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Munros: Eididh nan Clacj Geala.
Date: 19/12/2021.
Distance: 19 km.
Ascent: 1000m.
Time: 6 hours, 40 minutes.
Weather: Classic inversion.
I hadn't given much thought to going into the hills this weekend having managed to get out the previous Sunday, but David was in Scotland for a few days. Did I want to meet up for a walk somewhere? He had some interesting suggestions that I couldn't turn down, and before I knew it I had agreed to do a long route over Eididh nan Clach Geala and Seana Bhraigh with him. I went down to Kingussie for a stroll up to Loch Gynack with Jackie the day before - this was under perfect blue skies. Sunday was supposed to be the inferior day, but these things are relative. David rolled up in his van on Saturday evening for some food around the firepit before dossing in our driveway (in the van, not on the ground...), and we were up early on Sunday morning for the drive over to Inverlael.
I've not done many early starts this year and this one came as a bit of a shock to the system. We both drove over separately and by the time we had both messed about getting ready, it was 8:45am. Hardly early in the scheme of things but at least 3 hours earlier than I had been on a hill for quite some time!
Loch Broom at first light After fog and mist on the eastern part of the drive, everything west of Loch Glascarnoch had been crystal clear, and it stayed like this as we started walking up the forestry roads in Gleann Sguaib.
Meall nan Ceapraichean and Beinn Dearg from above Gleann na Sguaib The path gradually gains height before a fork is reached, after which the going steepened for a bit. Despite the calm weather forecast, there were some odd local anomalies here, with some light gusts of wind howling down the corrie. As we had just entered under a thin layer of cloud, it was frosty and the gusts were cold! As the corrie levelled out, we took to the hillside on our left and climbed much more steeply onto the shoulder above us. This took us nicely towards the sunshine, and soon it was warm again with spectacular views back to An Teallach. The corrie still had clag sitting in it and we could hear the frozen lochan creaking and cracking as the ice shifted. We passed some tame deer too.
An Teallach 
Eididh nan Clach Geala and Coire Lochan a Cnapaich 
Lochan a Chnapaich 
Oh deer... 
Torridon and Fisherfield inversion The final section to the summit took us to the ill-defined border between the clag and sunshine. The summit was in and out, but enough out to enjoy a long break in the sun. The cloud to the north was much higher, and very little was poking through it - just Seana Bhraigh (although at the time I thought it was the closer summit of Meall Glac nan Ruaigh). Regardless, the majority of the traverse across the plateau to reach Seana Bhraigh would be in cold mist and fog - not much fun. David was also feeling the effects of a decent day out above Glencoe yesterday, and was starting to worry about the gear shifter in his van which had become increasingly erratic over the last couple of days.
Summit of Eididh nan Clach Geala ahead 
Fisherfield and An Teallach 
Loch Broom 
Fannaichs to Beinn Eighe and Liathach 
An Teallach 
Ullapool After some thought, we decided not to bother with Seana Bhraigh. After briefly considering going south to Meall nan Ceapraichean, we decided to use the stalkers path back from Seana Bhraigh as our descent route. A couple of minutes after leaving the summit, we were back in the freezing mist and needed to check our direction before too long. Typical - we were heading about 90 degrees to where we should be! Easily corrected though. What tiny patches of snow existed were pretty solid
Fogbow 
Fisherfield and An Teallach 
Seana Bhraigh 
Cloud to the east 
Brocken Spectre 
Checking our bearing After wandering past a small lochan, we emerged back into the sun and gradually dropped down to the path. another break on a large boulder was welcomed. While today had probably been marginally less impressive than yesterday for inversions, it was still pretty much perfect.
Conditions change quickly 
Back into the sunshine 
Looking south This path was no longer than our route of ascent, but it looked and felt it. A very short ascent after crossing the Allt Gleann a' Mhadaidh added to that feeling, but eventually we were dropping into the forest at Glensguaib to join our outgoing route. It was a bit of a wrench to drop down out of the sunshine actually - which accounts for us managing to take well over 6 hours over this one hill.
Last look at Beinn Dearg After trying to leave the carpark, David wasn't keen with the state of his gear shifter and decided it would be too dangerous to drive. We had a cup of tea before he called the AA. They must have been sending someone from Ullapool as they advised they would be with him within the hour - not bad for the middle of nowhere on a Sunday afternoon in December! He ended up getting towed back to Edinburgh - a bit of a downer to end a great day out.
