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- Route leading to Loch Corie nan Dearcag
- An Socach looking north
- The view south towards Mullach Fraoch- Choire
- Tent beside Alltbeithe Youth Hostel
[The starting point for tackling the 3 peaks north of Alltbeithe Youth Hostel was from Loch Cluanie by the pass An Caoran Mor. Park in the approx 0.5km west of the path leading to Alltbeithe. This is part of the old A87 - beware of huge potholes that could cause damage to some cars. The path begins as a track and is reasonable for the first 3 miles. Once it diminishes to a single footpath it becomes more boggy in places.
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The total length of the path is approximately 7 miles and keeps on the east side of the water courses at all times and the path tends to be usually approximately 10 meters above the height of the burns. Eventually Alltbeithe Hostel comes into sight.
The time taken to reach the Youth Hostel, depends upon the load you are carrying and underfoot conditions. With a full pack for camping I took 2.5 hours, as I was with my dog, which did not allow me to stay in the Youth Hostel, but staying in the hostel would have been restrictive
- Alltbeithe Youth Hostel comes into view
With tent erected and bulk of rucksack emptied it was now time to start the walk in earnest.
Ttere is a good path that takes you north at first and then east before heading north up the side of Allt na Faing. This path is good and easy to follow. Make sure you fill up bottles with water as you near the top of this path, as there is often no drinking water to be had for the remainder of the walk, which could be 7-9 hours.
Once the top of the path is reach, as small cairn is found. Note this well as it is also your route back down to the Youth Hostel. You need to decide here which peak to climb first. The main peak I wished to climb was Mullach na Dheiragain, but I decided to climb An Socach first, as I knew the light would be against me if I tackled the other 2 hills first, and I may have been inclined to not climb the easiest of the three hills. There are fine views both north and south from this point.
I decided to leave my rucksack here and just take a map and compass, as sit is only a short climb from here. It took me 25 mins, reaching the summit at 4:45pm.
It was a quick decent to the cairn and pick up my rucksack. The best option I felt was to now head for Mullach na Dheiragain. I walked for about 5 minutes west towards Sgurr nan Creathreamhnan keeping a look out for 2 small cairns indicating a rough path sloping down towards Loch Corie nan Dearcag. The path comes and goes but angles down at an easy angle down towards the north end of the lochan. This route avoids you climbing Sgurr nana Ceathreamhnan twice in the walk.
Once the lochan is reached head up to the long ridge leading to the Mullach na Dheiragain. Once the ridge is reached a good visible path leads all the way to this Munro, however the path appears to veer off to the left and avoid the summit, so take care in the cloud and mist. You can also go a bit further as I did to the end of the broad ridge. The walk along this broad ridge was most enjoyable with good views if the weather is clear.
To walk the entre ridge and back to the base of the climb up the third and final Munro of the day can take 2- 3 hours. The final climb up the good path, with a little scrambling provided a decent accent of this fine peak. I reached the summit as the cloud came in, so no view on this occasion for me. From the summit of the first Munro to Sgurr nan Creathreamhnan, took me 5.5 hours, so be prepared for a long day. It took me another 2.5 hours to get back to the campsite beside the hostel arriving well after "lights-out", if such rules still exist in hostels, as it was midnight when inside my tent. The next day it took me 3 hrs to get back to the car with a view back at Sgurr nan Creathreamhnan.
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- Mullach na Dheiragain
From my experience, I would use the same route again, but this route is really only possible in May, June or July.
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