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Meall na Leitreach more discoveries

Meall na Leitreach more discoveries


Postby Jim777 » Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:11 pm

Date walked: 18/06/2021

Distance: 17 km

Ascent: 604m

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I was last here on the 15th April ( Meall na Leitreach and Meall Breac ) and made some interesting discoveries due to heading East from the summit of Meall na Leitreach and making my way over to Meall Breac. No 1 was the new shooting lodge near the foot of Coire Leathanaidh with only the very apex of the lodge being seen from the A9. No 2 was the fourth, and most Northerly, and final march stone indicating the boundary separation between the estates of Atholl and Robertson of Auchleeks. Atholl Estates have an A marked on the West side of the stone and Robertson an R marked on the East side of the stone. If anyone is interested I believe the South Eastern corner of the estate is down by the remains of the Black Bothy at NN 647 665 on the Allt Poll Dubh-galas and I would expect the first March stone would be found in this area. No 3 was the track from down by the River Garry which ascends South West up the true left bank of the Allt Choire Leathanaidh. This track is not shown on some maps but on others is shown as ascending South West from 400 metres and finishing at 510 metres. As I discovered on my last walk it actually ascends to the head of Coire Leathanaidh at 644m and appeared to carry on over the other side. This is what I had come back today to investigate, exactly where this track went even if it only carried on for 100 metres around the corner. Another thing I noticed was when I wanted to take a photograph of Dalnaspidal from the cairn at 748 metres I had to move West about 20 metres or so and noticed that the ground was covered in Fraises de Bois / wild strawberries; only just starting to flower. I thought the track may go over to Loch Meall na Leitreach but there was no way to know without taking what was a well made up track. As I was to discover this was not the case and the track actually loops around Leachd nam Fuaran, descends, loops around Stob, descends again before looping around Sron nam Faichean to meet up with the short piece of track shown on maps coming from the sheep pens at the Southern end of Loch Garry. So the track actually makes a complete circuit of Meall na Leitreach. Luckily enough there has not been a lot of rain and there was only a couple of inches of water flowing into the Southern end of Loch Garry so it was easy just to walk over even without gaiters. The next 400 to 600 metres or so over to the track coming down the West side of Loch Garry were also quite easy although I could imagine after a lot of rain it would be pretty boggy. Would a circuit be cycleable? The only thing I could imagine preventing it is the crossing from the track below Meall Doire at the South Western end of Loch Garry to the sheep pens at the foot of Sron nam Faiceachan. That would probably be the best direction as well as the ascent on the South side is fairly gradual whereas the descent down Coire Leathanaidh is slightly steeper. Don’t know what the track along the East bank of Loch Garry is like - obviously you’re in the shadow of the hill all the time as opposed to the West bank but then you wouldn’t have the crossing at the Southern end of the Loch to make. Time for you mountain bikers to investigate!!!


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Sign at car park


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Does that mean fishing on the fly without a permit


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The route up - steeper than you think


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Looking back down to Dalnaspidal Lodge


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Wildflower on the way up - sorry don’t know what it is.


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Small cairn at 748m looking towards the summit


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Fraises de Bois near 748m cairn


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Flowering yummy strawberries


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Looking from summit to apt 748 and A’ Bhuidheanach Bheag beyond


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Looking down on Loch Meall na Leitreach from the summit


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Summit looking towards Beinn Mholach


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Looking to Loch Meall na Leitreach on descent to head of Coire Leathanaidh


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Turning circle at head of Coire Leathanaidh


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Looking to Gualann Sheileach as you descend South West from the head of Coire Leathanaidh


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Beinn Mholach seen on the descent from the head of Coire Leathanaidh


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Gualann Sheileach and Beinn Mholach on the descent


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Still descending


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Looking up the Allt Shallainn from the other side of the water


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Looking across the water to Meall Doire at South West end of Loch Garry


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Sheep pens at foot of Sron nam Faiceachan


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Looking back to track at base of Sron nam Faiceachan


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Small waterfall at foot of Allt Coire Easan


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Poor picture of goose and goslings on the loch
Jim777
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Re: Meall na Leitreach more discoveries

Postby prog99 » Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:32 pm

Your ’strawberrries’ are actually cloud berries. Look like a giant raspberry when ripe. Looks like it might be a good year for them.
And I think your flower is an orchid which there seems to be an abundance of this year.
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prog99
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Re: Meall na Leitreach more discoveries

Postby jmarkb » Sat Jun 19, 2021 11:12 pm

prog99 wrote:And I think your flower is an orchid which there seems to be an abundance of this year.


Certainly is - it's a Heath Spotted Orchid.
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jmarkb
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