Glen Kingie Munros - Bike, Camp and Hike

[go spazieren]

The cycle in and out from Tomdoun, 18.1 km, 2.5 hrs and 415m ascent in, 2.0 hrs and 240m ascent out

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The walk from Base Camp, 18 km, 6.9 hrs, 1652m ascent

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Sgurr Mor by Loch Cuaich is not the easiest Munro to access. I didn’t fancy yet another painful drive down the side of Loch Arkaig followed by a boggy schlep from Glen Dessary to Glen Kingie and I do not possess a kayak which would allow a direct ascent from the north. After some online research I found a route on Steve Fallon’s website involving a cycle up Glen Kingie then a walk taking in Gairich, Sgurr an Fhuarain and Sgurr Mor which seemed ideal, as Gairich was also on my list of yet to climb Munros, and the bike would ease the long approach.
I am fortunate in that being retired I can fit in walks at short notice, so I decided to take advantage of a rare couple of days of nice weather at the start of the week. It’s a relatively long drive across, so as I had to be back on Wednesday, rather than stay in a campsite, I decided to wild camp for one night at the end of the bike approach so I could complete the walk, cycle out and get home in good time on Tuesday. This would be a first “bike pack” adventure for me.
I set off from home on Monday afternoon, had a leisurely drive across, charged the car at Fort Augustus while watching a yacht go through the locks and got up to Poulary on the Loch Cuaich road at the start of the route by about 6pm. There is very limited parking available – I avoid parking at entrances to folks’ houses, passing places are of course a no-no and the couple of larger lay-bys nearby had been blocked off by rocks. Eventually I got parked just off the road about 200m west of Tomdoun church. Another car was already parked there, but there was plenty of space without causing any obstruction to residents or other road users. This added 2km of road cycling each way to my route.

Parking space near Tomdoun

Unavailable parking space nearer track end!

I got the bike assembled and loaded up and set off along the road by about 6:20pm. There is a right of way sign to Strathan at the start of the track which goes through an unlocked gate and down a track to a bridge over the River Garry, ignoring a couple of driveways into private homes.

Only 17 miles to Strathan!

There is another unlocked gate on the bridge. Interestingly, there is a sign from Tomdoun Estate saying no unauthorised vehicles beyond this point, and a nice wide area with a picnic table which suggests you could probably park down there. Maybe intended more for fishermen though.

By the River Garry bridge

Anyhow, after the bridge, the track winds through some recently replanted forestry for 3 or 4km or so, gradually rising. The surface was nice for cycling on and the gradient modest enough that at no point did I need to get off and push. The sun was out and there was a mild breeze, all very encouraging. The deforested area is quite pleasant, nice and open, and the replanted trees seem to be a mix of conifers and not just lines of Sitka spruce as was typical in days gone by. The track levels out for a while before descending through more mature forest to a bridge over the River Kingie. There are good views up to the Cuaich dam and across to the settlement of Kingie.

Cuaich Dam and Kingie

Unfortunately this section of track has recently been resurfaced with fist-sized crushed rocks – good for timber trucks no doubt but rattle your fillings loose when on a hard-tail bike. Once over the River Kingie, the track reverted to a smoother surface, less well-used but still OK to cycle on.

River Kingie

I continued pedalling up a modest incline for another 2-3 km until I reached a junction where I turned left, off the nice forestry track onto a much rougher land-rover track heading down towards the ruin of Lochan.

Unfortunately it's the left fork.........;

Lochan

From this point on the cycling was not easy. I am not a fan of tracks through deep-dark Sitka forest at the best of times, and this was a nasty track, rutted, full of puddles and dips where burns were forded. I pedalled where I could, fell off occasionally and often it was easier to get off and push.

Through the woods.....

And out on to the moorland

After a couple of km I was relieved to reach the end of the forest, passing through a gate into a re-wilding area. The track was a little better here until another gate was reached marking the end of the re-wilding zone. Then just more of the same across open moorland, the track overgrown with grass in places and climbing increasingly steeply up to the point where there is a fork to the left with a wooden bridge over the Allt a’ Choire Ghlais at about 320m elevation.
So that was the cycle approach – 2 1/2hrs to cover 18km and I was feeling pretty tired by this point. It was no doubt made more difficult with my bike loaded up with the camping paraphernalia, and with a better fully suspended mountain bike I think the pedalling would be easier. I met a couple of people the following day using e-bikes which would make short work of the route. Still, I couldn’t have done that approach in 2 ½ hours.on foot.
I found a decent camping spot 150m upstream from the bridge, right beside the burn. A bit pebbly, but short grass so I hoped it would not be too tick infested. I pitched the tent, made a cup of tea and had supper – 2 rolls, a tin of sardines and 2 bananas. Very nice weather, mild with some cloud cover and a breeze to keep the midges at bay. So time for bed, I certainly felt like I deserved a rest.

Base Camp in the evening below Sgurr an Fhuarain

I slept OK and awoke at 5:45am to an excellent day, with clear sky and no wind. My tent was still in the shade and a bit chilly, but the sun was already hitting the upper slopes of Sgurr an Fhuarain.

Base Camp in the morning

I was intending to eat breakfast before setting off, but was subjected to a midge attack despite the chill in the air, so got covered up best I could, doused myself with Smidge and managed to drink a cup of tea whilst boiling some eggs to eat later. I set off walking at 6:40am.
From my campsite, I rejoined the track heading northwest for about 400m then took a right turn onto an old stalker’s path heading up the western side of Gairich.

Path up west side of Gairich

This turned out to be a really excellent path – not well trodden but extremely well-constructed, zig-zagging gradually up the steeper slopes at an incline which allowed me to maintain a good steady pace. Underfoot it was short grass, with just the odd area of surface bogginess. I saw a few footprints, but it didn’t look like many people come this way. The path petered out as it approached the top of Gairich Beag and the slope eased. After walking over Gairich Beag at 730m, it was just a short stroll over flat grass, moss and rock before climbing over similar terrain up the steeper south western ridge of Gairich around the rim of the northern corrie.

Northern cliffs of Gairich into Coire Liath

I reached the summit twin cairns at 8am and settled down to breakfast of boiled eggs and a tin of mackerel (us oldies need our protein) while taking in the views. Very pleasant indeed.

View east from Gairich to the Cuaich Dam

Ben Nevis in the distance

Sgurr a' Mhaoraich over Loch Cuaich

After changing into shorts as the midge threat had disappeared and it was getting quite warm, I headed back down, picking up the stalker’s path again to make an easy descent to the bealach which I think is referred to as A’Mhaingir. This inevitably loses a lot of height, but the ascent of Gairich from my campsite was for sure one of the easiest Munro walks I’ve done, so I had plenty left in the tank for the rest of the day.
The Steve Fallon route suggested crossing A’Mhaingir and picking up another old stalker’s path heading south on the western side before making your way onto the east ridge of Sgurr an Fhuarain. As I was going to descend the east ridge, I decided instead to get up onto the north ridge of Sgurr a Fhuarain. Once down at the track I turned right and continued north for a 100m or so before turning west and crossing the flat and boggy ground of A’Mhaingir making a beeline for the Bac an Leth-choin, the bealach at about 600m on the north ridge of Sgurr an Fhuarain. It was a bit boggy on the flat, but nothing too serious and as usual the terrain dried out as I climbed up the far side. I crossed the path previously mentioned which is faint, but properly constructed and continued up beside a burn coming down from the Bac an Leth-choin. This was pathless terrain, but relatively easy going over moderately steep grass and not much bogginess.

Route up to the Bac an Leth-choin

There is yet another stalker’s path running up the north ridge. This path is not very well defined around the flat ground of the bealach, so I missed it initially, but as the ground steepens up the ridge, the route becomes clear. Another well-constructed path which provided good going underfoot and zig-zags up the steeper slopes. There was the odd footprint, but another seldom used route it seemed like.
Before too long I was up at the fairly flat summit of Sgurr an Fhuarain with its cairn and trig point.

On Sgurr an Fhuarain looking back to Gairich

Next, the easy traverse across to Sgurr Mor, just over 2km to the west. There is a slightly more eroded path here as it is back on the more conventional walking route. The terrain is grass with some rocks, steeper for the initial drop from Sgurr an Fhuarain and for the final climb up to Sgurr Mor, but simple walking.

Sgurr Mor and Sgurr na Ciche just behind

From afar, Sgurr Mor appears to have twin peaks with the westernmost being the Munro summit, but once up it is more like a short ridge with a minor drop between the tops. There are excellent views west to the hills of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart and beyond.

On Sgurr Mor, looking west to the Rough Bounds of Knoydart

The continuation of this ridge does of course lead into the much more difficult terrain of the hills above Glen Dessary. The full Gairich to Sgurr na Ciche traverse would be an epic trip (and walk out).
I had considered continuing over Sgurr Beag and taking the path down into the head of Glen Kingie, but this would add an hour or two and with a view to getting home at a reasonable time, I elected to just retrace my steps and head back to my tent and bike via the east ridge of Sgurr an Fhuarain.

Looking east from Sgurr Mor towards Sgurr an Fhuarain and Gairich

Lowest point of the ridge is 720m so it wasn’t too much of a climb back up. I met 3 people between Sgurr Mor and Sgurr an Fhuarain, 2 had come from the Loch Arkaig side and one from Glen Kingie using the same approach as me.
The east ridge of Sgurr an Fhuarain is initially quite broad and so far as I could see there wasn’t any path. To my right (south) the ground looked increasing boggy with peat hags and to my left (north) were cliffs overlooking Coire Ghlas. I picked the seemingly drier ground on the edge of the coire but this route was interrupted by several gullies that I had to go around, so probably a straight line 50m or so back from the coire edge would have been better. This descent provided the roughest walking of the day, a bit boggy here and there, but still nothing too bad. As height was lost, the ridge narrowed so it was just a case of staying on the crest. I could see my tent, so once near the end of the ridge and beyond any crags on the north side I headed off to the northeast and made a beeline for it.
It was 1:35pm by this time so I had lunch (Scotch eggs, more protein!), packed up the tent, loaded the bike and set off on the long cycle back at about 2pm. The return ride was a bit easier as you would expect. I took it easy on the initial downhill section to avoid a nasty crash, then managed to mostly pedal through the flatter moor, re-wilding zone and forest as far as the ruin at Lochan. I took a few low-speed spills and I had to get off and push here and there especially over some of the rougher burn fords but it was just about OK. The final section of the roughest track from Lochan up to the forestry track proper involved 100% walking and pushing but once past this section it was a nice downhill run to the bridge over the River Kingie where I took a break to freshen up in the river and refill the water bottle. After that, as I had expected, there was no way I could cycle up the newly laid rocky track which climbed east away from the river, but after that final bike-pushing ordeal it was a good fast downhill run to the River Garry bridge, a short walk up to the road and the final cycle back to the car. I was back at the car by 4pm (about 2 hrs for the return cycle) and made it home by 8:30pm after a charge stop in Inverness, mission accomplished.
Overall, I enjoyed the walk a lot more than the cycle. The walk was pleasant and never felt particularly arduous, I think mainly due to following the stalker’s paths for much of the way. The cycle was hard work, however. It certainly succeeded in allowing me to make the approach in both directions a lot faster than would have been possible on foot, so in that respect it was a success. Perhaps without camping gear and a better bike it would have been easier.
Finally, the camping was pretty good, it was a nice spot, felt properly remote and worked well for my timing constraints. I did acquire plenty of midge bites, but at least (at time of writing) no attached ticks noted.