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The last day of August was glorious. I'd seen it coming and rearranged my week so I could do these hills and still be home in time to teach my music lessons in the evening.
Slept downstairs for a totally peaceful sleep, uninterrupted by snoring, and set off from Beauly at 8am.
By 9am I was parked up and setting off across the bog.... ohh yes. Despite serious lack of rain, it's still a bog out there! I was trying out new ankle gaiters, which are BRILLIANT because they keep out mud, heather, beasties, and don't get too hot. There were purple Scabious flowers everywhere. Scabious in bloom means the end of summer....
Midgies were out in force as I made my way over the river, under the railway... I could make out an ATV track which I duly followed.
This was my mistake. It was everybody's mistake on this day, but I didn't know that until later. I ended up far away from the gate in the deer fence above, so far in fact that I wasted a good 30 minutes by ending up too far to the left and then having to walk back along it until I found the gate. I must have done an extra HALF MILE of bog!! I didn't want to damage the fence though, so I walked back along until I came across the gate, and breathed a sigh of relief.
NOTE: there's really no path. Just go straight up and a little to the right, if anything! Do not follow the tracks...
Later, when I got back to the car and met the other 7 people who had also done this route, I found out that every one of them had made the same mistake, but unlike me they had all simply climbed the deer fence....
Anyway, after the gate it was simple. A bit of a slog up to the ridge but then sheer Scottish heaven. After touching the summit of the Munro I wandered along the ridge and stopped for lunch at a marvellous viewpoint before tackling the Corbett. This wasn't too far, it's a bit easier than it looks and the summit is a good one - more spectacular than Moriusg. I enjoyed the views for a while and then I looked at the descent route, and realised that although it looks like you're going to step off into thin air, it must be ok! A decent descent!
I met a family who were going down a different way, but I stuck to Walkhighlands and set off down the North ridge, which indeed has a perfectly followable path all the way to the bottom, a bit steep at times but nothing awful. I aimed for the very welcome cascade of water at the bottom.
At the burn I sat on a rock, refilled my water bottles, and stuck my feet in the water for a while. Bliss!
After that the path just squelched its merry way alongside the burn all the way down, through a new woodland and along the pretty tinkling burn, and it comes out near the original start point. Met a guy who has climbed ALL the Munros, he said the route up the burn used to be the main way up. Longer but arguably more pleasant?
Home by 6.20, just 20 minutes before my first fiddle pupil arrived.
I attach my photos below - I am not going to name all the hills and indeed can't name them all - and others have named them all in detail - but what a viewpoint!
Next morning, unusually, I felt absolutely awful. Perhaps a small bit of heatstroke? Dehydration? Who knows.... I was ok by lunchtime however and planning my imminent ten days in the Lake District!
