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Grahams: Carn Gorm
Date walked: 14/07/2011
Time taken: 5 hours
Distance: 11 km
Ascent: 650 m
Weather: Warm and calm, but mainly overcast.
This hill has been on the 'to do' list for some time, as it was one of the closest to home that I hadn't done. My original plan had been to cycle to it from Inverness, ditching the bike in Glen Strathfarrar and combining it with a re-ascent of Sgurr na Diollad. However, with my family staying in Cannich for a couple of weeks, I decided on a slightly different approach with my dad. With him taking things easier these days, I knew that including Sgurr na Diollad would mean a long day out, probably with a frantic race against daylight at the end, so I came up with a new route over Carn Gorm only.
In order to keep at least part of my original plan, I got up early and cycled the 30 miles or so over to Cannich, after which my mum dropped us off a couple of miles up Glen Cannich at Craskie. We crossed the concrete bridge to Craskie and skirted the farm buildings on the left hand side. I didn't know how difficult this ascent would be, but once through a gate in the wall, it turned out fine, with a faint path initially leading up the west bank of the burn.
Initial ascent behind Craskie:
Craskie and Glen Cannich:
East along Glen Cannich:
Heather and bracken took over higher up, and we crossed a deer fence at a big hole near the burn. We were headed towards the 631m point south of Sgurr na Ruadhraich. Althought the path vanished, the going was pretty reasonable for the most part, and we were at the summit before long. This provided a nice lunch stop and some good views to the surrounding hills, with Loch Mullardoch also putting in an appearance.
Sgurr na Diollad from near pt 638m:
Carn Gorm and Loch Coir an Uillt Ghiubhais from pt 638m:
Sgurr na Diollad, Sgurr Fuar-thuill and Sgurr a Choire Ghlais:
Down Glen Cannich to the Affric hills and Loch Mullardoch:
The route to the main summit from here looked more interesting than expected, following a rocky rib to the north of Loch Coir an Uillt Ghiubhais. Again the going was OK, with the last 50m on lovely short heather. It wasn't clear whether the large cairn marked the summit, or whether it was the block of rock on the next hump. For that matter, the ridge leading NE from the summit looked as if it may have a higher point on it too. The map indicated the cairn to be the highest point though.
Due to the poorer weather moving in from the west, the views to the Cannich and Affric Munros weren't as clear as they could be, allowing the Strathfarrar hills to steal the show. Looking east, the Beauly Firth and Kessock Bridge were visible. I'd never spotted this hill from the bridge before, probably because it is so sprawling that it doesn't really stand out.
Back to pt 638m and Loch Coir an Uillt Ghiubhais:
Sgurr a Ghlais Choire again:
Dad on Carn Gorm:
East from Carn Gorm:
Zoom into Beauly Firth and Kessock Bridge:
Our descent was not too different to the one
followed by Foggieclimber in March, dropping to the main Strathglass road just NE of Cannich. There were a couple of herds of deer in the distance, but none came close, and we headed towards the Allt Coilte, avoiding a few peat hags on the way.
Loch Mullardoch from the descent:
Across Strathglass towards Abriachan:
Up Strathglass towards Tomich:
Affric hills and a sliver of Loch Mullardoch:
Following the stream, the other side always seemed a better bet, so we crossed many times. There were a couple of interesting mini-gorges, which looked very dry, but Foggieclimber had captured them in full flow earlier in the year. We crossed to the north bank of the stream to reach the gate through the deer fence at the edge of the woods. There was a good quad bike track here.
Potential waterfall on Allt Coilte:
Entrance into the woods:
Towards Tomich again:
The quad bike track appeared to go away from Cannich, but we stuck to it and it dropped us down to the road right next to the Allt Coilte bridge. The lower section was quite hard to follow through the high bracken. We passed more waterfalls lower down, and managed to get some good close-ups of some wildlife.
Another waterfall which could be impressive with a bit of water in:
Butterfly:
Dragonfly:
Point where the path joins the road:
It was an easy 15 minutes back along the road to the caravan site. Definitely a worthwhile hill, although probably best combined with Sgurr na Diollad for a full day of walking. We took things fairly slowly - I don't think it would be overly difficult to shave an hour or two off our time.
