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Much as it would be wonderful to get abroad (last time I was out of the UK would now be early January 2020
), we didn't feel up to braving the flight cancellations and huge airport queues in early June this year, so we opted for yet another Domestic Holiday with our pals down the road. On this occasion we rented a grand big hoose in Lochcarron for the week, which had the major advantage from my point of view that a large proportion of the Munros that I still have to do are in the Glen Carron or Torridon area ... Even more amazingly, we hit a remarkably good spell of weather at the start of the week
!
Unfortunately, however, we then went back home to start on a major re-flooring and re-decorating project, so it's only now that I've been able to write up the relevant Walk Reports
.
This first walk was on Sunday 5th June 2022, and the sun was splitting the skies. I got an early start and set out for the two Munros at Achnashellach, Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh, which seem to be surprisingly little climbed but are very fine hills, by all accounts.
I found the car park across from Achnashellach Station easily enough, from where the route starts on the opposite side of the road, just beside an old red phone box:
The station itself is a tiny "request stop" one, a good wee bit up a track from the road, and very quaint.
Just after the level crossing, the track reaches a crossroads where the route for the Munros turns sharp left. On the initial approach to Coire Lair, it is the Corbett Fuar Tholl that steals the show, with its eastern buttresses looking extremely impressive from this angle:
A short distance further down the track, a baggers' path branches off left for the two Munros (and/or for the Corbett Fuar Tholl), now well marked with a big new sign
:
The path back-tracks for a short distance to get down to the River Lair, then climbs gradually up out of the woodland along the side of the river. Further up, a right fork brought me up out of the trees to the mouth of the vast Coire Lair, where I got my first good look at my target hills. From here, all [inverted commas] the walk amounts to is a skyline round of the corrie. I do like it when hills do what they say on the tin: Beinn Liath Mhor is indeed a Big Grey Hill, being a long ridge covered with grey quartzite scree, whereas Sgorr Ruadh (the Red Peak) is indeed a Pointy Red-sandstone Mountain. Very nice
!
I forked right at the mouth of Coire Lair to make the short ascent to a cairn that marks the spot where another baggers' path branches off left, to start the steep ascent of the "nose" at the eastern end of the Beinn Liath Mhor ridge.
The ascent was pretty relentless in today's heat, but there were at least fine views by way of distraction, across Coire Lair to Fuar Tholl and Sgorr Ruadh:
Soon enough, I was up at a first cairn at the top of the ridge's eastern "nose", with fine views along the ongoing Beinn Liath Mhor ridge and a striking mountain in the distance: at first I took that to be Ben Alligin, but it can't be, as it's in the wrong direction (too far SW)... I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure now what it was - maybe one of the Applecross Corbetts?
A bit further along the delightful ridge, the Torridon giants had come spectacularly into view, with Liathach looking like a terrifyingly vertical wall from this angle, and with Beinn Eighe also looking impressively massive to the right:
Looking northwards to the minor but impressive scree-covered peak of Beinn Liath Bheag, with Beinn Eighe again looking truly massive in the distance:
Beinn Liath Mhor's fine and very enjoyable ridge went on a good bit longer than I'd expected, but soon enough I was nearing the final approach to the summit:
A wee bit further along again, with Liathach's castellated ridgeline still looking terrifying to the northwest:
At Beinn Liath Mhor's summit cairn now, and looking towards Sgorr Ruadh - which was showing off a bit, to be frank; flexing its buttresses in the sunshine, as you do...
The three Torridon ridges were all just looking spectacular from this viewpoint. I was hoping to do Ben Alligin the next day, and it was useful (although perhaps mildly intimidating) to get a good look at it from here:
Looking back south-east down Coire Lair, with the attractive Loch Coire Lair prominent in the foreground:
Me at Beinn Liath Mhor summit, and looking well chuffed to be here, as well I might!
I had another Munro to tackle, however, and looking across the complex bealach from Beinn Liath Mhor's summit, Sgorr Ruadh was looking a tad challenging. Fuar Tholl was also looking very impressive, just a wee bit further away, but at least I wouldn't be tackling the Corbett today
!
The connection between the two Munros is indeed a bit "particular", crossing a lumpy, complex and intermittently scrambly bealach. The first section crosses some attractive sandstone pavement, with the easy descent path down Coire Lair branching off left (east) at this point, for anyone who is just tackling Beinn Liath Mhor on its own.
I carried on southwards, however, picking up a scrambly path that descends to a first unnamed lochan in a small bealach between Beinn Liath Mhor and Point 769 to its south-west:
The rough path continued southwards, bypassing Point 769 to the east and then descending to a second unnamed lochan, this one being a bigger one that sits between Point 769 and Sgorr Ruadh itself. On descent, the stalkers' path that crosses the western end of Coire Lair was clearly visible, as was the rougher baggers' path that ascends up Sgorr Ruadh from the western end of the lochan:
In truth, the link between the two Munros is a Tale of Three Lochans, because that rough ascent path that is visible in the photo above ascends gamely enough initially up the north-west shoulder of Sgorr Ruadh, but soon becomes lost in boulderfield, so that it is something of a relief to top out near a third lochan that sits high on Sgorr Ruadh's shoulder, and that could be useful for navigational purposes in poorer visibility:
It wasn't much further from the lochan to Sgorr Ruadh's summit cairn, where further spectacular views of Ben Alligin and Liathach awaited:
I met a friendly Englishman (the only other person I saw all day) and we passed the time of day, then he kindly took my
photo at the cairn:
The rough and pathless descent to the Sgorr Ruadh / Fuar Tholl bealach was mildly tiresome, as was the surprisingly prolonged crossing of the (still rough and pathless) bealach itself. It was something of a relief, particularly in today's heat, when I finally picked up the good stalkers' path that descends from Fuar Tholl on the very far (i.e. south-east) side of the bealach, although thankfully the path was very obvious when I eventually reached it. From here on, it was a very straightforward romp back down into Coire Lair, across the River Lair at the mouth of the corrie (easy in the current dry weather), and then back down to Achnashellach.
A fine view of Loch Coire Lair on descent:
A really excellent hill day - although they're admittedly located in something of an obscure corner of Scotland, these Munros deserve to be better known than they are
!
