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18km by bike, 10km walk (approximately)
Continuing the better than average summer weather in 2021, yet another period of high pressure was forecast for 4 or 5 days, so I searched online for any campsites that had vacancies - all full except for Cannich. That was quite fortunate as I hadn't climbed any of the Corbetts in that area.
So I set off bright and early from home in NW Cumbria on my 8th Corbett trip of the year and was soon heading up the A9 in glorious sunshine. I like to take in a hill or two on my way to where I'm going to be based, so the two Gaick Pass Corbetts were an ideal choice.
I exited at the sign for Trinafour and parked just off the minor road a few hundred metres from the junction. Setting off on the bike at 11am in warm sunshine, I crossed the busy A9 and went up the estate road signed for Gaick Pass. The going was good all the way to the derelict Sronphadruig Lodge where I locked up the bike by the end of the fence.
An Dun looked dauntingly steep straight ahead and so it proved. I crossed over the mere trickle of a river just beyond the lodge, then crossed it again further on at the foot of An Dun on stepping stones. I followed the intermittent path for most of the ascent and it was very steep in places but quite manageable. I stopped halfway up to rest, have some food and enjoy the views opening up to the south. At around 12:30pm, with a fair amount of cloud obscuring the views, I reached the south top and then walked over to the north top which is given the same spot height on the OS map, so either could be the true top!
- View south from halfway up An Dun
- Summit 'cairn' on An Dun
From the north top I gazed across to the seemingly impregnable west face of Maol Creag an Loch, and as others have done, decided that a grassy defile/rake just to the left of a large area of scree looked feasible. I certainly didn't fancy going back down An Dun's south ridge and climbing the other hill via its SW ridge - I do like a circular walk if it's possible!
- View across from foot of An Dun to Maol Craig an Loch - line of ascent is long grassy rake to left of scree
- Creag an Loch from its northern end
So I set off down the north ridge which was nearly as steep as the ascent path - it wasn't a pleasant descent, as I steered around crags and steep drop-offs but eventually reached the northern end of Creag an Loch. I was aiming for the aforementioned grassy rake to the left of a large scree fan just level with the end of the loch, so I crossed the outflow of the loch and worked my way across to the steep hillside. Sometimes from a distance a steep hillside looks impossibly steep but is actually ok once you start up it - this one was very steep but by zigzagging, progress wasn't too hard, just a long slog. With much relief I reached the top of the climb and was pleased to see I was nearly level with the summit. Shortly I was at the tiny summit cairn (labelled as A' Chaoirnich on maps) and was glad the clouds of earlier had dissipated.
- Even smaller summit cairn of Maol Creag an Loch
- Stampede!
After a brief rest and second lunch, I set off in a southerly direction and suddenly in front of me, about 200mtrs away, a very large herd of deer crossed from left to right. I took a few hurried photos with my phone but really needed a proper camera to zoom in on them. A bit further on, another smaller herd also crossed my path but again too far away to see details. I headed over to the southern top which is only 8mtrs lower than the true top but has the larger cairn. From there, I headed SW for a bit on easy slopes and an intermittent path and then descended more steeply towards the end of the loch. When I was level with the edge of the fenced-in woods, I zigzagged down a steep bit of heathery hillside to a flat area of peat hags which were thankfully mostly dry, then it was just a few minutes from there back to the bike.
It only took me 30 minutes to cycle the 9km back to the car which I reached at 4pm.