My First Solo Munro!
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:12 am
This was my first solo munro. No one was able to join me for a walk so I chose one that looked quite straight forward with no hairy scarey bits, after a wee bit of research, Meall Chuaich fitted the bill. Since my wife was working and Granny was looking after the kids I decided to make the most of the early brightness and set off from my house at 6am and stated my walk at 7.15am. Heading from Inveness towads Dalwhinnie,I thought I would have the roads to myself, no such luck, it was full of lorries, so the journey was slow. I parked at layby 94 just past Chuaich cottage as per WH report and headed back along the side of the A9 to the gate and the track. From other reports it's about a 3 mile walk to the base of the hill and others had cycled this part on the hydro track, so I decided to do the same. This took 30 mins and probably saved me an hour on my walk by doing this. At the stat the track heads up hill(gently) until you get to a gate and the hydro track and river. Cycling along, the track was pot holed but passable on my mountain bike. . Soon the track crossed ove the river and took you past the Hydro Station. Just beyond the station the track goes over a bridge and splits, take the left fork. At the next fork go left again. The track eventually takes you to the Dam and Loch Cuaich but before you reach it, take the track to the right that takes you to the bothy. At the bothy I parked the bike and set off on foot along a wooden bridge. The track takes a right turn to follow Allt Coire Chuaich and there is a route going up that way but decided to take the well worn path up the side of Stac Meall Chuaich. The path is easy to follow, a bit muddy in bits, and after 1 3/4 hrs from the start I was at the Summit Cairn. Unfortunatly the Cloud base was right down so I had absolutely no view. The summit is flat and featureless,well it was in the mist, so without much further ado, I headed off. I decided to take another route back as I had made good time so I had some time to play with. I retraced my route back for a bit but as the weather was good, I decided to go down the other side of Stac Meall Chuaich, which would take me to the far side of Loch Cuaich and a hydro track back to the Dam. Iheaded for a river and decided to follow it down. at this point it got quite steep and at parts I had to hold onto the heather and slither down. After a scramble over a deer fence, I was back on the track and heading round the Loch. Soon I was back at the Dam and onto the bike. On the route back I encountered this Grouse crossing the Track. At 11.45 am I was back at my car. Not the most spectacular of Munros but a nice introduction to going solo.