free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
The weather forecast was good, with no low cloud and very little wind, so what else is there to do but head for the hills!
We set off, Meg (the fast) and I, from the car park at 09:00 with crystal clear skies – it was going to be a good day.
A track leads away from a gate at the end of the car park towards the railway line, then under it and through a gate on the other side. WH says that this is where the bog trot begins, but in fact, it began about 10 meters from the car park!
After the railway line, the track is easy-going but very boggy; it heads southeast through another gate in a fence and continues alongside a river before climbing steeply towards the summit of Moruisg.
- The boggy track heading towards Moruisg.
- Looking north-west from the approach to Moruisg, before the steep section – a beautiful bright day. 😊
The steep section (about 200m in height over a distance of roughly 350m) is rocky but a path guides the way, so not difficult.
- Higher up looking north, at the top of the steep section.
Once past the rocks, there are about another 200m to climb to reach the summit of Moruisg.
- Looking up towards the summit of Moruisg.
Near the top of this section, we were overtaken by another walker – I was aware of his approach for some time and was pleased that I got quite a way before he caught up – perhaps I’m getting faster…
Meg didn’t notice him until he was quite close and given her interest in following every other walker on the hills, I resorted to getting the ball out for her to play with – for her there is nothing more compelling than a ball (even more than food most of the time), she simply can’t resist! We continued the ball games for about 30 minutes until the walker was well out of sight and made our way across the flat summit plateau.
- Meg, keeping an eye on her ball!
There was a light dusting of snow from about 800m, which was a little slushy and slippery in places, but no worse than the bog lower down. The weather remained clear with 360° views that stretched for miles.
- Looking south from the summit plateau of Moruisg.
The route then leads down to a small bealach before heading up to Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean.
- Looking south just before heading down to the bealach.
We stopped for lunch on the rocky section just above the bealach, where there was a nice flat rock in the sun; an excellent spot for a sandwich and hot coffee 😋. The car park was in view from our lunch spot, as it had been for almost all of the route so far.
- Looking down (north), with the road and car park in the distance.
- Looking towards Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean from the bealach.
- Looking back towards Moruisg from the start of the path up to Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean.
- The final part of the route up to the summit of Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean.
We then headed up to Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean and arrived at the summit around 13:30 but didn’t stop for long before beginning our descent. The slushy layer of snow on the path made it a little slippery, but not too bad.
- Another look back at Moruisg from Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean.
- A last look south before the descent from Moruisg.
At around 700m, Meg stopped by a large rock and didn’t seem to want to go any further – I’m convinced that she had chosen it for a snack stop, in the hope that she’d get some more dog treats (she is an intelligent collie after all!), but I wanted to get further down before considering another stop, so I ignored her and she reluctantly decided to catch up.
After a short, steep section (Creag a’ Chait) the WH route heads north-east towards the river (Alltan na Feòla); it looked easier going to carry on down the ridge but I opted to stick to the WH route and was glad I did because there was a fence that I couldn’t see from above, getting over which might have proved tricky.
- A nice little waterfall on the Alltan na Feòla.
Once down to the river it’s about 3.5 kilometres back to the car park. There is a path but it was very wet and boggy in places and on the lower slopes it turns into an ATV track, the water-filled ruts of which looked deep enough for fish!
- Almost back to the car – a beautiful sunset. 😊
We arrived back at the car around sunset (4pm) and there was a lovely pink hue in the sky.
All in all, it had been a very good day.