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Grahams: Beinn nan Eun, Carn Loch nan Amhaichean
Date walked: 04/09/2011
Time taken: 4 hours 45 minutes
Distance: 23.5km (cycling), 12.5km (walking)
Ascent: 180m (cycling), 780m (walking)
Weather: Sunny turning overcast, but clear
These two hills had originally been planned as part of a longer walk taking in Beinn Tharsuinn to the north. Somehow I never seemed to get round to that, tending to go further afield when the opportunity presented itself. I realised that I had probably been putting it off because of the long, peaty tramp required out and back through the upper reaches of Glen Morie. A bit of a rethink gave me a much more interesting route to Beinn Tharsuinn for the future, and allowed me to do these two as a shorter afternoon jaunt.
Having spent Saturday on a canoeing course, I'd discovered muscles I didn't know existed, and a slow start meant I wasn't pulling up to the parking area outside Eilanach Lodge until 3pm. Typically the sunshine which had been around all morning disappeared at this point, although there were still a few sunny spells on the first couple of hours of the route.
I had a bit of a run-in with the particuarly noisy dogs at the lodge, with one attempting to bite my leg as I cycled past. Luckily it seemed to realise that I wasn't especially preturbed by it and that I would be gone in seconds, so it was a rather half-hearted effort. However, if you dislike big aggressive-seeming dogs, it's worth noting that you can also use the track on the NE side of the river to get to Loch Glass as well.
Once past the dogs, it was an easy cycle all the way to Wyvis Lodge at the far end of Loch Glass. This is a great track, almost level and fairly well surfaced, and as you make your way up the loch-side, the scenery just gets wilder and better all the time. I'd last been up here in spring 2010 to do
Ben Wyvis from the north, and while today wasn't quite as impressive as that, it was still a great place to be. I can see Loch Glass getting more and more visits as the list of new hills to climb dwindles.
Looking up Loch Glass:
Glas Leathad Beag:
Wyvis Lodge is pretty luxurious. I'm pretty sure I spotted a covered-over hot tub at the loch-side! The area is often used by the army for training, but there was no-one around this afternoon. Just before reaching the lodge, I took a left turn, and passed some outhouses before following the Abhainn Beinn nan Eun up the continuation of the glen. The track was rougher now, but still reasonably flat.
Wyvis Lodge (suspected hot-tub centre right by lochside):
Back down Loch Glass:
Meall Mor from further up Glen Glass:
I abandoned the bike as soon as the track started going uphill, and continued on foot. You could definitely cycle as far as the shelter a little further on, but I decided that this wouldn't save much time, and the river had lots of nice waterfalls and rapids here, which were nice to walk next to. Above the shelter, the track steepened and deteriorated, and after a final, impressive waterfall, turned into a boggy path leading into the bleaker upper part of the glen. Beinn nan Eun was now making its presence felt right in front of me, heathery but quite shapely.
A glimpse of the waterfalls and Beinn nan Eun:
I left the path and crossed the river, making for the steep south ridge. There were a couple of dry grassy runs to follow at first, but these soon got boggier and deposited me in the deep heather. Nothing for it but to keep plugging on, the heather staying deep until the last rise to the summit. only 45-50 minutes from the bike though.
Back down the glen to Glas Leathad Beag and Tom Choinich:
Glas Leathad Mor (Ben Wyvis):
As I approached the cairn, I idly wondered what the big thing on it was. Was there someone else on the hill, standing behind it? Then it spread its wings and flew off - must've had a wingspan of 2m! I'm assuming it was an eagle, and I was slightly annoyed that I didn't have my camera ready in time, as it was impressively close and large. Never did see it again.
After that excitement, I had a break on the summit for as long as the midges would allow - about 10 minutes in this case. Views were pretty good, although the cloud had taken away the nicest light. I could see Ben Klibreck and Ben Loyal in the distance to the north, with Hope and Assynt sitting in a large bank of cloud. Most noticeable was the vast expanse of Kildermorie, giving the Monadh Liath a run for its money in the bleak upland moorland stakes. I was glad I had decided to leave out Beinn Tharsuinn!
West to Carn Loch nan Amhaichean and the Fannaichs:
Carn Chunneig:
Assynt, Hope, Loyal and Klibreck:
Me on the summit:
Soon I was pushing on to Carn Loch nan Amhaichean. It looked quite a way away, but I made quick progress down to the uppermost reaches of Glen Glass, then over to Loch nan Amhaichean. This was quite haggy at the lowest point. I then took the steep north ridge to the summit. I thought I'd recalled a friend mentioning some minor scrambling here, but there wasn't any. Looks like he may have been referring to one of the rocky ribs on the east face. However these didn't look worth the diversion.
The route onward to Carn Loch nan Amhaichean:
...with Loch nan Amhaichean in the foreground:
Another quick break on the summit, where there were good views of the northern slopes of Wyvis (which as others have mentioned is more like a mini-range rather than a single mountain) and out west to the big west coast hills. The greyness of the weather didn't make me inclined to explore any of the southern tops of this hill, so I picked the shortest line back, contouring over the shoulder of the 611m spot height. I dropped back into Glen Glass, which was rough and wet, and picked up the path, which wasn't a whole load drier. Then it was back to the bike (via a quick look at the waterfalls) and a swift cycle home, the hounds of death at Eilanach Lodge being called off by their owner before they were able to chew me up. As ever, one of the many great things about walking in Glen Glass is that it is only half an hour's drive from home.
Down the upper reaches of Glen Glass:
Waterfalls:
This is what Loch Glass looked like on my last visit (sneaky re-use of better photos from previous reports!):
