Seana Bhraigh from Oykel Bridge

[joreidy]

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Having read several walk reports for Seana Bhraigh, I opted to take the northern approach from Oykel Bridge. I parked up in an old quarry about 500m before the Schoolhouse Bothy as the estate had closed the gate beyond the quarry and was surprised to have the place to myself. The track up to Corriemulzie Estate was undulating but the surface was excellent so made for relatively easy cycling. Once I passed the estate buildings, the mountain came into view with Creag an Duine looking like a Toblerone advert!

First peak (excuse the pun!)

Once through the gate, the track became rougher, but was still very much cyclable. Given the downpours we have had the past few weeks, it was little surprise to find I had to ford 10 allts (20 in total including the return leg!). The majority of them were easy to cycle through.

The Strath Munzie Dual Carriageway!

After 9km of cycling, I reached the penultimate allt which was in full spate. This was where I left my bike and had the first real obstacle of the day. One option was to try cross the faster flowing shallower section, or go further upstream and cross a slower moving deeper section. I opted for the latter, which reached knee height which wasn't too problematic apart from resigning me to squelchy boots for the rest of the day! A further kilometre up the strath, the track reached a ford across Allt a' Choire Bhuidhe. This was unfortunately in heavy spate and was up to my waist at its deepest making for a challenging wade.

Allt in full spate

Once across, the track continued until I reached a cairn and turned right in the direction of Meallan Odhar. I took another right at a second junction and continued up an ATV track. The ATV track was direct and relentless, but made for easy route finding. Once on the spurr at 626m, I turned left at a cairn and made my way in the direction of what appeared to be a col at 750m from this angle. Once I reached this height, I kept right of the lochan and followed a faint track winding its way up through the crags. The terrain got steeper and rockier but thankfully the summit was reached in no time. The views down into Luchd Choire and across to Creag an Duine were stunning!

Stunning views

I retraced my steps back down to the Strath floor and soaked up the last hours of November sunlight (it was now 2.30pm!). Strath Mulzie was very quiet and I did not see a single soul all day. Start to finish, this took 4.5hr but was a long day overall given the 7 hour round trip to get the the start point!