The year of broken bridges?

[TheTortoise]

This day had amazing clear blue skies, little wind, and was far too warm for the winter clothes that I had packed a week ago at the start of our holiday. We'd been unsure about where we could park the van in Gleann Beag so had brought mountain bikes to use to get along the road and then as far as we wanted along the track too. In the end, we used the mountain bikes on other days on great cycling trips on good off-road tracks, and, at a club weekend, managed to persuade a tired friend with a car that after the previous day's 3 Munros, 1 Graham would be an ideal outing. Actually of course a straightforward Munro might have been just as easy!
So we parked just short of the farm, walked up the track.

Distant view of our hill

as far as the decidedly uninviting bridge. It actually looked far more squinty than this picture makes it appear

A squinty bridge

We were making a return trip to the hill, after failing just before the first lockdown 2 years earlier. We had crossed the bridge then, before deciding that the dauntingly steep part of the hill might be icy and we didn't have spikes with us. We didn't want to get all the way up there and fail, and we were both somewhat tired from earlier hills, so we went to look at brochs instead, thinking at the time that we needed to do the hill again fairly soon before the bridge collapsed. Lockdown and other things interfered, so only now were we returning.
We'd been warned about the bridge this year by friends who had walked further along the track, and round onto the Corran path before crossing. I'd also read of people crossing a little lower down than the bridge, so we backtracked a short distance until the angle of the slope down to the river looked more manageable. It had been dry for well over a week, so the water was quite low, and we managed to walk across without the water going over the tops of our boots, But a bit more water, and we would have had wet feet. This was our second bridge setback this year, the other one being on Hunt Hill.
We walked up a mossy bank, through a few trees and encountered an old iron deer fence. We found a suitable climbing point, crossed over, and immediately found a very splendid metal gate that we could have used! It's approximately at NG865158. It's a lot easier to find on the way back, just follow the line of the old wall downhill.

The gate

Greatly relieved to have got over the obstacles, we proceeded up to and along the ridge. For much of the way there was a deer track, probably enhanced by human footsteps, ideal if you don't want to go over every bump (i.e. better on the way back). There's a splendid view looking along the ridge, and into the corrie at the back of Sgritheall.

Splendid curve to the ridge

View from the ridge to the track

Finally after negotiating the steepest part of the ridge, there were several bumps to be passed over before arriving at the very insignificant cairn on the first high point, which is apparently the true summit, although this is not marked as such on the map. You definitely need to read the guidebook for this one.
Lunch by the top, dropping down out of the wind. Unfortunately it was hazy out to sea and Skye, but there were excellent views back into Kintail.

looking to Kintail

We decided to return the same way, considering the time and that we had a communal meal to contribute to, also we had read the Weasels' report of the SMC book descent "... managing to avoid injury..." and we were trying to persuade our friend that Grahams were a good idea. We were a little disappointed not to have time to explore the rocky plateau area at the top of this hill - maybe another time/another life.
Actually returning down the ridge was good because of the views across to Kintail and also the deer path which went most of the way down the ridge section.
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

[weaselmaster]

Interesting about the bridge. I was just doing a route that involved this hill and a few others, for ‘soon’ undertaking, so helpful to know not to count on a bridge being there. I do remember the descent being a bit rough the way we did it, yes

[prog99]

Interesting about the bridge. I was just doing a route that involved this hill and a few others, for ‘soon’ undertaking, so helpful to know not to count on a bridge being there. I do remember the descent being a bit rough the way we did it, yes

Very interesting summit plateau if you are a geologist.

I've been up it by doing Beinn Sgritheall from the west adding on the top and then the curving ridge round to a steep ascent up the south east face.

[BlackPanther]

It is one of the most delightful Grahams, we did the same route a few years ago. Well worth swapping for an easy Munro! Shame about the bridge... The brochs don the glen are an interesting addition to the walk, time allowed.