Walkhighlands

Day 1: 23K 1934m
Day 2: 11.3K 711m

THE FANNICHS

We had to have three goes at the Fannichs due to circumstances beyond our control – the weather. Plan A was to do 7 in one expedition and then pick up the western two, Sgurr Breac and A’Chailleach on another day. We left the car near Grudie power station on the A832, walked in and camped about 2K short of Fannich Lodge. It was so hot I had to roll up my trouser legs, a sight hitherto unseen as early as April! We sat out eating dinner until gone 8pm, admired the sunset and turned in hoping for similar weather the next day. Alas, the cloud was down, the wind was up and the sun was long gone. However, the forecast did say it was going to clear ……..

So off we went due north and disappeared into the murk, on our way to An Coileachan. There are no photos for this walk since one cloud looks fairly similar to another from the inside. We descended to Bealach Ban and then up again to the second Munro on the ridge Meall Gorm. Navigation was fairly straightforward since we were heading approximately northwest all morning. We made use of a well constructed stone shelter just below the summit to put on more clothes (I rather regretted not having brought my winter mittens along) and so we didn’t hang about the top longer than to take a bearing and head on to Sgurr Mor. Our original plan involved taking a detour to Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich and back but as we battled against the wind and poor visibility we found ourselves at the large cairn of Sgurr Mor before we knew it, having missed the turn off. I suppose going back was a possibility but conditions were so awful we didn’t really consider it very seriously. A steep, rough descent took us down to another bealach from which we climbed to the top of Carn na Criche. Here we encountered a huge party of people coming the other way. Moving swiftly on, we descended across a boggy area and then climbed up to the summit of Meall a’Chreasgaidh. The cloud had started to clear at this point so we could at last get some idea of where we had been and where we were going. We touched the cairn, turned immediately and whizzed back through the bog to reach the small lochan below Am Biachdaich. The ascent of Sgurr nan Clach Geala was by far the most enjoyable part of the day: a narrow, rocky ridge that skirted round a huge corrie that still held patches of snow. The sun had reappeared and the ridge leading over Sgurr nan Each was very pleasant. We could see the western Fannichs by this time and these promised to be a good day out. The long ridge finally led back to the shores of Loch Fannich about 2.5K from the lodge. We did wonder if we should have started out later since the weather had cleared up but shortly after we got back to the tent it started to rain really hard. So we had made the right decision.

The next morning we packed up and walked out, having decided to drive along to Achnasheen, get a coffee and then do Fionn Bheinn (Plan B). It was raining as we drove along – but they had said that it would clear up later …..
The café at Achnasheen was firmly closed. Easter Sunday, two coaches full of tourists in the car park and it’s closed!
“There’s a funny smell in the car” said Katie. “Like what?” I queried. “Damp, unwashed things” she replied. “That’ll be us then” I said.

So we quickly formulated Plan C: drive back to Garve, get a coffee at the hotel (will it be open?) and then do Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich. Two coffees and four pieces of shortbread for 4 quid is what I call a result! And you know those pockets in your jacket that look as though they are the right shape for a mobile phone – well they are actually for smuggling shortbread out of hotels!

So on to the dam at Loch Droma, by this time in bright sunshine. We crossed the dam and walked up the Allt a’Madhaidh for about 2.5 K before turning off up the hillside to a point just below the crags above Loch Sgaireach. We contoured round under the crags until we came to the burn than runs down into the lochan and climbed up beside this to reach a broad bealach. A short walk over boulders led to the summit of Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich. The cloud was down again and we struggled to catch glimpses of Sgurr Mor and our route of the previous day. After a quick lunch (yummy shortbread!) we retraced our steps to the bealach and continued north and then north east to reach a cairn above the crags. A narrow path then returned us to bottom of the crags and we rejoined our outward route.

Then on to the western Fannichs! See the next report. This will have photos.

Good walk Bootsand paddles. Shame about the low cloud though.

Shame about the weather, but good report! How long did day one take you? We are planning to do this route in August in the same way, and then drive round and do the two western Fannaichs on the second day from the north!

I can't remember how long the first day took as it was a while ago but I would guess something around 8 hours.