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After last weeks epic in the Nevis range we opted to head to the 'wild' west. Our plan was initially to tackle Sgurr Mor Sgurr an Fhuarain but on studying the GPS system I suggested to George & Parminder we may as well add on another Corbett Sgurr Cos na Breachd-laoidh and that was the plan sorted. We left Fife at 6am which as it turned out wasn't early enough as I didn't get home until 11.30pm, which meant Parminder wouldn't get home until after midnight!
This was taken on my last visit in 2016
Same waterfall just before you reach Loch Arkaig
River Dessary in 2016
View from the parking area, western end of Loch Arkaig
Looking back to the parking area, quite a few vehicles
Stunning area, looking west along the River Dessary
Looking back after a bit of height has been gained
Our first target on the left, we would attack it from the right - just to be different
Not Sgurr na Ciche as some folk think, similar profile but a wee bit smaller
Spot the water
Glen Dessary Lodge, looked very empty, no vehicles or sign of life
Looking back to the good track that starts off the walk
If you are doing Sgurr Mor & Sgurr an Fhuarain, you head up there and down the other side
Interesting
Could be used as an emergency shelter
Looking back down, Parminder loving the tough terrain
Looking back from higher up
And again from slightly higher, good excuse to stop
We are now on the ridge of Druim a'Chuirn and going to head along to our first summit
Parminder is happy now, he loves fence posts
Our next targets are now in view, Sgurr Mor and on the right Sgùrr an Fhuarain
Parminder with a tiny rock to add to the cairn
Admiring his handy work
Looking W, superb views
The descent down to the bealach
Interesting construction, dam or a bridge or neither
Looking back uphill to what we had just come down
Looking down the glen opposite Glen Kingie
My colleagues posing, not sure what is wrong with Parminder
A very dry Glen Kingie
Rather than climb up and over An Eag, we opted to traverse along the southern slopes
This is proper social distancing, looking back whilst traversing
Looking back to our first hill Sgùrr Cos na Breachd-laoidh
The way ahead, the first lump is Sgurr Beag which is a tough up and down the other side before the ascent of Sgurr Mor
Our first view of one of my favourite loch's, Loch Quoich
Here we go, the ascent of Sgurr Beag & it's zig zag path
Looking back at what we traversed & our first hill again
A feast for the mountain lovers, the pointy one is the obvious one
Looking SE across Glen Kingie
Arty shot of Sgurr na Ciche
Western end of Loch Quoich
Parminder in concentration mode
How many summits can you count? Awesome
A few showers in the distance - NW
George trying to smile
Cairn on Sgurr Mor
Looking west from the summit
The gorgeous Loch Quoich
Looking east to our final summit with Gairich behind
Video looking north along Loch Quoich
Video looking south along Glen Kingie and beyond
The broad grassy ridge that will take us to Sgùrr an Fhuarain
The path to Sgùrr an Fhuarain
Looking back up to Sgurr Mor
George getting his camera ready for Parminder's arrival
Parminder getting excited - he hasn't seen a real trig for months
Parminder zooming in on the trig number
George's photo
Casual pose or hide & seek
Video taken on the summit of Sgùrr an Fhuarain
Descending down the grassy slope off the bealach between the 2 hills towards the River Kingie
Looking back up, we have been up & down much steeper stuff
The River Kingie probably like you have never seen it
George hopping across
Now on the other foot
Parminder wanting to make a splash to try out his new boots
This is how you do it
Even got time to smile
The River doesn't have much water in it but we still had to find a suitable crossing point, the problem was most of the stones or rock were covered in green slimy stuff. I would imagine once the river fills up the slimy stuff will be washed away.
Looking back at what we descended whilst climbing up through the mush into Glen Dessary
Had to take a photo of this again, got a few more holes since my last visit 5 years ago
Plenty of herds of deer in this area
Camera shot of Dessary Lodge
Camera shot of a herd in Glen Kingie
Bonus photo taken by George of the western end of Loch Quoich and a small feeder lochan slightly higher
Another excellent zoomed shot by George
Another fantastic day in another stunning area of Scotland, for anyone who has yet to visit the Loch Arkaig area be sure you are ready and prepared. The drive from the Commando Memorial takes almost an hour and you are rarely above 30mph. We will be returning soon with Parminder at the wheel, we may even take bikes when we tackle the other 3 monsters. Bring it on.
