Our stay at Loch Calavie and Scotland's quietest munros

[BeinnStob]

The journey to the loch

Walking through the Attadale grounds

At midday July 9th, me and my friend Magnus arrived at a layby at Attadale and set off at 12:17. We were set on summitting what were considered by many (including Walkhighlands) to be the two least climbed munros, Lurg Mhòr and Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich (the Cheesecake as one biker told us). The weather forecast had promised a sunny afternoon after a wet morning, the land around us showing signs of a recent wave of showers.

Ascending up the hydro track

The munros come into sight

While the approach was a well marked hydro track, we managed to take an early right turn, a fault we noticed not long after. The rest of the approach path was easy to navigate, the main bother being lots of horse flies, and we soon reached the straight that went between Aonach Dubh and Meall Ruadh at around 14:00, where Lurg Mhòr and Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich came into view. The Bendronaig Lodge and its neighbouring bothy also came into view ten minutes later.

The lodge and bothy

Crossing a smaller, more fun bridge

Magnus and I got to the bothy at 15:05 and took a short break inside, speaking with another hiker there. We set off again twenty minutes later and made our way over to Loch Calavie along the stalkers path, reaching the loch around 16:25. There, we set up a tent - our stay for the night - by the mouth of the Allt Coire Calavie stream and dumped most of our stuff to shed weight ahead of the next part of our journey. This was my first try at wild camping, while Magnus had some experience with it.

Our tent at Loch Calavie

The munros

Ascending up the slope

We began again at 16:47, attempting to follow the faint path that followed Allt Coire Calavie upwards. A lot of the time, we found the path running into the bog, with its exit point being unclear, so staying on path was naturally quite hard. The two of us got to the junction at the top of the first slope at around 17:35 and took a short break before turning first to Lurg Mhòr.

Approaching Lurg Mhòr

The Lurg Mhòr summit

The path after this was more clear, but still included passing through bogs, and gave us a light scramble part shortly before the summit, which we reached at about 18:20. At this point, the weather was still relatively sunny with low winds. Views stretched across to the Cuillin Hills of Skye in the south west, the Torridon hills in the north west, the Strathfarrar munros in the east, and the Mullardoch circuit and Kintail in the south.

Views towards Skye

Views towards Torridon

Views towards Strathfarrar

After having a food break, we made our way towards Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich, which had a shorter ascent from the junction. Up the side of the munro, we spotted three deer that saw us two and travelled off. The two of us got to the second summit at 19:36, the weather still holding the same for us. While the views were pretty much the same, the angle of this summit gave us a good view down Loch Monar, which had been obscured from the Lurg Mhòr by other parts of the mountain.

Our next target just ahead

The Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich summit

Sgurr Choinnich and Sgurr a' Chaorachain

Returns and rests

Me and Magnus soon made our way back to the tent, the path down being as easy to lose as it was going up. Rain clouds were building up in the south, but we only got some brief, light, drizzle. We got to the tent at around 20:40 and took a break by the loch before going to sleep by 22:00. There wasn't any wind to disturb us, and the sound of Allt Coire Calavie flowing provided an ambience that kept anything else from being disturbing. The two of us then got up at 7:00 on July 10th and had breakfast before packing up again ready for a return.

Breakfast

The forecasts the day before were indicating rain after midday, which meant going back sooner than later was ideal. Thus we made our way all the way back and were lucky to have the sunny weather hold for the entire time. We reached the final road junction before the Attadale walker's carpark at 11:39, where we called it a walk. Magnus continued bagless to fetch his car and we soon left Attadale. The timing was lucky for us, as rain started falling shortly into the drive back to Glasgow, continuing relatively consistently the entire way back.