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Munros: Carn Dearg, Sgor Gaibhre.
Corbetts: Beinn Pharlagain.
Date: 20/06/2024.
Distance: 25km.
Ascent: 1250m.
Time taken: 9 hours 5 minutes.
Weather: Overcast to start with some sunshine later on.
This route was Jackie's suggestion and ended up forming the centrepiece of 3 days in the Loch Rannoch area (which also gave me my last Graham). Having stayed nearby we were up and ready to go shortly after 8am, the cloud sitting much lower than it had the previous evening. Still, the midges were kept at bay by a bit of a breeze.
The Road to the Isles in this area has had a bit of an upgrade in the last 10 years or so but now that cables are buried and hydro schemes built, it looks a lot less industrial. We strolled in on the good track, spotting the first train of the day. After crossing a new bridge and passing a new hydro generator (largely buried in the hillside), we followed a new track up onto the lower reaches of Sron Leachd a' Chaorainn before leaving it for a faint trodden path up to the end of the ridge.
Loch Laidon and Stob Gabhar 
Zoom to the first train of the day 
Allt Eigheach 
Sron Smeur and Lochan Sron Smeur 
Looking back to Sron Smeur This path became indistinct near the crest of the ridge but was no longer required by that point. The steeper ascent was followed by a long, gradually rising ridge (with a few lumps and bumps) to Carn Dearg with an outlook across Blackwater and Corrour to the gradually rising clag of the Mamores and Grey Corries. There was a path for the majority of it too.
Blackwater Reservoir and Leum Uilleam 
On the S ridge of Carn Dearg 
Jackie heading for Carn Dearg On Carn Dearg we just about scraped the cloud level but there were still plentiful views in most directions, including some sunshine through Strath Ossian. We bumped into a guy on the summit who had driven up from Perth this morning and got the train to Corrour. He said he had spotted us packing our bags at the start of the walk as he'd driven past!
Loch Ossian and Strath Ossian from Carn Dearg 
Sgor Choinnich and Sgor Gaibhre from Carn Dearg There's quite a big drop between this pair of hills but the going is largely easy, and the 3 of us were walking parts of it together. After being unable to make up her mind, Jackie had decided to leave out the detour to Sgor Choinnich as we already had quite a distance to cover today. Our earlyish start meant we were eating lunch on the summit of Sgor Gaibhre though looking out across a southern part of Loch Ericht. Schiehallion was dominating in the east and the sun was coming out in quite a few places now. The interest of these hills is less in the land itself (although there are some nice bouldery crags dropping down into Lochan a' Bhealaich) and more in the different corners of the southern highlands that you can see into. It feels like it is right on the transition from the craggy west coast hills to the more rounded Perthshire glens.
Looking back to Carn Dearg 
Lochan a Bhealaich from Sgor Gaibhre 
Loch Ericht and Schiehallion 
Carn Dearg Jackie was up for doing the full horseshoe including Beinn Pharlagain which we were now looking at to the south. It really doesn't appear to have much character from any direction but close up is a different story. We descended easy grass to the col between Sgor Gaibhre and Beinn Pharlagain, shortly before which the ground becomes more bouldery. This is a sign of things to come on Pharlagain itself which is covered in granite boulders and slabs. It is like a much easier underfoot cousin of Craignaw and the Galloway hills around Loch Enoch. The path was more intermittent on the climb up but the ground became increasingly more interesting until we stood by a lochan below the summit crags. This was a lovely spot that I had only got a vague sense of on a previous (murky) visit, and it deserved a swim from the miniature sandy beach at the east end of the lochan. In retrospect the slightly larger Lochan Meoigeach might have been a better bet for having more depth, but the one we picked won on location.
Beinn Pharlagain 
Glen Lyon hills 
Schiehallion across the end of Loch Ericht 
Stob an Aonaich Mhoir from Beinn Pharlagain 
Back to Sgor Gaibhre 
Geal Charn and Ben Alder 
Un-named lochan high on Beinn Pharlagain 
Jackie having a swim The summit was a rocky 40m or so above and offered a great view across Loch Laidon and Loch Ba to Stob Gabhar, while Buachaille Etive Mor lurked away to the right.
Lochan Meoigeach from the summit 
West to Stob na Cruaiche 
Blackwater Reservoir and Glencoe 
Buachaille Etive Mor 
Loch Laidon and Rannoch Moor Now just the minor matter of getting home. Our way south sprawls on for quite a long way before dropping much height and I decided to contour some of the bumps. Probably not worth it - Jackie's ankles certainly didn't think so! Eventually at Leacann nan Giomach we were above the final drop to the glen. A steep and heathery descent before we managed to pick up the line of a quad track which led us squelchily back to the new bridge over the Allt Eigheach.
Rannoch Station 
Loch Ba 
S ridge of Carn Dearg 
Sron Smeur from Beinn Pharlagain 
Bridge of Orchy hills Now all that was required was a march back along the Road to the Isles to reverse our initial walk of the morning. The sun appeared again here and made the last bit pretty hot.
Road away from the IslesBack at the van it wasn't overly late - shortly after 5pm. After a leisurely cup of tea and a change into some less sweaty clothes we headed home, stopping for some photos and for a nose around a couple of times on the way. Bad move as we hit a tailback where there had been a crash on the A9 at Ralia. After a quick U-turn and a bit of dodging around back roads we decided to get a curry in Newtonmore before arriving home way later than expected. Still, a great few days spent somewhere I haven't been for a while.
