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This was my third Munro outing within a week, during a very enjoyable break in a cottage near Strathpeffer with family and friends. Unbelievably, we hit a good run of weather, too
! Although the forecast for the Tuesday 31st August (yes, the last day of summer
) wasn't for the wall-to-wall sunshine that I'd enjoyed a few days earlier, it was still set dry, and the
www.mwis.org.uk website was quoting a 70% chance of cloud-free Munros in the area, which sounded moderately promising. I thought it would be a good chance to have a look a the mildly epic circuit of the four Beinn Dearg Munros, starting from Inverlael Bridge, a bit south of Ullapool.
The drive up from Strathpeffer was quicker than I'd expected, and although I was worried that I might miss the starting point for the route and drive right on past it, in the event the red phone box just south of the Inverlael car park proved to be an unmissable landmark. I set off reasonably early up the private road into Inverlael Forest. It was something of a relief to find the Munros signposted just after the gate into the forestry: definitely on the correct track, then
!
It's a long approach (and a long walk out again at the end of the day, of course), and the forestry does go on for quite a bit, but the tracks are excellent, and I stoated along merrily enough, crossing the bridge to the north side of the River Lael after a couple of kilometres or so, and passing the left-hand fork for Seana Braigh in the vicinity of the ruined buildings at Glensguaib (the less defined Seana Braigh track is marked by a big metal pole). It wasn't that much further to the end of the forestry, where there is a small hydro scheme with an interesting and informative notice board:
The track ends here at a small clearing, but there is an excellent ongoing stalkers' path heading up Gleann na Sguaib.
If I may digress, there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on "stalker's path" versus "stalkers' path" - is it one solitary stalker pitting him/herself against the wilderness as a sort of Lone Ranger (sans Tonto), or is it a companionable group of stalkers? The latter seems more likely, I'd say. Yes, I know, I'm a punctuation anorak
.
Anyway, the stalkers' path is well-constructed and it made for excellent and scenic going, although the cloud base was still disappointingly low at this stage in the day.
A bit further up, there was a grand wee waterfall on one of the tributary burns:
Eventually, having passed en route the left-hand fork of the path that would hopefully be my return route from Eididh nan Clach Geala at the end of the day, I arrived at the tranquil Lochan Lathail: a rather magical spot, although it had started to drizzle a bit. Thankfully it only lasted for five minutes or so, and it was the only rain I got all day.
From here, the path zigzags up a steepening to reach a complex and rather bleak bealach between three of the four Munros, strewn with numerous tiny lochans, and known as Bealach an Lochan Uaine. There is a handy cairn which marks the spot where the routes for Beinn Dearg and Cona' Mheall diverge, although the ongoing path to Beinn Dearg itself becomes very indistinct for a bit after this. There was an impressive vista from the marker cairn back down Gleann na Sguaib to distant Loch Broom:
The cloud base was lifting slowly but steadily as per forecast, but the Munros still had their heads firmly in the clouds at this point, so I was hoping that I'd soon be able to spot the "Destitution Wall", an improbable drystane dyke that heads almost to the summit of Beinn Dearg from the bealach, and which (as its name would suggest) was built by starving crofters at the local laird's behest in exchange for food in the 1840s, during the potato famine. A cruel bit of history, therefore, and it must have been a back-breaking and fundamentally pointless task
, but it remains a very impressive structure and it certainly made navigation through the Clag to Beinn Dearg's summit very straightforward.
Wall Ahoy
!
There is a rough but serviceable path up the right-hand side of the wall pretty much all the way to the top - it was mildly scrambly in places, but straightforward enough. Just before I finally hit the cloud base, there was a fine view of the impressive southern cliffs of Cona' Mheall:
The wall stops just a couple of hundred metres short of the summit, taking a 90 degree turn to the right, but there is an obvious gap just at the corner with a faint ongoing path heading for the summit environs. The path soon fizzled out amidst boulderfield, but it wasn't much farther uphill to the substantial summit cairn.
Me looking somewhat shifty at Beinn Dearg's cairn, in my rather superfluous prescription sunglasses:
I've noticed that increasing numbers of Munros nowadays have commemorative stones and the like incorporated into their cairns - I find it rather touching, and the summit of a Munro is a lovely place to remember someone, after all. Beinn Dearg's cairn has a stone that someone has dedicated to a loved one on the occasion of their 100th Munro, by the looks of it:
I had three more Munros to tackle, however, so I didn't hing aboot, but headed straight back downhill to the Destitution Wall. There was a nice hazy view on descent to one of the lochans at the Bealach an Lochan Uaine:
Down at the Wall again now, with a nice view across to Meall nan Ceapraichean on the north side of the bealach:
Meall nan Ceapraichean is the "Hump of the Stubbly Hillocks" or some such, but naturally it soon morphed in my non-Gaeltacht brain into "Meall nan Capricorn". The last Munro of the day would be Eididh nan Clach Geala, the "Nest of the White Stones", which is all rather poetic but also a bit of a mouthful - so that one naturally became "Rock Steady Eididh"
.
My next target, however, was Cona' Mheall. I made my way right down to the bottom of the Destitution Wall, and then headed northeastwards across the bealach, thankfully picking up an improving path en route. Cona' Mheall is something of a rounded hump with a big flat summit, but it does have seriously impressive southern cliffs, framing the stunning Coire Ghranda, with Beinn Dearg's equally impressive eastern cliffs forming the opposite wall of the coire.
Loch a' Choire Ghranda - wow!
The ascent of Cona' Mheall itself was surprisingly straightforward - the website's route description warns of tiresome boulderfield, but there is actually a developing path nowadays that makes light of it, and soon enough I was at the summit cairn. To my delight, the cloud base had lifted significantly, and I got some seriously impressive views.
Me looking dodgy again in my completely unnecessary shades:
On the way back down, the cloud briefly lifted completely from Beinn Dearg, so I finally got a proper look at the thing. This is one truly massive mountain!
Coire Ghranda was no less impressive when viewed from the opposite side:
Soon enough, however, I was back down at the rather complex Bealach an Lochan Uaine. In Clag, the ongoing route to Meall nan Capricorn really wouldn't be that obvious, as there is no clear path connecting it to the other two Munros that flank the bealach. The cloud base was above the summits now, however, and the ongoing route was obvious enough.
Up until this point, I hadn't seen another human all day, but all of a sudden I became aware of quite a crowd heading up Capricorn's stony flanks just a wee bit ahead of me. What was going on
?
Before long, all became clear - I arrived at Capricorn's somewhat underwhelming summit (it is the least impressive of the four Munros, to be honest - tellingly, it is the only one of the four that isn't also a Marilyn), to find a party of about thirty people celebrating a Munro Compleation, complete with fruitcake and alcohol
! I did feel something of an interloper, but they were a friendly bunch, and I accepted a very welcome slice of fruitcake (although I passed on the whisky on grounds of COVID compliance!). This is the last place where I'd have expected to gate-crash a party, and this year of all years, but it was definitely an unexpected pleasure
!
I waited for them to head onwards before taking my own quick shot of the summit cairn:
It was finally time to tackle Rock Steady Eididh, however, and as the website's route description warns, the connecting route between the last two Munros is a wee bit "particular". The first step is easy enough, heading northwards to a minor cairned Top of Meall nan Capricorn known as Ceann Garbh. However, there is quite a big drop between Ceann Garbh and Eididh which lies almost directly to its north, and the direct route is blocked by fairly substantial crags on Ceann Garbh's north face. It is therefore necessary to track a wee bit eastwards (ENE actually, I think) down Ceann Garbh's ongoing ridge, before making a careful descent down its northern flanks between bands of crags. As viewed from Ceann Garbh, Eididh had his head resolutely in the Clag at this point, and I was a bit worried about finding my way down and across without incident.
There is apparently a path down the northern flanks of Ceann Garbh's east ridge if you manage to hit the right spot, but needless to say I missed it completely. I got down safely enough, however - the Clag was starting to lift again now, thankfully, which helped considerably.
Rock Steady Eididh reveals himself at last, and the descent route starts to look more feasible:
Soon enough I found myself at another complex and lochan-strewn bealach, this one between Ceann Garbh and Eididh, but at least the onwards route up Eididh looked much more straightforward than the descent had been.
I'd heard that this last Munro has great views if the Weather Gods are kind enough to allow them ... and thankfully Eididh didn't disappoint today
!
Eididh has two fairly substantial cairns; I think this first one marked the true summit, although the second one had better views. Even from the first cairn, however, there was a hazily impressive view of the Monoliths of the Far North, including Stac Pollaidh, Suilven et al.
The second and slightly lower cairn is a better viewpoint, however, with Stac Pollaidh being particularly prominent:
As per the website's route description, I headed a good way down Eididh's easy west ridge before cutting down more steeply to the south to pick up another good stalkers' path [sic] that heads back down SW-wards to rejoin the main stalkers' path running down Gleann na Sguaib. One last grand view northwards from the west ridge, shortly before I cut down to the south:
Once on the stalkers' path, it was an easy although loooong walk back to the car park.
A long but very rewarding day - and the unexpected party was a bonus
!
