free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
A sunny Sunday and I left the house late morning ...no chance of parking in any of the popular munro car parks (confirmed as I passed Ben Wyvis), but I had a feeling not many people would have this graham on their radar and right enough, no cars anywhere near the start. I parked just west of Inchbae Lodge, not at the entrance to the track which the route takes, but the area immediately over the bridge from it, room for 3 or 4 cars if parked suitably.
- Easy walking on the track down Strathrannoch
Headed up Strath Rannoch on the track, a fairly long, but easy, walk in. Checked the map; the hills seen in front don't include the one I'm heading for, it comes into sight on the right a few km on. Thought about heading straight up the slope when I saw a wide break in the forestry, but decided to continue on to near the farmhouse, over the bridge and take the track up to the right alongside the burn / river. Rather than cross further up I just took the easy route and crossed early on at the wee hydro bridge. Changed from trainers into hiking boots and just headed up the hill. A slight path for a few metres soon disappeared, but lovely clear day so I just headed for the summit, no problems with route finding today. Bog not bad after recent dry days, but it'd be a wet route after rain. Headed diagonally up the side of the hill on nice heathery-grassy terrain, arrived at the stonier summit to find 2 cairns close to each other; a tall one, and a smaller one which looked like it might be the actual high point. Nice viewpoint on a clear day like this.
- Decided to cross back over the burn on this small hydro bridge
- Looking back south west to Strathrannoch farmhouse where I started heading uphill
- 2 cairns at the summit
- The big mass of Ben Wyvis lies south east
- Carn Chuinneag to the north
For the return, I headed south west down the wide ridge towards the gap between the two plantations. Again, the lower slopes would have been a boggy mess in wet weather, but all avoidable today. Deer fence around the woods, but with a gate at the gap I got to, so over that, across the small burn and down back through the field to the track, aiming roughly for the old barn which turned out to be a good move as there was a gate in the fence at that point. Trainers back on for the walk back along the track to the car.
- Heading down, a small gorge runs across the centre of the picture from the left, I was aiming for where it meets the gap in the small bits of forestry towards the right
- Looking back at Carn Loch nan Amhaichean and the gate I just climbed over on my way back to the track
Enjoyed this more than I expected, and it'd be a good one for winter, being able to park right next to the A835 and with boggy ground frozen.