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If my day on the Deargs on the Saturday had been something of a trial in worsening weather, walking in sodden boots and ending up descending down through a forest of bracken and trees then the Sunday was looking much brighter as I poked my head out of the tent at the Broomfield campsite early that morning.
Blue sky
Oh yes, this was more like it
- Good morning world!
Making my way off Beinn Dearg the day before and my plans for the Sunday were being shelved in my head. I’d planned to do Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor and possibly the Corbett Fuar Tholl. S*d that, I was wanting something a bit easier for my second days walking
So, as I was enjoying my breakfast of beans and sausages an alternative plan was hatched to finish off the Fannaichs, with the easy walk up Fionn Bheinn
A nice, leisurely early morning getting myself sorted with my tent and stuff and then I was off. Engine light still on the car (have since discovered it is the knock bolt sensor, which means as much to me as Einstein’s theory of relativity, or why MrsR feels the need to watch E! TV
)
Anyhow, I was eventually parked up at Achnasheen and getting ready for my short walk up Fionn Bheinn. I can’t say I enjoyed putting on my sodden boots from the day before
Hopefully I can get them to last till winter, when my new winter boots can make an appearance
- Sgurr a Ghlas Leathaid from Achnasheen station
- Early view of Clen Carron hills
Apart from very wet boots my other misfortune from my Deargs doing was a bad case of chafing
Oh my, was I chafed.......and in places you don’t mention in polite conversation
Note to self for the future.......Vaseline
My gait must have resembled that of John Wayne or some other old spaghetti western actor as I headed off. Thankfully it did ease off as the day wore on, but boy was I sore when I started
- The initial route of the climb up, to the boggy plateau
- Sgurr a Ghlas Leathaid from the initial climb up
- Achnasheen on the way up
The initial climb up onto the boggy plateau was nice and straightforward......save for stepping in to a stinking boggy section at one point
This really wasn’t my weekend
That aside the path winds up close to the Allt Achadh na Sine, where there are some nice sections of water tumbling over the rocks
The view of Fionn Bheinn as I headed onto the plateau was a little uninspiring
Something of a bland, round, grassy lump
The delights, as I was to discover once I had navigated the bog and apparently pathless climb up the side of the hill, were to be found on the other side of the hill
- Mmmmmm, is that it?
Got an inviting taster of the mighty Slioch on the way
- The mighty Slioch
I’ll let the pictures from near and on the summit tell it all from here
- Beinn Liath Mhor, I believe
- Looking up to the summit
- View down the Fionn Bheinn ridge
- Loch Fannaich and the Fannaichs
- The Fannaichs
- Ah, An Teallach!
- Sgurr a Ghlas Leathaid
- View to the south
- The trig on the top
- Slioch and those majestic hills of the Fisherfield
- Torridon, torridon. Eighe and Liathach
- Can't wait to get close up and personal with these two
- An Teallach and a bit of the Fisherfield
- Another view south again
I would have stayed at the summit a bit longer, but despite the sun there was also a keen breeze, so I was all too soon on my way back down. I decided to just return the way I’d come, which meant going back through the boggy plateau
An uneventful return trip, with good views all the way back toward Achnasheen and the hills of Glen Carron and beyond.
- Fionn Bheinn and a nice little water feature on the way back down
- Making the most of the view on the way back down to the road
- And again...
Overall, despite looking a bit unappealing from the bog Fionn Bheinn is a good little hill, with great views all round if you are lucky with the weather as I was on my visit