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As usual, the route is more odd, as I don't own a car and have to come all the way up from London (and being in it for the photography rather than the bagging, take a long time doing it!). I've been eyeing up Kintail for a while and after a very wet and windy trip up Beinn Fhada/An Socach (Affric) in July, seeing a good forecast for almost the entire week I was schedule to be up in Scotland for my September trip I went for a big one! (I have to add, the weather was not actually good the entire time, but that's Scotland
)
The walk started with the trot from Cluanie Inn to the foot of A' Chràlaig along the road... right after getting a deer right at the Inn.
Loch Cluanie was stunning as always, a very vibrant azure against a more baby-blue hazed up sky.
After a punishingly steep and slippy ascent up A' Chràlaig, I got to the ridge. You could definitely camp the summit in hindsight- there's plenty of good mossy/rocky/grassy stuff to pitch on- but being tired (and running out of light, having hit the Inn at 4 PM and the sun coming down by 8 PM) I pitched up about 100m before the summit on the ridge.
I made the top in time for easily one of the top 5 sunsets of my life... that gentle ethereal haze you get on the summits nearing the end of summer that doesn't have that gray washout that tends to permeate the highlands.
I've urological issues and on one of the many trips to spray the moss in the dark, the stars were just too stunning to resist, and I whipped out my camera for a few shots. The number of times I've gotten a good clear sky on a summit camp
and not been half-frozen by windchill are quite limited, so it was a good spot of luck!
The next morning I awoke and left camp around 0600, hitting up the epic sunrise on the top of A' Chràlaig (I'd gone up and down from this place to camp twice now!)... Mullach Fraoch Choire followed after. I was far too slow on this bit, again due to all the photos I took.
I gave a shot at some scrambling on the pinnacles for fun- but being alone and not being particularly confident with descent, I lamented and didn't do the entire set of them (instead going back and sticking to the bypass.) I managed to snag some good panoramas/shots along the way, and reached the top of Mullach Fraoch Choire just as clouds came in.
The top offered some grand views to the north, past the hostel and to where I'd be going (and where I hope to go in the future- the eastern Affric tops.) I also snagged more photo panoramas but some have to many pixels to post, so you'll have to settle for the one
Heading back to camp, I lounged around and enjoyed some lunch (oatcakes and a tube of blue cheese... yes, the menu will get very sad to hear about over this trip.) While eating I pondered the way I'd take- I'd seen a path down to the bealach which the OS map showed to be on some rather steep bits... but hey, the path was diagonal (and there've been far worse)... so path it was (and what a good path it was, too!). The route down levelled off a bit and I got enough of a view to merit a photo, but not enough good lighting to merit busting out the DSLR.
Punishing heat and a lack of rain meant that the bogs had dried up a fair bit, so when hitting the bealach I had to go 1-200m further (to the right in the above image, down the hill), leaving the bag, to fetch some bogwater to slurp on. Someone can quote "Fish **** in it"- but the reality is I was drinking midges and frogspawn. Thank god for electrolyte powders with flavouring or I'd have drowned myself in the swamp from the taste of the chlorine. I'm an atheist, but I trust some God exists to burn the keds... god damn deer keds... DAMN THEM!
It's at this point I slopped my way up to Conbhairean- punishingly steep stuff for the first 100-or-so metres. It's great to get wet from sweat in the heat, only for wind to suddenly appear to freeze you. Clag came in by the time I reached the arete to the munro and so I haven't got any photos worth showing for the rest of the 2nd day of the trip. Some mongrel left a half-eaten apple on the summit "shelter"... agh.
The next morning was clag and rain until I hit the Glen Affric YH. The path down Conbhairean to the next munro was low visibility clag- thankfully only with a bit of drizzle.
After the munro, drizzle turned to rain, and rain turned to intermittent heavy rain. Navigating from Tigh Mor na Seilge to Cadha Riabhach the Bealach (hah) was difficult, with fairly even slopes and no obvious ridge or features to follow- thankfully intermittent visibility aided to keep tabs on the glen to the NE as a direction marker.
After the bealach heavy rain became constant, with higher wind and low visibility becoming even lower... thankfully the remnants of a deer fence (?) marking the forestry/estate border gave a good way to the top, barring the boggy swamp on the way. The summit cairn of Càrn a' Choire Ghairbh gave a good spot to leverage some signal, fish the pack for my bank card, and book a night in the Youth Hostel before anyone stole my shot (I'd be damned if I was busting out the tent on that day.)
The descent to the Affric-Kintail way was an utter swamp, with lots of "holes" that one could catch themselves in and slip/fall. The path itself is barely a path for the first kilometre, and I'm convinced you'd be better off just plotting diagonals down to the Kintail way if deer fences and forestry weren't an issue.
By the time I hit the hostel it was evening, and I enjoyed the chance to have my boule of oatcakes lathered in blue cheese (ah yes... the
luxury.) My InReach forecast was less than ideal- rain wind and more rain... but apparently the next night was meant to be clear up Ceathramhnan, so I'd overnight the hostel and wait until the next afternoon to set off for the next munro camp. That's an extra day on to my schedule- good thing I usually ration food vigorously (and raided the free food at the hostel... I left some a month ago!
)
The next day was a tl;dr of: eat, sleep, eat, and walk up Ceathramhnan. I camped about 100m down from the summit (100m in altitude, not distance.) The ridge is plenty campable- if only very moist. Yes, it rained... the evening was wet and cold, and the dinner (oatcakes and Kalles caviar...
) was... fun.
Waking up to a very wet/cold tent, I slept in (traditional at this point- there's a reason I rarely photograph sunrises.) I packed camp by 1100, and then hustled up Ceathramhnan for some spectacular light- low haze and wonderful panoramic views over the entirety of Glen Affric.
The shamble over to the West Top looked good so I did it- no regrets on the great photos I got in the process. There's a little handsy bit at the end- nothing bad though.
From here on it's the usual- a upsy-downsy ridge to Mullach na Dreiragain. I managed to pitch right after the summit before Sithidh... I'd post the photos but again I've gotten some complaints about panos, so here's one of the regular ones I've edited up. Rain and drizzle was funnelling its way up the glen with the wind- sorry!
It was at this point that the first disaster of the trip struck- my zipper pull came off when I was in a panic to go pee in the night.
Anyone with urethral/meatal strictures can understand how it feels... but clearly I was too zealous when getting out the tent in the wind and dark. Cue the hour-long ordeal on trying to understand how to re-attach a double-sided zipper pull to a lunar solo... I had to undo stitching, redo stitching, it's a pain.
After the first fix, the pull came off later when the stitching on the top came fully undone and it overshot the gap. The second fix was much more robust, until the pull came off on the exact same distorted zipper teeth (why do ultralight tents use cheap, plastic zipper teeth? It'd add barely any weigh to use some metal ones, or thicker plastic ones... people know how to stitch, people can do that easy- but a zipper pull?!). The third fix was the final one, and from then on I never pitched my tent 100% taut, and was much more careful with the zipper- this fix lasted the entire trip.
The following morning was grand- still air and clag- atypical in that the wind wasn't battering from the side. The craggy wall south-east deflected much of the wind. I'd spotted a path down near Bealach Sithidh while descending, which would save me a few km off the original route heading to the ATV track and going west to the footbridges, and thus headed toward the bealach, grabbing some shots on the way down (sorry but I haven't edited 99% of them yet! Got some good ones looking out to Torridon/Strathcarron
)
The path I'd seen from above wasn't in sight anymore- I must have overshot it earlier. Luckily the OS map did imply some crag weaving would be doable, and looking down from the bealach it looked nice and grassy (so any slips wouldn't be bone breaking.) Down I went! It sure was steep, though. (The original route plan was much longer, but seeing the shortcut that was possible gave me hope to try this way.)
Late in the day, I hit the ridge leading up to An Socach (Mullardoch.) Unfortunately wind was coming in... my InReach forecast was good (max. 20 mph) so I decided to try pitching the ridge right before the summit. I set the tent, and enjoyed the sunset in the increasingly most-definitely-not 30 mph wind. The shot below is looking over Aonach Buidhe.
An hour later and tragedy came, in the form of 40-50 mph+ continuous wind. I double-poled it and double-double-guyed it. My partner texted me on the InReach- my 40-50 guess was accurate, and that 50-60 would possibly hit 70 within the hour. My lunar solo wasn't having it- 4 years and lots of field repairs had shown some age on the poor tent, and frankly I wasn't in the mood to go down the glen and try my luck shivering in some random shieling full of ticks. InReach weather is only so accurate and doesn't account for the tops, but this time it was way off (a factor of three is too much for me!.)
Everything was packed up... it was pitch black at this point, with clag and a gentle drizzle hitting my eyes like needles being thrust by an overly enthusiastic seamstress and a pincushion. The faint ATV track, vanishing at times, thankfully gave a good guide to Meall Shuas. I found a somewhat sheltered spot that I'd cased out as a possible camp earlier (why did I go for the ridge
) and pitched up, stitching the corner of the tent that had been damaged a bit on the windward side earlier and examining the damage to the tip-top of the solo where the pole goes into the holder- it'd last until the end of the trip until I could give it some better repairs back home.
The next morning was spectacular- another A-tier sunrise. An inversion over Loch Mullardoch gave me some of the best shots I've gotten this year, and my tent had survived the night for a great high-camp reward. She'll be repaired and I'll be damned if I'm not giving this tent more adventure, because it's outdone anything a lunar solo could be expected to deal with!
I headed up An Socach after packing up, late as usual. Steep and grassy is all I can say... it took an hour to get to the top (after half getting to the base from the end of the ridge) and I got some stunning views from it. Sadly it was a hazy day, which negatively impacted the quality of the images, but you can't have everything- in this case I took all of Loch Monar though!
The walk down to the bealach was fairly gentle with a few steep-ish bits. There's some good water about 50m alt down to the south-east on a dry day. Lots of blueberries, too. After that though, it's a steep crawl up to An Riabhachan. I was anxious about the wall-like bit on the OS Map around NH 12153 33563- zooming in on my camera showed a straight vertical climb... but that's what you get for zooming in to 300mm and zooming in on a camera view screen- you can't get any depth perception... it was fine and there was no scrambling involved!
Once up to the grassy plain of An Riabhachan, I meandered over to the summit proper and found a good spot to pitch.
Humidity? Wouldn't hit 70% overnight. Temps? Wouldn't dip below 7c. Winds? Hah- 10 mph
gusts. I had 4G and checked- no InReach for me. This must have been some sort of reward for what I endured the night before... bliss.
... at least until the tent was swarmed by deer keds, some of which tried to crawl in my god damn eyes- WHAT THE HELL. I endured my oatcakes and kalles before enjoying a good rest.
The next day I got some early morning photos and panos and headed to Sgurr na Lapaich. The bealach between An Riabhachan and Sgurr na Lapaich has some robust streams to the SE- I splashed around a bit and soaked my face and hair- living the dream.
That little spring on the way up gave some great water (thanks for the tip, you three guys doing the Mullardoch round!). About 50-100m ascent from the bealach you get some water welling up, and it is cold, crisp, and delightful. I've put a photo above showing it, with Riabhachan and the rest in the background!
I had a nicer pano I took/edited but it's about 300 MPX... which was too much apparently. Anyway, onward- I hit Sgurr na Lapaich and enjoyed some lunch (biltong and fruit mix) along the last smidge of my electrolyte-imbued chlorinated tincture... water was about to get much less tasty.
The final target- Carn nan Gobhar, was within sight. Onward I went-
right into the boulderfield. The fool I was... sadly the OS Map didn't have the path and I neglected to download the WH map when doing my route (how do you stitch GPX files together?!) so I only had the general direction in which to... you get the reference. Anyhow, after 50-100m of intermittent boulders/grass I was clear for the path, and hit the bealach- dumping the pack and getting some more water from the stream leading into Loch Tuill Bhearnach, where some lassies were having a nude dip
Carn nan Gobhar offered a straightforward ascent, but few views (and lots of haze.) Lots of interesting rocks on the way, though.
The fool I was, I followed someone else rather than use my original route (which would have gone down the relatively dry-looking Coire an t-Sith to a hydro track), opting for the "path" down Glas Toll and to the south of Mullach na Maoile. What a god damn swamp that was... if I ever meet anyone who has walked up the north of Loch Mullardoch to do An Socach and the rest, I'll buy you a few pints at the pub...!!! Oh, and I also snapped my hiking pole on that scree bit going down Gobhar- I landed fine, normal slip you get on your arse on a scree slope, but I had my hand in the pole loop and so obviously the pole decided "Today is a good day to die."
I finally hit the dam after about 2 hours of hip-height grass, fern, bog, swamp, you name it I got it... gave the gaiters and my lower pants a good rinse in a wee burn before getting a hitch to Cannich. No buses on saturday though- and no taxi willing to take me to Ness. Camped the campsite for two nights. Bonus shot from near dog falls on the Sunday after a very drunk Saturday night in the tent
Hope you enjoyed the photos, and maybe the reading- I'd normally put more effort into the writing but I'm not as motivated these days and figured I'd bust out a report on the route before I lose all the motivation to do so! Sadly I've only edited a small handful out of the ~1,000x3 brackets I took due to lack of time, so you'll have to settle for panoramas!
