Glen Affric
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:11 pmWe started this little trek a bit later than planned and it was 9.30 before we made our way in towards the hills - after breakfast looking over loch Affric.
A very pleasant walk in - about 4 miles - with the sun shining although clouds looming ahead! We followed the river for most of the way at this point and there was a fair amount of boggy spots! First hill of the day was Toll Creagach - this was a long slog to get to - weather was miserable, and it seemed t take forever to get there with not that much to keep motivation levels high on the way up. However the sun broke through just as we reached the summit and we were well rewarded with some fantastic views over loch Mullardoch.
From here we headed straight over to Tom a' Choinich up a pretty steep climb - thankfully weather was still holding out for us and we reached the summit in pretty quick time.
It was mega windy at the summit of Tom a' Choinich but again some fantastic views - and a great view of the ridge walk ahead to Carn Eige.
Having never done a ridge walk before I looked on at the route ahead with a fair bit of apprehension but was excited to give it a go. It looked fairly challenging and indeed it was - but thankfully the more experienced in the crowd also agreed that this was a reasonably hard going route! (phew - not just me being a wimp then!)
The ridge climb and walk across the needles of Stob Coire Dhomhain to Creag na h-Eige was fantastic - certainly had its challenges and some amazing steep drops on either side but with pretty much no scrambling required. It was a decent long walk to Carn Eige but once we had reached height on the ridge walk it was pretty straightforward - with incredible views along the way. We finally made it to the summit of Carn Eige but not only was time getting tight but the weather was really starting to close in (and by now my knee was getting achy on the descents!) Instead of heading straight up to Mam Sodhail (we had already realised that there was not enough time for Beinn Fhionnlaidh) we followed the contour and kind of skirted around the side - even though we were only a couple hundred metres at most from the summit we decided to head back down - it was nearly 6pm and we still had to get down and then take in the long walk back to the car and not an endless supply of daylight!
So we caught the path going down Mam Sodhail and followed this back down - it was pretty hard going stony path but we finally reached the main path to take us back. It was a further 4 or 5 miles walk back to car park - although a good clear path it is quite interesting doing this in complete darkness, our night vision was certainly tested to the max! and thankfully i had my head torch for when it got really way too dark. Finally we reached the car 13 hours after setting off!
A long day with a slow and uninspiring start but some really challenging and fun ridge walk and views later which totally made it worthwhile. We needed a few extra hours of daylight to take in Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Mam Sodhail (frustrating being so close...) but just means we have a good reason to come back!
A very pleasant walk in - about 4 miles - with the sun shining although clouds looming ahead! We followed the river for most of the way at this point and there was a fair amount of boggy spots! First hill of the day was Toll Creagach - this was a long slog to get to - weather was miserable, and it seemed t take forever to get there with not that much to keep motivation levels high on the way up. However the sun broke through just as we reached the summit and we were well rewarded with some fantastic views over loch Mullardoch.
From here we headed straight over to Tom a' Choinich up a pretty steep climb - thankfully weather was still holding out for us and we reached the summit in pretty quick time.
- from Toll Creagach to Tom a' Choinich
It was mega windy at the summit of Tom a' Choinich but again some fantastic views - and a great view of the ridge walk ahead to Carn Eige.
- Summit of Tom a' Choinich
Having never done a ridge walk before I looked on at the route ahead with a fair bit of apprehension but was excited to give it a go. It looked fairly challenging and indeed it was - but thankfully the more experienced in the crowd also agreed that this was a reasonably hard going route! (phew - not just me being a wimp then!)
- looking back to Tom a' Choinich
So we caught the path going down Mam Sodhail and followed this back down - it was pretty hard going stony path but we finally reached the main path to take us back. It was a further 4 or 5 miles walk back to car park - although a good clear path it is quite interesting doing this in complete darkness, our night vision was certainly tested to the max! and thankfully i had my head torch for when it got really way too dark. Finally we reached the car 13 hours after setting off!
A long day with a slow and uninspiring start but some really challenging and fun ridge walk and views later which totally made it worthwhile. We needed a few extra hours of daylight to take in Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Mam Sodhail (frustrating being so close...) but just means we have a good reason to come back!
but a few posters on this site would really benefit from learning a few simple photography rules which really don't require any skill. Of course the glorious blue sky doesn't hurt 
.
and yes the blue sky was a very welcome sight - especially after the rain, hail and wind!