sought out grahams and sub-2ks!

If you are able to, it is really worth visiting Dun-da-lamh as part of this walk - an amazing piece of construction that deserves to be better known.

Yes, with hindsight, I should have detoured to see it. Another time!