Fisherfield 5 anticlockwise from Shenavall

[scotdavid63]

First thing to say is congrats to the Welsh lady who compleated yesterday on A' Mhaigdean. Well done, a big week having done Fisherfield in two trips from Poolewe and Ben Alder also in thelast week ! Hope you enjoyed some celebratory drinks last night.

Second thing to say is that these mountains could be better described. Reports mention a boulder field at the start going clockwise, in reality is all boulder fields apart from the transition between the northern two and the southern three (or four is you do the Corbett). Be prepared for a painful expedition, it's like the CMD arete or Grey Corries.

Third, why did we go anticlockwise ? Two main reasons, no desire to return to Shenavall so we could walk out on the landrover track this way and get home that night. And water planning, we knew we could keep refilling on the northern side, so could make it to Ben Tarsuinn fully loaded then get down to the river after munro #5.
We met many people and, as one observed, everyone was doing something different whether starting in Poolewe, Kinlochewe, the Fannich car park, Cape Wrath trail, splitting the 5 into two or clockwise (we were the only folks going anti-clockwise), or just sitting in the bothy (French couple) !

Last, ignoring the corbett meant we could drop off with less distance and bouldering. The data is from the bothy all the way back to the layby (barring c800m when my son accidentally knocked off the GPS). Having read multiple reports, I liked Steven Fallon's advice, he may be mad on some of his routes (esp distance where only Alteknacker come close) but he does know the hills.

Stage 1 - into the bothy, parked a bike at the fork in the paths (3.25km from layby) so that one of us could load up a heavy bag and freewheel out - thus leaving the others with less weight for the last few km. The track us pretty gnarly for my level of mountain biking but ok to push the bike in. The last km or so to the bothy is pretty rough, particularly if you've walked Conival and Ben More Assynt earlier in the day - no wonder the folks walking out that we met looked puggled.
As ever in a bothy, not an easy sleep, folks rustling around but we woke at 7am which was later than planned, out at 7.40am having packed up and munched some breakfast (tesco meal deals from Ullapool). More on Ullapool later ...

leaving the bothy

Stage 2 - off to Ruadh Stac Mor (RSM). Left the bothy on a wee track heading towards the loch, to try to mitigate the bog factor on the flood plain. Turned left when we reached higher ground before the loch and headed to the river. Followed previous wh folks and used bin liners althought the heavy dew had already made us a little damp. Picked up the path on the other side easily and followed it to the farm, still a bit boggy in places, all the way up to where you turn right into the Gleann na Muice Beag. That path is great and we made good time up onto the higher ground. Then we picked a really good line up onto the next level where the two lochans sit. The main path heads on over and back around the NW ridge of RSM, long way .......
Eventually you pick your own line up and, before you know it, you're pretty much at the top ! 10.75km and 3.5hrs roughly so pretty decent effort over a long haul in. Had filled up once already on the way up, sun was beating down although only about 20 degrees or so rather than 30 degrees. Nice to be able to see A' Mhaighdean nearby. The path off RSM is pretty tortuous and you can see why when you get over the A'M, it's steep and rocky ! Slow progress so for those aiming for 12 hrs, bear in mind that the only quick bit is when heading over to Ben Tarsuinn. Bagging A'M quickly is a nice mental boost given you can now see how far down and across to Ben T - 4km or so and down to 525m.

#1 of the day

Stage 3 - off A'M and across the plateau is pretty straightforward, we topped up again on the way down off A'M where there a few wee streams (note, nothing after that until you get down unless you fancy the lochan before the corbett after #5). Hitting up Ben T is good fun and some really nice pinnacles which are quite airy in places. 6.5hrs to here and 17km. An even bigger boost was seeing the bypass path across to #4, from a distance it looks like extra up and down - which you don't need on a day like this. MCMF is a bit of a slog up and plenty of boulders to keep you unamused. Same on the way off it. On the upside it's only an hour or so across from Ben T and 2km.

wee pinnacle opportunity

Now looking towards #5 and thinking of where to drop off the bealach with the lochan, leaving the Corbett behind. 1.4km to Sgurr Ban and less than an hour. Joy given how long it took to bag the first one. Almost 8.5hrs in now and 20.7km of walking so we all has a guess at how long to get out to the car ......
First estimation glitch is that the way off Sgurr Ban is an effing long boulder field so no quick progress here. Secondly we didn't really pick up on the zig and zag in the landrover track off but the original guess of 34km for the day wasn't far off.

Stage 4 - down to the bealach at 650m, finally getting out of the boulders, lochan on our left. Picking a route down to the river on the south wasn't too tricky, common sense then use the slabs wherever possible. Finally got some heather and crass to bounce down on, although feet were very unhappy by now with all the boulders during the day. The river is easy to cross and, even better, fresh cold water to slake our thirst, we had all emptied another 2L each before setting off down the hill. We met one guy headind clockwise on the bypass path between MCMF and Ben T and he was parched.
So, along the track and there's a boggy section just before you start heading up the hill. The track up hill is a slog and a half, seemed to take forever and the zig zag added about a km to our estimate. Loaded up the big bag and I cycled out, hard work that was as it's not a very friendly track and not cared for. Left GPS with son to get accurate reading and he missed 800m hence the difference between the route map and 35km.

Sadly I may not come back to Fisherfield, there are hills I want to come back to after compleating (5 to go after this outing) but the boulders really make it a pain in the preverbial. Lots of much more enjoyable big days to be had. Nonetheless, lot of great fun in the wilderness and another great feeling of achievement, views to die for all day. If the Corbett gets promoted I'll do a day trip, it's an easy bag on its own.

Ullapool - sorry folks but what a dump and unfriendly town. Most hotels are crap and overpriced (forget RPI, this was true last year and before). Chippies shut at 9pm, Chinese shut on a Tuesday, Indian is takeway only at 9.30pm (we drove up and got into town 9.30pm). Caledonian hotel wanted £15 for brekkie, did not even bother, room for three was £175 and complete rip-off. Stayed in the Arch earlier this year and it was a bit better for accom/cost but full of drunk (and I don't mean tipsy) locals (apparently know to be "rowdy"). Ceilidh Place turned us away on a previous trip due to lack of staff but resto was empty and we offered just to have a bowl of soup or whatever was easiest for the staff. The seafood shack is great but also pricy for what it is now. You just get the impression that visitors are a chore for the people and that they put no effort or tlc into their hotels/service. One town that I will not ever need to go back to or through now I hope unless taking the ferry to Stornoway.