Carn Eige 4 from Altbeith

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The big Glen Affric plan fell apart at the first hurdle when the A87 was closed for most of the day on the 24th. This meant that instead of walking into the hostel at Alltbeithe over a couple of Munros from Glen Clunie we spent most of the day detouring round Inverness and approaching from the Glen Affric car park. Note that you cannot pay for multiple days at the car park machine; the best option is to note down the Ringo code and pay by their app when you have a phone signal (either on a hill top somewhere or after you have left the Glen). We walked the 14Km to the hostel with 3 days provisions, cloths etc. and arrived at 7;00pm.

Glen Affric on the way into the hostel

The route to BF and back

The forecast for Saturday was reasonable (i.e. the best day of the week) so we got up early and set off at 8;10am straight up to Bealach via Coire nan Cloiche, boggy path that tops out at 790m. We took a right (East) heading over a small outcrop and then up the steeper West slope of An Socach (921) one of the ‘least prized Munros’.

Ben leaves the hostel accompanied by a cloud of midges

Looking West to the hostel and Beinn Fhada

And East along Glen Affric

Mullach a Froch Choire dwarfing the hostel - maybe next year

Heading up the Coire nan Cloiche,

Ciste Dubh, Brothers ridge and Beinn Fhada

Last view of Glen Affric, Am Bathric in sunshire beyond Ciste Dubh

First view of Gleann a Choilich

Sgurr a Ceathreamhnan and it's Western tops

An Socach summit cairn and view

Continuing East we headed over the 906 top and down to the Bealach Coire Ghaidheil, past the cross path and took the West flank of the main ridge on a well-defined and gradually inclined path. This took us above some crags on a slightly precarious path (NH112249) and brought the large summit cairn on Mam Sodhail (1181) on a rocky dome. The path faded out but the route was obvious and we summited about 12;15. There were a few people about, more on Carn Eige, and a couple of ravens playing in the breeze. We had an early lunch and watched the ravens; one did a vertical take-off 5m in the air by a simple twitch of the wings, flipped over backwards and glided off down the hill, completely effortlessly – bloody show-off.

Bealach Coire Ghaidheil - Man Sodhail and Carn Eige begin to come out of the cloud

Gleann a Choilich from An Socach

A pleasant walk down to the bealach

Summits viewed from above the Mam Sodhail crags

Man Sodhail summit

Heading up onto the main ridge

The path skirts' the top of these crags - Sgurr a Ceathreamhnan in sun, Skye on the horizon

Coire Leachavie between An Tudair and Sgurr nan Lapaich

Looking South along the ridge from Mam Sodhail, easy walking for our return route

Summit cairn of the day

Carn Eige and the beautiful ridge towards Tom a Choinnich

Beinn Fhionnlaid in sunshire

The local ravens

We headed off the summit Northwards down a steep rocky slope, leaving the ravens to the cairn and a couple of snacks I left. Carn Eige had a similar rocky domed summit, we skirted the edge of the magnificent coire with views of the main ridge stretching out to the East (all those Munro Tops to be left for another day!). The cairn was less well built which is strange for the highest hill North of the Great Glen and with the second highest prominence in Scotland – surely there should at least be a gift shop.

The Mam Sodhail summit from the North

Down across the bealach

Carn Eige summit

Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Coire Lochan from Carn Eige

Bealach Beag, we later took the lower path to bypass the peaks

The bealach from the slope of BF

Gleann a Choilich looking South from BF

Beinn Fhionnlaidh summit

Our last peak Beinn Fhionnlaidh (1006) lay 2.5Kn North along the ridge. Down in the Bealach Beag we stashed our bags and proceeded up the long grassy ridge in the best weather of the day. We reached the summit at 14;20, had more food and had a long chat with a couple form Inverness whilst admiring the views and taking snaps. We didn’t really want to leave but had a long walk back.

You cant have enough photos of a good view

Loch Mullardoch from BF

Mullach na Dheiragain from BF

The North coire of Carn Eige

When planning this trip I had considered adding in Mullach na Dheiragian and Sgurr nan Ceathramhnan into this walk; on the day we decided not to, mainly because I had recently had Covid and was not feeling 100% and upon seeing how deep Gleann a Choilich was. In retrospect we had enough time and the route across fairly straightforward. On the way back we bypassed the two high peaks, by contouring on the West slope of the ridge and picked up water from the springs on the slope of Carn Eige. The most likely descent point to the Coire looked to be opposite Mullach Sithidh, around the 26 Northing on the OS maps. Maybe another day! We decided to head back up to the ridge around the 1108 (NH114246) point in order to avoid the crags on the West side, a straightforward ascent and then descent across easy ground to the path down to the Bealach Coire Ghaidheil. From there the Coire Ghaidheil path down to Glen Affric looked quite good so we took it thus avoiding re-ascent of An Socach. The path turned out to be non-existent at the top of the coire but improved lower down.

The West slope of Man Sodhail - we took an inclined route, past the snow, up to the 1108m top then down to the long sloping path

The
row of springs on the West slope and the cliffs we avoided on the return

The exit path down Coire Ghaidheil - start of path difficult to find

We hit the main Glen Affric path at the steel bridge at NH108208 which left a pleasant 3Km stroll back to the hostel. We got back so early we had time for a swim in the river, an early dinner and a game of cards. Another great day in the hills!