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Sub 2k Marilyns: An Cabar.
Date: 06/07/2021.
Distance: 3km.
Ascent: 300m.
Time: 1 hours, 45 minutes (walking part only).
Weather: Warm and sunny, clouding over later.
Plus 10.5 miles of cycling to reach the foot of the hill.
After a relatively successful wander over Carn na h-Easgainn a couple of days earlier, Jackie was just about in the mood to try going up some more hills. We fancied somewhere a little out-of-the-way decided to pick one that we could use the bikes to get to the foot of. An Cabar can be a decent walk from Grudie Bridge, but you can also cycle to within 1km and 300m ascent of the summit via the scarcely visited Loch Fannaich. This is what we decided to do.
The initial climb from the main road on the Fannaich Lodge road was more brutal than I remembered, but after a few minutes of huffing and puffing, the gradient eased. There were some estate trucks and some SSE maintenance vehicles to watch out for, but on the plus side, the road is tarmac (even though private) and better surfaced than many of the public roads.
Heading up the Grudie Water 
Carn na Beiste After a couple of miles we stopped for lunch in the sun. There is an annoying ascent and immediate descent at Aultdearg but after that the going is only slightly uphill. I was surprised to discover that the tarmac led all the way to our starting point -I had assumed it went to Fannaich Lodge. Garbh Choire Mor of An Coileachan looked great as we approached - would love to be going up the edge of that instead
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Jackie cycling towards An Coileachan 
Garbh Choire Mor of An Coileachan As we swung west, Fionn Bheinn and Beinn nan Ramh appeared, with bits of Torridon and Fisherfield lurking behind in poorer weather. We locked up the bikes and hit the steepish hillside.
Fionn Bheinn 
Fionn Bheinn and Beinn nan Ramh from Loch Fannaich 
Zoom to Beinn nan Ramh 
An Coileachan 
Ready to start walking The area is quite extensively grazed with cattle so the going wasn't too heathery lower down. Even higher up the vegetation was better than I had hoped for, and the ridge was actually a really nice route. Jackie was struggling as usual, but we had distance on our side, and once we made the summit, a decent break improved her outlook a lot (aside from the clegs).
Fannaichs across the loch 
North ridge of An Cabar 
Sgurr nan Each and Sgurr nan Clach Geala across the loch 
Zoom to Sgurr nan Each and Sgurr nan Clach Geala Great views of Loch Fannaich and the Fannaichs themselves from up here, as well as over to Beinn Dearg and south to the Strathconon (and indeed Strathfarrar and Glen Cannich) hills. Out west looked extremely wet, but we were largely treated to sunshine until we had been on the summit for 20 minutes or so.
Sgurr a Mhuilinn from An Cabar 
Beinn Dearg 
Moody weather behind Sgurr nan Clach Geala 
Strathcarron and Achnasheen 
Loch Fannaich from the summit With the wind increasing a little and the sun hidden away, sitting around was less enjoyable than it had been so we dropped back down pretty much the same route. Again, we were able to get back to the bikes before Jackie became too knackered.
Darker over An Coileachan now All that remained was to roll mostly back downhill to the car. The Fannaichs looked pretty moody now, but we hit the sunshine again after Aultdearg. There was minor alarm when a logging lorry came barrelling towards us - they don't slow down for much!
South down the Grudie Water A great short day out, with Jackie having enough energy left to work briefly in the evening. No improvement in health for her unfortunately, but at least a more enjoyable day out. Some of the stuff we had done in May had put her off bothering with hills until she felt better.
