by Kate P M » Wed Nov 13, 2024 11:45 pm
Date walked: 23/07/2024
Time taken: 14.5 hours
Distance: 43.7 km
Ascent: 2723m
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Walk report
We left Inverness at 4.30am, passing a deer enjoying the peace of the city at that time. Once parked we decided to do the 14km cycle to the start point at the beginning of the day. At 5.30am the A835 road is fairly quiet and we know from past experience that it's not very nice having the long cycle at the end, with fast traffic speeding close by. Take the turning past Corrishalloch Gorge on the A832. We locked our bikes onto a sign showing long distance routes to Kinlochewe and Loch Fannich and beset by midges we swiftly set off down the the track leading to Loch a Bhraoin. It was 6.30am and overcast - we were glad that it was not too hot.
At the foot of the ridge heading up to Tomain Coinich we turned right onto a boggy path heading straight up the slope of Leitir Fhearna. There were lovely views in An Tealach - spoiled a bit by more midges when we paused to admire them. Once onto Leitir Fhearna, it was a boggy walk, minding peat hags as we headed up towards Tomain Coinich. We missed the path to the top and ended up on a path on the right that was rocky and a bit rough in places but not really a problem - and we think we gained a bit on another pair of walkers who had gone over the top. Once there we made the final ascent to the top of A Chailleach - our first munro! It was 8.50am.
We ran back down the slope to the bealach, exchanging a brief conversation with the other walkers, and then it was a hike up to our next summit Sgùrr Breac which we summited at 9.50am. As we climbed to it there were wonderful views of the mountains of the Kintail and Glen Shiel areas. Finally my Peak finder app came to life and listed off lots of names of well known mountains. To the north we could see Ben Hope and the Western Isles were also visible.
The descent of Sgurr Breac was steep but straightforward and once out of the wind we paused for a snack before heading for the bealach south of Sgurr nan Clach Geala. At this point we smartened up and put down our rucksacks and walked up to Sgurr nan Each, our third munro at 11.45am.
From here it was time to head to Sgùrr nan Clach Geala. This is a handsome mountain standing high at 1093m with a smart ridge. We made this at 12.30pm - summit 4. At we headed up to this the fine mountains we had admired earlier in the day were beginning to look distinctly misty and I was hoping that the clouds were not going to reach us before 8pm as predicted by the forecast. However that was not to be and we put on our waterproof jackets as it swept in.
We pushed on Meall a’Chrasgaidh completing this at 1.20pm in the rain. We dropped our rucksacks at a boulder for the last bit where we would have to return along the same path. In the big space we wanted to make sure we found them again - the path isn’t always clear - but it saved us some work!
From here it was a bit of a smooth slog to Sgùrr Mòr reaching this at 2.40pm. At 1110m this was our highest summit of the day.
From here we headed to Beinn Liath Mhòr. This has boulders up the side. Apparently there is a good way through them - but we didn’t find it. As we had hurried out the door in the early hours of the morning I had grabbed a couple of walking poles belonging to my 85 year old mother - who is still up for a good 10km when staying with us - and likes to keep a pair of poles at ours. We each had one and they were excellent for a bit of stability as we made our way over these to the summit, making this at 3:20pm.
By this stage the rain had stopped and we were drying out nicely. We were onto our next summit, Meall Gorm arriving at 4.45pm. I began to get excited at the thought of being home in Inverness by dinnertime…however the family were following our progress on Starva and they knew that this was not going to happen.
We made our final summit An Coileachan at 5:40pm. We should have dropped our bags again as we climbed - as it is a retrace back down. This was exciting - it was all done! Just walking out - easy we thought - except that the 10 km walk out was in featureless bog and it went on and on. We were glad to see our car! Headed home to enjoy a late dinner and bed, very happy to have made our nine munros.
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