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There was never any real prospect of a true rest day during this week, but on the heels of two big days and with Thursday dawning pretty grey and dull, maybe a shorter, less demanding day was on the cards. The original thinking for today had been to head to Strathcarron and do Maoile Lunndaidh, setting me up to do Sgurr Coinnich and Sgurr a'Chaorachainn the following day before heading to meet Kev in Bearnais bothy.
I'm well aware of my limits, even taking account of my advancing age and increasingly creaky knees, but Luna is only on her second summer pass and I was still unsure of just exactly how far I could sensibly push her. In the end I decided to pass on Maoile Lunndaidh, possibly even passing on any chance of hitting my target of 22 new Munros this calendar year, and instead do the two Ledgowan Forrest Grahams of Carn Breac and Beinn na Feusaige.
I drove from my camping spot near Loch Droma and parked up on the verge of the A890 Achnasheen to Lochcarron road, at the gate at the beginning of the old loop of road, opposite the access track to the barn at Loan. I quickly got the little daypack together and headed over the gate, making an off-the-cuff decision to tackle the route clockwise via the broad, tussocky looking shoulder of Coille Bhreac.
The slopes of Coille Breac from the start of the walkTwo old bridges on the old section of roadAs if I even needed one, the ascent up onto Coille Bhreac was an early indication that this would be no easy day. I laboured up the heathery, tussocky slopes, legs heavy from the previous two days, swatting away the flies and cursing that woman who decided to identify some hills as Grahams after her married name!
Just before the deer fence I happened to glance at my watch. Just as was the case two days previously, it was 12 o'clock on the dot. 48 hours ago at this precise time of day I had been heading for home from the summit of my third Munro of the day. Now I was labouring up the slope from hell in pursuit of two Grahams on what was supposed to be as close a thing as there would be this week to a rest day!
Luna might have managed to squeeze through there but I'm going to have to untie the knotBack down to the A890 and Loch SgamhainBeinn na Feusaige and Loch Sgamhain from Coille Bhreac with the Strathconon Corbetts in the distanceThrough the broken down deer fenceCoille Bhan and Carn Breac across the head of the Allt Coire CrubaidhThe going was hard, very hard, but then I told myself that it was a Thursday in July and I should be grateful that I was here and not some other place
. Onwards we ploughed over the tussocky, peat hag-ridden terrain. There was little in the way of nice views of the route I was actually walking, although the views were not too shabby south across the A890 towards Moruisg, the former Munro of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean and some of tomorrow's targets.
Memories of the not too distant past and a taste of the very near futureMeallan Mhic Iamhair and Beinn na FeusaigeThe chase is onLooking north east back down Coille BhanEventually the going got easier, both in terms of gradient and terrain, and we skirted round the gaping mouth of Coire Dubh-riabhach and north up east slopes towards the summit of Carn Bhreac.
Coire Dubh-riabhachNow things started to get a bit more interesting as the views opened up west to the Achnashellach hills and north west into Torridon and its huge beasts.
Liathach and Beinn Eighe with some of the Loch Maree hills to the rightWest to Loch Carron and the Achnashellach hillsEast along the summit ridge of Carn Breac, framed by the Fannaichs to the left and Fhionn Bheinn to the rightTowards Beinn na Feusaige with Fhionn Bheinn and the Strathconon Corbetts in the backgroundI thought back to my days on many of these surrounding peaks and just how long ago they were - Beinn Eighe (14 years ago), Liathach (13 years ago), Fhionn Bheinn (13 years ago), Beinn Liath Mhor, Sgor Ruadh and Fuar Tholl (9 years ago). Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean at only 2 years ago felt like last week in comparison!
Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean across Glen CarronAfter the unpleasantness of the ascent up the rough, tussocky slopes of Coille Bhreac and Coille Bhan, the walk along the summit ridge to the large shelter cairn was an absolute joy. I guess you could say that Carn Breac falls into that category that many a Graham does - a largely featureless, undistinguished hill in and of itself but it's the views to the bigger, more celebrated neighbours that are the main selling point.
Liathach and Beinn Eighe from the substantial summit cairnLoch Carron and Fuar ThollLuna pointing herself the wrong wayI had lunch in the shelter of the large cairn before making tracks for Beinn na Feusaige. Initially, the going was good on short grass and sections of large pavement slabs but as we started to descend towards Lochan Meallan Mhic Iamhair, it all turned pear shaped again and we were back in bandit country.
Back to the summit and the Achnashellach hills behindNext stop Beinn na FeusaigeSlioch centre-stage across the Moine MhorTorridon - God's CountryLuna spots Lochan Meallan Mhic IamhairC'mon dad - let's go swimming!Feusaige reflectionsMoruisg, Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, Sgurr Coinnich and Sgurr na FeartaigAfter the customary swim in the lochan (Luna that is, not me), there was nothing else for it than the long, tedious slog up the line of old fenceposts to the summit of Beinn na Feusaige.
Back down the fence line to the lochan and the Torridon giantsSome indication of what the terrain was likeThere are hill days on the Corbetts and Grahams when you just know that the hill you are on is going to go straight into your Top 5 of that particular hill category (I think back to the likes of Fiarach in 2010 and Binnein Shios and Binnein Shuas in 2013 for the Grahams, Fuar Tholl in 2013 and An Ruadh-stac in 2015 for the Corbetts). This was not going to be one of those days!
Coire Crubaidh and Carn BreacEventually the broad summit ridge with its two tiny cairns was reached. I took a few quick photos for posterity before bracing myself for what I correctly suspected would be a fairly rough descent back down to the track in the glen that would lead me back to the car and hopefully more memorable experiences over the next few days on the other side of the road.
West from the western cairnSummit of Feusaige - #71Start of the descentNot easy to spot a white car against the road from this height and distance