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Keen to continue our "training" regime for Skye, I had hoped to get to Torridon this weekend to deal with a couple of outstanding Tops, but the weather was not favourable. Mull looked to be as good as anywhere - I had 7 of my remaining 30 summits situated there which would make a major dent in what I have remaining. A few weeks ago I came up with a big circuit which would catch all the hills I needed in one big loop, although it did seem a bit heroic to try and do these Mull hills with a big pack. So I decided to take the car over and do them in three bites, as it were.
Problem about this time of year is that the ferries get booked up quickly. I couldn't get a Thursday night crossing to Craignure, although I did manage to get the last boat to Oban booked for Sunday evening. OK - Lochaline-Fishnish it is. We headed off towards Lochaline on Thursday after Allison had finished work, eating our tea while waiting in the queue for the Corran Ferry and pitching the tent near the road a few miles outside Lochaline. The road was quiet overnight and there were lots of singing birds around. And midges, sadly. I'm always perturbed by how there can go from being no midges to legions within the space of 1-2 weeks.
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We were going for the 7am ferry to Fishnish, which required an alarm to be set on the phone. We just packed the tent away, drove to the terminal and had our breakfast in the car while waiting to board. Not many vehicles crossing over at that time of day. We drove along sleepy roads heading for the start of our first route, which would take in Sgurr Dearg, Dun da Gaoithe, a couple of Simms along its back and then Beinn Talaidh. Get the biggest day over first...
This is the most efficient way to do these three hills and makes for a good day out. It saves you the tedium of trudging up the gravel track most of the way up Dun da Gaoithe and there's even a small scramble section linking Sgurr Dearg with Gaoithe. What more could you ask for? We parked at the ruined building where there's room for a couple of cars although there's often a camper van taking up space. Steep and pathless up Sgurr Dearg - tussocky at first but then pleasant walking over short grass. As we neared the top we could see some of the surrounding peaks break through the cloud, but not as impressive an inversion as on Rùm last weekend. As you descend the NE ridge there's a very brief section that needs care on the down climb, especially when, like today, the rock is wet and slippy. After that it's all plain sailing to Mam Lirien then upwards on grass and scree towards the trig column which isn't the summit of Dun da Gaoithe. We could, at times, just make out the summit, a bit further along the ridge. I hoped it was going to clear, but it didn't - three times on this hill, three times in clag.
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Briefly glimpsed summit of Dun da Gaoithe
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From the top of the Corbett (only 2 left now!) it's easy going over the two Simms of Beinn Thuncaraidh and Beinn Mheadan - they've been on my wish list for ages but this circuit makes them possible rather than a tedious out and back from the summit of Dun da Gaoithe. To reach Glen Forsa, there's a fairly gentle run down the SW shoulder of Beinn Mheadhan, then a bit of a traipse over tussocky ground to the end of the forestry plantation where one can join the track towards Beinn Talaidh. There are stepping stones to assist you across the River Forsa, then good track past the lovely bothy of Tomsleibhe - we had a look inside, absolutely spotless - and regretted we weren't staying the night.
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220 Corbetts
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View down to Glen Forsa
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From the bothy it's onto muddier track towards Beinn Talaidh. We had dropped down below 40m when crossing the Forsa River and now we had to march back up to 761m, the tallest of the Grahams. There's something of a path to help you up, though Allison maintained that the path was my imagination. From the top its more grassy ridge walking down to Maol nam Fiadh then more steeply down towards the track through the woods that leads you back to the road. An altogether grand day out, an we were quite tired by the time we got back to the car. We'd spotted a good looking spot to pitch on our way out and returned with the tent, pitching with hopes that there would be enough wind for the midges to be curtailed.
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A nice night - lots of birdsong in the morning. Allison has this app called Merlin which identifies the birds singing and she picked up 7 including Blacktop, Redpoll, wren, willow warbler and siskin. Fascinating how much more you hear when actively listening to birdsong. Anyway, we had another tough day in front of us, so we got up quite early and drove along the road a little to the parking area at Loch an Eilein. Which was mostly taken up by two mobile homes, although one had a pretty cat sitting on the dashboard. We squeezed the car in and set off down to the loch, losing about 80m height in the process.
There's a path marked that goes along the lochs but it - like most of the old paths on Mull has fallen into disrepair and looks little more than a deer path for most of the way. Very boggy too. You have to decide which gully you wish to ascend Creach-Beinn by as there are many walls of crags to avoid. We chose one that led to the north of Creag na h-Iolaire - deer tracks were useful, still a wee scramble at the top. Then a saunter across tussocks and rock towards a coire under the summit and a wander to the top, which sadly was still in mist. On the way down the summit of Ben Buie happily started to clear and we hoped we would be in for a good afternoon.
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Looking over to Ben Buie
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Glencoe Hills
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We descended to the south end of Loch Airde Glais using deer runs to avoid the many crags and slabs. Back down to under 150m height - with another long pull back up to over 700 - not much of a bealach this! It's tough work crossing between the hills - lots of tussocks and marshy ground, but things improve when you get to the rocky slabs on the shoulder. We were fairly sure that the rock was gabbro - it had the same grippyness as we've encountered on Skye and had veins of basalt at places. Anyway it makes for an enjoyable ascent, keeping to the spine of the ridge. We arrived at Cnap nan Gobhar, an impressive rocky outcrop that really should be the summit, but isn't by a matter of 3 metres. For the real top we had to traipse away south, sending a resting eagle off into the sky as we did so. It was a windy afternoon and Allison remarked that you don't tend to see eagles out in such weather - unlike ravens who love the big winds. The summit did Gove impressive views over the sea and to Ben More which had finally emerged from its misty shroud.
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Ben More at last
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From the top we'd decided to keep high and walk back to the road along the back of the mountain - well it beats the crappy path around the lochs. There were bits and pieces of crags and scree, but another enjoyable walk. Took a while though - it was after 6 when we made it back to the road. We'd seen a couple of possible spaces to pitch on the way down, but the ground was a bit boggy really and we decided to use the same spot we'd used the previous night. Parked the car at the start of the track and wandered up only to find s camper van sitting in the spot we'd liked. Too tired to go far, we selected a far from ideal spot further down the track. The wind kept the midges away while I made the tea, but it proved inconsistent thereafter and we retired inside. A lumpy and markedly slopey pitch - one of the worst we have had...
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Creach-Beinn
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Sunday was supposed to be wet and windy. We had Cruach Choireadail and Corra Bheinn to do and drove along the road a few miles to the parking area. No other cars there. Clag was down as we set off, deciding to do the hills anti-clockwise today. It's an easier ascent up the steep, craggy wall that protects An Coireadail as you can more easily pick out your route. Across the river and onto the slopes of our first hill - easy enough ascent - the summit is protected by a small ring of crags, but these are easily navigated through and bang! the cairn is right in front of you. Clag was thick heading to Cruachan Beag, but began to clear as we dropped down to Mam Choireadail where we paused for lunch.
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The next step is up over Beinn a'Mheadhoin - which means an ascent of almost 140m for no particular purpose, and a similar descent on the other side. Then you are faced with the steep slopes of Corra-Bheinn - 310m up on short grass and scree. I remembered the route well from our last visit 14 months ago and powered off ahead of Allison who was having some Achilles tendon problems. She caught up as I was sitting at the top of the steep stuff having a bag of crisps. Onward to the summit, nice to see things clear from here.
Corra-Bheinn
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Out to Cruachan Dearg
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As I was lying in the tent last night looking at the route I had noticed there was a Simm - Cruachan Beag - on the NE spur of Corra-Bheinn's sister summit, Cruachan Dearg. My final Mull Simm... we had time enough before the ferry and the day was shaping up nicely weather wise, so it seemed reasonable to add it in. There's a nice descent from Corra-Bheinn to the bealach with Cruachan Dearg then a steep scree-ish climb to the top of that hill. They were once regarded as "twin-topped" Grahams, but Corra-Bheinn was found to be 1m higher than its sib and there isn't 150m drop between them anyway. You can look down at the rear of Ben More - indeed this would be quite a good way to climb that hill and I must keep it in mind for the next time I go Munro hunting on Mull. From Cruachan Dearg we headed down the NE shoulder, following animal tracks to Cruacahn Beag, which is a fine viewpoint for the line of hills to the NW - it would have been even finer if Ben More had not been glowering away underneath cloud again. From here it was back up to the summit of Cruachan Dearg then down its NW shoulder making for the path in Sleibhte Coire which was another path in need of some TLC but did bring us out past some shielings and onto the road where we had a brisk march back to the car. I had really enjoyed today - felt fitter than I have for a good while. I think the extra ascent we have been putting in these last few weekends is starting to pay off - might be fit enough for Skye in another few weeks
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Our Simm
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