Late Night to Meanach, The Grey Corries and Back in 48 Hours

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Planning a trip out into the hills these days, what with my usual companion Ross living in London, and neither of us having access to a car. That said, it does give opportunities for some different routes - such as the one described below, joining together the walk in to Meanach Bothy from Corrour, Stob Bàn, the Grey Corries ridge, and back. It certainly looked like a trip worth doing.

The journey started for me on the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow at about 5pm on Friday, meeting Ross, who had started the day some hours earlier in London, for a schooner by Queen Street before catching the late train towards Oban/Fort William. Having successfully navigated the decoupling at Crianlarich (unlike some of our fellow travellers…), we prepared ourselves to depart at Corrour. It being early September, sun had set just before 8pm, so by the time we pulled into Corrour, the last of the light had gone - no Trainspotting reenactment photos for us this time around. Crossing the track into the bog (see more on same below), we waved the train off, and started our late night walk.

Waving off the train

The route itself is relatively easy to follow, with the train track on your east for the first part until you reach a good track that takes you down to, and along the southern shore of Loch Treigh, and then following Abhainn Rath on the north side all the way along to Meanach - passing its more accessible neighbour, Staoineag, on the way.

All well and good in theory, but in practice it can feel a little tougher going than that. The main reason for this, is bog, bog and more bog. After a short track immediately after leaving Corrour, the path takes you into some fairly wet ground, with the odd plank laid out to assist you (or in one case nearly knocking Ross out cold in almost cliched stepping-on-upturned-rake fashion). Rejoining a very good track down and along Loch Treigh for a while, makes the final stretch feel somewhat more challenging as you re-enter the bog for the second half of the walk, following Abhainn Rath to the bothy. This section is more or less consistently boggy the whole way, if anything getting worse the further you go.

The second reason for the tough going was more self-inflected. A brief lapse in attention led Ross to mistake the left turn for the Kinlochleven track for the left turn following Abhainn na Rath - almost understandable given that both are immediate left turns after a substantial bridge. Thankfully after about five minutes or so of wandering into a different bog, we collectively came to our senses, turned round, rejoined the correct track and grumbled under our breath at adding a couple of unnecessary minutes to our already late arrival.

That minor misstep out of the way, the rest of our walk to Meanach was relatively uneventful, aside from catching the occasional glimpse of the river in the light of our head torches; a brief stop for water and a wave over to Staoineag; and the phenomenal stars above us every time we could be bothered to lift our heads.

Having tramped our way for about three and a half hours, we arrived at Meanach just at 1am. Guided the last hundred metres or so by the smell of smoke, we knew we would have company for the night and did our best not to make too much noise lest we be mistaken for the ghosts that are said to reside in the bothy. Despite our best efforts, we did briefly awaken a German couple who were staying i one of the rooms, and kindly let us sleep on the floor. Roll mats and sleeping bags laid out, we settled down for a couple of hours sleep before the main event the following day.

Waking up on Saturday morning, we first made our apologies to the couple we had awakened the night before. Apologies accepted, we stepped outside to see the truly stunning view that surrounds the bothy. This was made all the more magnificent for us having walked in at night, and not had any real inkling of what surrounded us. All gripes about the bog aside (and it is hard to put them aside), staying here is worth it for the view in all directions - especially on a clear morning like we had.

The morning after the night before

Following a quick breakfast, we set off about 9am for Stob Bàn, taking the good path up Alt na Lairige, and staying east of Meall Mòr for most of the way around the east flank, until we eventually branched off and headed more or less directly up the slope. At this point, Ross managed to regain most of the credit he had lost the previous night taking us in the wrong direction, powering up the hill and leaving me panting behind. After a while we joined the main path from the Lairigh Leacach bothy, almost immediately bumping into some acquaintances from Edinburgh who were planning the same walk as us whilst also collecting some soil samples for the James Hutton Institute. From there we gradually made our way up the rocky final section of Stob Bàn, reaching a fairly impressive summit in spite of its relative size in comparison to its neighbours on the main ridge.

Struggling up Stob Bàn

After a short stop at the summit, we set off down the steep scree slope on the west side of the hill, making our way around the picturesque Lochan in the corrie before tackling the short but steep ascent up to the highest Munro of the day, Stob Choire Claurigh. Having reached the second summit of the day, we made a start on our lunch, and were met by a group who had just completed the ridge from the other direction, having camped near Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr the previous night.

The view from the second top

From there, the ridge was relatively straightforward going, which gave us time to enjoy the spectacular views of the Mamores and Ben Nevis to our South and East, and the impressive looking Stob Bàn to our West. After a quick pit stop on Caisteal, one of the subsidiary tops on the ridge, we made it to the third summit of the day, Stob Coire an Laoigh. From there, the route becomes slightly more demanding again, requiring a quick descent and ascent to reach Stob Coire Easain, before descending again to the bealach via probably the trickiest scrambling of the day - nothing too challenging, but certainly requiring some concentration.

Looking back from Stob Coire an Laoigh

And up to Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr

Having made our way to the foot of the final ascent up Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr, we took the opportunity to take a short break in the first shade we had been afforded in a couple of hours, and were passed by a number of groups making a start to their return trip to Spean Bridge. Rest over, we tackled another short but steep climb, and followed and enjoyable ridge to the final summit of the day. Despite being probably the most impressive of the summits on the ridge, the top of Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr is much more understated than the others, with only a small cairn on a relatively narrow point, which drops down toward Sgùrr Chòinnich Beag.

Finally at the last top

All the planned hills done, we could see Meanach bothy in the distance to the West, and on the advice of a group we’d met earlier in the day, headed fairly directly down the slope of Sgùrr Chòinnich Mòr rather than descending to the bealach towards Sgùrr Chòinnich Beag. The walk back was fairly uneventful, more or less following Abhainn Rath the whole way back, through what is more or less bog the whole way. A quick dunk in the river, dinner and a couple of mugs of wine later, we were just about out of gas, and called it a night.

Home at last

The next morning, having disabused ourselves of the idea of returning to Corrour early to make the short ascent of Beinn na Lap, we returned to Corrour at a relatively leisurely pace, stopping in to see Staoineag on the way, and enjoying the full view of the river which we had walked in darkness two days earlier.

Staoineag Bothy

Successfully avoiding the turn off to Kinlochleven this time, we made it back to Corrour with a couple of hours to spare ahead our respective return trains to Glasgow and London. This gave us plenty of time to enjoy the hospitality at the Station House - all food and beers come recommended - after which I hopped on my train back to Glasgow, leaving Ross to wait a couple of hours before catching his sleeper to London.

A trip worth doing indeed.

Back at Corrour

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