A wee circuit of Beinn Dearg Bheag, Mhor and An Teallach

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First post on here so forgive any formatting issues (what's wrong with good old HTML?!)!

I've spent a lot of time in the Fisherfield area over the years between lower level walking, climbing, and riding, but there are still quite a few hills to tick off. I've been along the An Teallach ridge numerous times from north to south, and a few years ago I did the Fisherfield 6 on a stunning day in one push from car to car, plus a few of the other little peaks that munro baggers eschew, like Ruadh Stac Beag. However, despite the satisfaction of such an amazing day it felt like a bit of a cop out to not also do Beinn Dearg Beag and Beinn Dearg Mor with how close you are (the same could be said for several other summits in there!). However, with light fading and a desire to get a view from the top of my hills I sacked it off and carried on past Larachantivore on my way back to the car.

So to tick off these two remote Corbett's I had a slightly different plan in mind than a simple out and back. I mean why put all the effort in to getting there and then just walk back out along the side of Loch na Sealga? Part of this is that the the family croft has a wonderful view that spans from Foinavan in the north all the way down to the Beinn Alligin in the south. And like Munro baggers love to tick a list, I've got the goal in mind of completing the visible skyline from the croft, completing the outline that presents itself wherever possible. Most of the north has been done, apart from Canisp and one single, insignificant flat topped peak on Quinaig that I frustratingly missed many years ago. Thanks to many days summer and winter climbing the southern peaks of Torridon have all been ticked (although I'd like to do a link up of Beinn Eighe and Liathach), but the Fisherfields have a few missing.

So last winter while idly looking at the 1/50 OS of Fisherfield and wondering how best to complete these in the most interesting ways possible my head saw a link up that promised to be a pretty amazing day out; start at the mouth of the Gruinard River and walk up the Land Rover track, past the wonderful Gneiss crag of Carn Goraig and round the mouth of the loch to the imposing north ridge of Beinn Dearg Bheag before scrambling over to the col above Loch Toll an Lochain and on to Beinn Dearg Mhor. From there the idea was to drop down to Larachantivore and across to Shenavall and up Sail Liath, onto the An Teallach ridge, over to Sgurr Creag an Eich and down the ridge of Sgurr Ruadh which I've fancied doing for quite a while givem it's dominance on the skyline from the house. From there it was but a mere trot back along the side of Loch Gaineamhaich and back to the car. Oh how that last bit seemed so quick in my head.

Looking back down the Gruinard River

I was a bit late leaving the car after spending too much time playing with the dog, but by 10.30 I was finally away for the long but picturesque trudge up the side of the Gruinard River.

Looking up the Gruinard River

More Gruinard River views

Passing some climbers on Wailing Wall (E1), which has to be one of the nicest crags in the country.

Wailing Wall climbers

It was lovely along the side of Loch na Sealga

It was warm but the wind was certainly blowing. On the upside it kept the midges down. The view to BDB was imposing but not intimidating and turned out to be a delightfully easy heather scramble up lines of weakness to the summit ridge.

View to Beinn Dearg Beag

The ridge is actually a surprisingly (it shouldn’t be if you pay attention to the map!) lengthy affair but one of the most enjoyable mountains I've been up. It's a great fun romp across rock and heather with some large chasms and gullies running up to it from each side. And some great views across to Loch Ghiubhsachain and the waterfall pouring out of Lochan na Bearta. If anything I'd say that it's nicer than the ridge of An Teallach. Just over 3hrs to the start of the ridge and then another twenty minutes along to the summit.

View back out over Gruinard Bay

View of what was to come

Dropping down from the summit I startled this young Mountain Hare. And by startled, I almost stood on it!

Spot the hiding hare

Some great views across to An Teallach. Not too long hopefully…

Atrial ridge is the dominant ridge of Beinn Dearg Mhor from Gruinard but rather than descend it here I decided to carry on round and do the other peaks before dropping down through the south east coire to get down to Larachantivore. I'll probably head up the ridge as a winter wander for something different. I might even cheat and borrow the key to the gate so I can drive up to the end of the loch! There were some very dramatic chasms on the descent from the summit down through the Coire. Once out the coire I basically just drew a straight line to Larachantivore and pretty much arrived at the back door. The light looked stunning with the ridge behind.

Larachantivore looking picturesque with the dramatic slopes of An Teallach behind

Shenaval was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday afternoon. Bumped into a guy finishing off the Fisherfield 6 who looked pretty done in. No wonder as when I asked he'd driven up from Northumberland the night before, slept in the car and then started at 3am!

The wander up Sail Liath seemed harder than it usually is on the way down. Can't think why? I thought most people did the ridge South to North but given the number of people I saw coming down off Sail Liath I'm thinking not! I did get a few looks that suggested I probably shouldn't be heading up there at 5.30pm. But it’s not the latest I've been up there and even with 25km in my legs already I knew the pace would be fine. The view from the top in the evening light was stunning.

Northern Skye just visible in the distance

Stunning light

Lots of evidence on the hill of the prior Saturday's intense thunder storm that sat over the mountain and Little Loch Broom for several hours with erosion lines down the paths, gravel washed out everywhere, and this. Yes, those landslides were all fresh and the loch had a glacial runoff look to it with all the sediment still sitting in solution after seven days.

Storm damage

The wind was getting stronger but the skies were looking stunning in the early evening sun. In the interest of time I skirted the direct line over the pinnacles for the first time ever, and pretty much regretted it. Where the pinnacles are solid and sure footed, the bypass path is grotty and loose and also showed evidence of damage from the storm. Lesson learned; stick to the pinnacles!

The view back to a very well names Sail Liath!

Sail Liath

The view from Sgurr Fiona over to Sgurr an Eich was brilliant and I was looking forward to what was to come. In person the ridge was a brilliant spine of sandstone you could leap along despite the wind, and which gave some great views back across to earlier in the day. Some stray sheep too.

Sgurr an Eich

The descent down Sgurr Ruadh looks much rougher and steeper from a distance than it is in the flesh. In reality it's a delightful scramble down a remote piece of hillside in a beautiful place. Hard to beat really.

Down towards Sgurr Ruadh

Looking back up Sgurr Ruadh with the light still in the golden hour

Looking up Sgurr Ruadh

And back to Loch Gaineamhaich. I've ridden along this before and I'd forgotten just how rocky and wet it was. On the upside it's a lovely spot. That and it allowed me to fill back up with water. By the time I reached the northern end of the loch the sun was properly dropping and gave a fantastic light display over the mountains behind. Sail Mor in particular looked stunning. It's interesting that Sail is normally taken as 'heel', and this would be the big heel, with Sail Liath being the grey heel. However, looking at an 1860 Gaelic dictionary 'lump' and 'fat' are also given as translations of Sail, and for Sail Mor 'big lump' would certainly seem closer than 'big heel'.

Loch Gaineamhaich

Near here I startled a young badger that was snuffling towards me on the path. Beautiful creatures.

Gruinard River post sun set

And back to the Gruinard River. 43.5km and 12hrs car to car with just over 9hrs moving time. An absolutely brilliant day out. I had intended to go up and over Sail Mor as well but with the late start and fading light, not to mention not enough big hill days this year, I decided to be happy with what I'd achieved and get back to the car by the shortest route. It still felt bloody long. The thing with descents on bikes is that they're quick. And this was a fun one. It was less fun and more trudge on foot! The can of Fanta and bar of Ritter chocolate I had back in the car were a very welcome interlude to dinner fifteen minutes away.