Walkhighlands

This walk was almost two years in the planning, but we finally got round to it. We had set a date and resolved to go for it no matter what! As the chosen date drew nearer the forecast got better and better so I headed over a few days early to make the most of the good weather. Although I was a bit concerned about whether I could handle four days in a row, and despite being eaten alive by midges and snapping a tent pole on the Friday morning, it was great to be able to make the most of the good weather!

Friday afternoon found me at the layby opposite the access road to Fannaich Lodge waiting for the others. The plan was to cycle along the private road towards the lodge and set up camp. However, our rucksacks were heavy and the road was uphill, so we cheated a little… Anyway, we eventually found ourselves, our bags and our bikes at a suitable camping spot on the bank of the loch, approximately one kilometre east of the lodge.

We set up camp and even got my tent up with some ingenious sawing of tent pegs and a lot of duct tape! It didn’t look great, but it did last the weekend. After a picturesque dinner watching the sun set, we played some cards and had an early night.

The next morning we were up early and watched the sun rise before setting off on our seven munro challenge. It was a beautiful morning but as we started up the track behind Fannaich Lodge, a bank of low cloud crept along the loch and into the glens around us.


The climb felt hard due to the heat and the incessant midges - a breeze would have been nice at this point!


From the top of the path we headed to our first munro An Coileachan. Unfortunately the cloud had caught up with us and so there were no views to had.


After a short break we headed back towards Meall Gorm and had lunch in the large shelter cairn just before the summit. By this time the clouds had lifted and all the tops for miles around were clear. This was to last all day!




Now we headed towards Sgurr Mor. We had decided to head out to Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich first, so as to not add unnecessary ascent. We rested briefly on Meall nan Peithe and were concerned that we were running low on water, with no sign of any streams nearby. However, we were in luck and shortly came across a mossy stream just below the path that skirts round Sgurr Mor.

We were now also starting to wonder if we had enough time, so we picked up the pace and on to the bouldery top of Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich. Then it was on to the highest summit of the day – Sgurr Mor. A steep climb to the top had us there in no time and then it was a rocky descent and climb to Carn na Criche. I arrived last to find the others pleased at having found munro number five so straightforward – “no, no” I said, “munro number five is over there” pointing to Meall a’Chrasgaidh. Disappointment all round!


We descended to the bealach, left our backpacks and made short work of Meall a’Chrasgaidh. Returning to our bags, we had a well deserved rest in the sun before setting off up the finest climb of the day –Sgurr nan Clach Geala.


The initial climb from the lochan takes you onto a lovely ridge, which takes you to the trig point and small cairn.


From here it is a straightforward descent and easy ascent of our seventh and final munro of the day – Sgurr nan Each. To descend, we opted to skirt around Sgurr a Chadha Dheirg and head directly downhill to the landrover track running along the bank of the loch. We reached the track through the break in the trees at grid 183668 – thankfully the deer fence is no longer intact! It was then approximately 5km back to the lodge and past to our campsite. On the way we did encounter some of the locals, but after a quick photo opportunity we hurried back to camp for some spaghetti bolognaise and red wine!

Well done on bagging the seven! I'm intrigued to know in what way you 'cheated'.... We tried to hitch a lift on the walk out from Fannich Lodge. Woman in empty vehicle slowed down, smiled at us and then drove on - so we weren't successful in our bit to cheat!

Well done for getting the 7 some crackin pics there

Excellent effort in the heat nic. Good big walk

Looks like you had a fab day, very jealous!!

That is a monster day out. Well done