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I had booked a week staying on the Corrour Estate to give myself a chance at these Munros without having to camp. The estate was brilliant and I would thoroughly recommend this. It's more expansive than camping, but I'm old and like a bed, so...
The weather looked Ok as I left the cottage behind and set off. This first photo is looking down Loch Ossian from near The Shooting Lodge marked on the map. It's a great place to start.
- Looking down Loch Ossian from near The Shooting Lodge.
From here a rough surfaced road leads into the valley, over a bridge and passed a hydro electric power station. A little further along and I arrived at the sluice marked on the OS map This is where the road finishes and is the point where a bike would stop being a help and become a hindrance. I had read that the next section - about 4 km - is the "Worst Path in Scotland" so I was a little nervous. It is pretty grim, but I have been on worse, although maybe not for as long. The going is undulating and weaving with some sections being quite boggy. The path also has a frustrating habit of petering out at the first sign of trouble only to pick up again on easier ground. It seemed to take forever and I never really got into a rhythm, but I got there.
- The "worst path in Scotland". Well maybe not, but it was a bit of a slog.
Just after a point on the map marked by 2 strangely round pools I found a likely looking spot on the river and crossed. This really wasn't too difficult and I already had wet feet anyway (thanks to some mysteriously deep puddles on the path that came half way up my leg - thanks for that)
Having crossed the river I now aimed for the end of the Bealach Cumhann and the start of the ridge up Ben Alder. Getting to this point was a grind with wet peat hag, mud, hillocky grass and no path. Well, there was a path - a beautiful excellently made stalker's path that heads off down the Bealach Cumhann - but I had to crossover this path, not walk along it. Kind of rubbing salt into the wound.
I now started grinding up Ben Alder. As I gained height the grass became short and the going was much easier. I also found some faint traces of path close to the rocks to the south side of the ridge. After the ground I had covered this felt like being on an escalator and it wasn't long before the summit of Ben Alder came into sight.
- The summit of Ben Alder with small patches of snow.
I was aware that this was all taking a lot longer than I had thought so I was keen to push on. I was also not sure if I would actually climb Beinn Bheoil, but I thought I'd go and have a look at least.
A good path led down the East side of Ben Alder, although again, this was steeper and slower than I expected. When Beinn Bheoil came into sight my heart sank a little bit. Crossing the marshy section in between this and Ben Alder looked like a trial, but worse, Beinn Bheoil looked a long way away and the drop after Sron Coire na h-lolaire looked like work. Sigh...
- Looking across the boggy ground leading to Beinn Bheoil
- And the view of Beinn Bheoil itself from the lower slops of Ben Alder.
Once I got over the boggy section and picked up a good path and the far side, the going wasn't too bad at all. The descent after Sron Coire na h-lolaire was a bit soul destroying, but it soon passed. The cloud had lifted and the views down Loch Ericht spurred me on. This was the best bit of the route so far.
- Looking back towards Sron Coire na h-lolaire from near the summit of Beinn Bheoil.
From here the summit of Beinn Bheoil wasn't far and I soon found myself at the top. I had heard my GPS unit counting the miles of my walk so far and I was a bit concerned about how far I had come and far I still had to go - I wondered if I had allowed myself to succumb to a touch of summit fever. But I certainly felt elated to have achieved 2 of the Munros that had been thumbing their noses at me from the the pages of my SMC guidebook for years. Now I just had to get out.
- The summit of Beinn Bheoil with Loch Ericht visible in the distance.
I had a couple of options at this point. One was to reverse the route and re-climb Ben Alder. I knew the way but I didn't really fancy it. The other was to drop down to Ben Alder Cottage by Loch Ericht and work my way back from there. This second option is further and requires a similar amount of re-ascent, but it seemed more friendly and the thought of losing a thousand feet or so to warmer air was tempting. So that's what I decided to do.
I reversed my route as far as the boggy section between Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil and then headed down the path marked on the OS map through Bealach Breabag. Except there is no path - not on the upper sections anyway. Either way, I lost height relatively easily and enjoyed the series of waterfalls. I refilled my water bottle and couldn't see anything swimming in it, so thought that life wasn't treating my too badly.
- One of many small waterfalls descending through Bealach Breabag.
Like most of this route, this section seemed to take longer than I expected, but it was relatively easy and enjoyable and it wasn't long before Ben Alder Cottage came into view. This is an absolutely perfect place to stop for lunch or a break and just enjoy Scotland being Scotland.
- Ben Alder Cottage and Loch Ericht from the descent through Bealach Breabag
I didn't descend all the way down, but cut the corner off to join the long path heading northwest back to Bealach Cumhann. This is just over 4 km and is an upward slope almost all of the way. But it is an excellent path (deep joy!) and I found it easy going.
- The long walk back to Bealach Cumhann.
This is the path that I crossed over early on in the walk, so it felt good to be actually making use of it. It wans't too long before I arrived back at Bealach Cumhann. Then I had the awful peat hag to cross again - much easier downhill - crossed back over the Uisge Labhair and was back on the "Worst Path in Scotland". At this point I knew what I was up against and felt the distance drift past happily not really caring if I sank up to my knees in mud or not. Finally the sluice came into view and I knew that all difficulties were behind me.
- The sluice just coming into view which marks the start of the road and the end of the "Worst Path in Scotland".
From here it was an easy couple of kilometers back to the Corrour Estate and my bed for the night. When I got back to the cottage door my GPS unit said 19.98 miles, so I walked about 50 paces back up the track until it ticked over to 20 miles. For some reason!
In summary, I think this is a reasonable way to tackle these hills. Either starting at the railway station and biking to the sluice or, like me, staying on the Corrour Estate. It's certainly a long route and a bit of a slog in places, but if you're really averse to camping it is an option.
Getting the hills was relatively easy, but finding a sensible route to return was more of a challenge. I think the route I followed here was probably as good as any.
