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After two days on Corbetts around Glenfinnan from my base at Callop, I decided to start making tracks for home via Glen Roy, where I still had a Corbett (Carn Dearg) and a Graham (Leana Mhor East) to mop up in order to clean up in the glen. My previous hill walking experiences in and around Glen Roy had largely revolved around the two Luib Chonnal bothy nights with Kev in early and late 2019, the first of these nights in particular having cemented its place in bothy folklore as far as we are concerned. Had it not been for a night spent in Gleann Dubh Ligiche bothy a few weeks after that November 2019 Luib Chonnal night, that would also have been my last bothy night.
I stopped off at Morrisons in the Big Smoke to replenish essential supplies before heading along to Spean Bridge and the inevitable memories of the Great Comedy Fish Supper Incident of 2016 before turning right onto the A86 to Roybridge and then onto the single track road up into Glen Roy.
I stopped off in the viewpoint car park below Beinn a'Mhonicaig to give Luna her dinner and to see to my own dinner as well. It was surprisingly quiet (two other cars) in comparison to some of the parking areas I had seen over the previous few days - nothing like a windy single track road to keep the campervans and motor homes at bay!
Dinner over, I headed further up the glen to a flat grassy area on the east side of the road where I parked up and pitched for the night. Planning on tackling the Graham first in the morning, I fancied the idea of fording the river at Brunachan rather than using the bridge near Brae Roy Lodge, saving myself a couple of kilometres of leg work. I wandered down to the river to check that it was an option before settling down for the night and waking to another fine looking July day.
Luna waiting patiently for her human - the old ruin of Brunachan Bothy and Carn Brunachan and the broad connecting ridge to Carn Dearg in the backgroundBreakfast was a brisk, no frills affair before we headed down to the river for a spot of wading. The only nagging concern was the fact that I have gotten out of the habit of taking walking poles recently (in fact I only have one functioning pole) and although the river looked fairly low, it was still quite uniformly wide and fast flowing in many places.
Leana Mhor West and Beinn IaruinnUpstream to the head of Glen RoyLeana Mhor East across the River RoyLuna gave me a look that screamed equal measure pity and disdain as I removed my socks and boots, stuffed the former into the latter and then tied the latter carefully onto my daypack before gingerly easing my feet into the water. Then she ploughed on and left me to it. A couple of minutes later, after surprisingly few hairy moments and wobbles midstream, I was clambering up the opposite bank, both boots still safely secured to my pack and socks safely tucked within.
On the other side - there's that look I was talking aboutThe old bothy at Brunachan (right) and the old shedI spent a moment or two checking out the buildings before heading on my way. I didn't try the door on the old shed but presumably it was locked. The door of the bothy was slightly ajar and I risked a wee peek inside despite the dangerous building warning signs.
Leana Mhor West and Beinn IaruinnNot even several cans of Big Rasperry Dog Chew could make this gaff look appealing!I made a sharp exit from Brunachan Bothy and headed behind the building, following the Allt Feith Bhrunachain upstream into the narrow coire between Carn Brunachan and Leana Mhor.
The other Leana Mhor and Beinn Iaruinn across the Allt Feith BhrunachainUp the Allt Feith BhrunachainIs it a dive bombing dog or a large fish jumping?For some reason known to absolutely nobody whatsoever, I had carried on up the stream rather than crossing it and taking directly to the nose of the Graham and I continued to do so until I reached a small standing of silver birch and the sides of the narrow glen closed in to make following the stream difficult. I crossed here and began to follow the fence up the glen with the stream below me to the right.
Back across the River Roy to the 2019 version of the Clen Roy Graham/Corbett comboFence going upFence going downI had somehow assumed, based on little more than thin air, that the fence would turn at some point and head up towards the Graham summit and I would simply need to follow it up but it steadily became apparent that this was not the case. Approaching the watershed and with the fence still running straight ahead, I paused and clambered down to the stream to replenish the water supplies.
Filling up from the Allt Feith BhrunachainFortunately there was a broken down section of fence just beyond where I had stopped so after I had pulled up the bottom of the fence just enough for Luna to shimmy underneath, I was just about able to step over and take to the eastern slopes of the Graham in earnest. As the gradient eased, the views opened up to the head of Glen Roy and beyond to something I don't believe I had ever seen before, not even when I was actually on them - the twin Carn Dearg Corbetts of Gleann Eachach!
Looking down the northern nose of Leana Mhor to Brae Roy Lodge and beyond to the Gleann Eachach Carn DeargsEast to today's Carn DeargWhen yer daypack is bigger than the cairn!The summit area of Leana Mhor is a fairly flat, featureless sprawl of nothingness that could no doubt be awkward to navigate in thick clag but there were no such issues today, despite some ominous cloud cover beginning to accumulate overhead. We headed south past the tiny almost dried up lochan and on towards the 650m spot height from where we could drop east and pick up the obvious natural ascent line onto Carn Dearg.
Dropping down to pick up the south west face of Carn Dearg with dark clouds gathering aboveI stopped by a little stream to take on more water and spotted a dragonfly clinging to a tussock of grass by the side of the water. With a little bit of gentle nudging I persuaded him/her to climb onto my map and pose for a close up.
There be dragons in them there hills!Luna seemed genuinely nonplussed by the wildlife encounter so I gently placed him back on his tussock and we carried on up the broad ridge towards our second summit of the day and final one of the trip.
Ascending north east towards another Ronnie called Carn DeargSouth over the Graham of Creag Dhubh and beyond to the Loch Treig MunrosThe summit was reached without further fanfare and I could now claim to have ticked off all the hills in and in the immediate vicinity of Glen Roy by the names of Leana Mhor and Carn Dearg!
East from the summit to Loch Sguadaig and The Window of Creag MeagaidhTo Creag Dhubh and the Loch Treig hillsAcross Beinn Iaruinn to the Loch Lochy Munros and Ben TeeThe dog's done good this week!I descended west, skirting the slopes of Carn Brunachan, tired but happy that after 5 days out and about in the hills I was heading home to my own bed, a shave and a change of underwear!
Luna had one more swim in a hill lochan before we negotiated some tricky descent through a couple of rocky defiles and dried up stream beds.
Beinn Iaruinn to the right and the two Leana Mhors on the leftDescending with a great view of the Parallel RoadsDown the Allt Feith BhrunachainAlmost back at the car - just another wade to comeI repeated the delicate procedure of wading the River Roy before the short walk back to the car and the drive back home to Perth. It had been another great extended summer holiday trip including my first visit to Knoydart and passing the half way mark on the Corbett round. Here's to the next visit to Knoydart, the second half of the Corbett journey and much more!
