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A very short walk up a seldom-climbed Scottish Marilyn
(To date, no-one has logged climbing this one on Walk Highlands).
A couple of weeks ago, I organised the charter of a boat to take over me to the Isle of Carna, which is situated in Loch Sunart. I undertook the trip on Saturday morning with
Ardnamurchan Charters – highly recommended
.
The downside to organising trips so far in advance is that you have to take your chances with the weather. On Saturday, the weather was pants!
I set out from the Corran Bunkhouse, took the Corran ferry over to Ardgour and then drove round to Laga Bay in Ardnamurchan.
It rained pretty-much non-stop throughout the morning, so the photos were taken very quickly whilst trying to keep the camera dry.
Ardnamurchan Charters, Laga Bay:
Laga Bay jetty:
Isle of Carna from Laga Bay:
To get to the Isle of Carna, I set out with the staff who manage and maintain the holiday homes on the Isle of Carna. To get back to Laga Bay, after the walk, I was taken across on my own on a smaller boat.
Looking back to Laga Bay:
Isle of Carna:
Approaching the jetty on the Isle of Carna:
Cruachan Charna:
On departing the boat, I was given some friendly advice about the easiest way up the hill – go up through the trees and carry on to the top of the gully then ascend the final section round the back of Cruachan Charna. I was advised the only route to avoid was up through the slabby rocks.
Isle of Carna jetty (in-bound and out-bound boats):
Looking back towards jetty:
I set off, accompanied by the boat owner's dogs. One of the dogs accompanied me all the way to the summit and back
.
Approaching small wood:
Tag:
Exiting the small wood:
Following faint path through deep grass:
After passing the wood, I decided to ascend the shoulder to the right of the wide gully. This led to the steep slabby section that I was advised to avoid. This route did however avoid large areas of high bracken.
I still had to pass through a few small sections of waist to shoulder high bracken before using deep heather as handholds to ascend the steep rocky section.
Ascending steeply through bracken:
It was a bit of a relief to reach the summit area – the cairn is the summit.
Looking back towards jetty from summit area of Cruachan Charna:
Tag at the summit of Cruachan Charna:
I wasn't keen to descend the same way, so I headed for the top of the wide gully and then back down the hill towards the jetty.
Descent from top of wide gully:
On reaching the jetty, I was taken back across to Laga Bay in a wee fast boat.
A bit of an adventure, shame about the weather.