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Sgurr Dearg (Mull) horseshoe

Sgurr Dearg (Mull) horseshoe


Postby TheTortoise » Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:22 pm

Fionas included on this walk: Sgùrr Dearg

Date walked: 02/07/2021

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Another morning with early clouds, this time clearing off the hills fairly quickly but leaving a rather grey morning. We parked at the end of the old road, and set off uphill. The SMC guide disappointingly doesn't mention the possibility of doing this hill by itself, just describes a mega 2-Graham-day totally unsuitable for tortoises and those who have already been up Beinn Talaidh (both true for me). We decided to make a little horseshoe from the two tops on either side of the main corrie accessible from the A road. We walked up beside stream to the start of corrie then crossed over and headed right over grass then a mix of grass, scree and rocks.
210702SgurrDearg210702SgurrDeargDSCN4454.jpg
Interesting rocks, lava agglomerate apparently
After 632, we walked down to the col, hearing a raven and then spotting a probable eagle.
210702SgurrDeargDSCN4456.jpg
Col and top, possible eagle has just left
Then up mostly grassy slopes with some scree and rock which could easily be avoided.
210702SgurrDeargDSCN4458.jpg
Unusual drystane dyke dives off into the corrie
For once, we arrived at the summit in time for lunch, and sat facing the Corbett Dun da Gaoithe. It was still grey and there were low clouds towards the mainland so it was hard to make out places over there apart from Lismore. Then sun touched the Corbett, eventually reaching us as it was time to leave. Another person was examining the ground just down a bit but when we walked in that direction, they had disappeared, then we saw them further away, too far away to pop over for a chat. Pity, cos we rarely meet anyone on the hill these days. We descended the ridge for a while from the summit until it started to curl away from the direction of our van
210702SgurrDeargDSCN4460.jpg
Sunny hills on the descent
then we angled down towards the corrie and the road. It was now lovely and sunny, all the hills around were clear. This was the easiest of our 3 easy days hillwalking, and gave good views of all the Mull hills. We look forward to doing it again when we want a short day on Mull.
Here is our approximate route.

our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

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TheTortoise
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Re: Sgurr Dearg (Mull) horseshoe

Postby BlackPanther » Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:27 am

I see you're chewing your way through the remaining Grahams nicely! We still haven't been to Mull, maybe next year, we'll try to bag as many hills in one visit as possible (including the Munro!).

The SMC book has some strange ideas. For example, it suggest climbing Sgùrr nan Cnamh from Ariundle, but there is much easier (and much more scenic IMHO) route from the south. The most obvious route up our local Graham, Carn Gorm above Cannich, is not even mentioned but instead the guide recommends a pathless trudge from Strathfarrar side :roll: Could write a whole new book about it :lol: :lol: :lol:
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BlackPanther
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Re: Sgurr Dearg (Mull) horseshoe

Postby TheTortoise » Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:05 am

BlackPanther wrote:I see you're chewing your way through the remaining Grahams nicely!

Well, we were delighted to finish earlier this year the most remote remaining mainland ones. Then I failed totally to climb a Jura Pap on the hottest day of the year, partly through underestimating it and the heat and not allowing enough time before the last ferry back. So that goes to the top of the list for next year.
BlackPanther wrote:The SMC book has some strange ideas. For example, it suggest climbing Sgùrr nan Cnamh from Ariundle, but there is much easier (and much more scenic IMHO) route from the south. The most obvious route up our local Graham, Carn Gorm above Cannich, is not even mentioned but instead the guide recommends a pathless trudge from Strathfarrar side

Thanks for the tip about Sgurr nan Cnamh, that is still on my list cos I had a new hip when the Hare did it. He will be pleased to approach it from a different direction. For some reason I had not done any WH research on it but I like the idea of a horseshoe.
We did a traverse of Carn Gorm from Craskie to Struy which gives a nice long ridge but you do need two cars.
Happy walking.
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TheTortoise
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