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I was born wild at heart and no amount of taming can change that. Combine that with my mountain madness (
Munroclimbus crazus they call it
) and given the recent weather there was NO WAY I could stay indoors for the weekend. Luckily, I could share my hillwalking adventures with a certain Cornishman, who's just as wild as I am (though he doesn't want to admit it
).
Throughout the week I suffered almost physical pain, looking at the blue sky and thinking how fantastic it would be to be out there on the high ground... Well, I had to be patient and wait till Saturday. My patience paid off - we had a smashing couple of days!
It was obviously the weekend to go west, with the best sunny spells over the NW side of the Highlands, so for Saturday's hill we picked Sguman Coinntich, one relatively easy Corbett above the entrance to Glen Elchaig. I was only one peak away from half century of C hills and wanted to celebrate my No. 50! I still wasn't sure whether Kevin has fully recovered from his dairy encounters, so having studied possible routes in this area we decided, that Sguman Coinntich on its own would be the minimum for the day. If circumstances allowed, we would continue our walk to the second Corbett - Faochaig.
As we drove past Glen Shiel, the cloud was so low and so thick that I was beginning to doubt that it would ever clear - in such case including the second mountain seemed a bit pointless. But we were lucky - the cloud didn't last too long and we managed to bag both peaks, ended up walking 25 km, most of it with the sun shining above and with wonderful views to accompany us
So here is our Killilan Odyssey:
The route starts from the large car park and for 500m follows the private road to Killilan. Kevin has once walked the length of Glen Elchaig to Iron Lodge and back, but he didn't climb any mountains in this corner. But even though weather still looked gloomy, we were optimistic and aimed for Sguman Coinntich - the eastern end of the ridge dominates the view over Killilan:
We turned left just before the bridge, onto a path which soon joined a wider track climbing steady up the hill slope:
It is the easy part of the route, the track follows Allt a'Choire Mhor, passing some waterfalls on the way:
The cloud was slowly beginning to lift, serving us a taste of what was to come... It was still grey and a bit depressing, but hopes grew higher...
At about 450m, well into the corrie, we left the track and crossed the burn. From here the climb was pathless and much steeper, but as the slope sheltered us from the wind, we didn't complain:
Summit still misty...
...but the clag was breaking... blue sky beyond...
The steep slope eventually eased off onto the grassy ridge, with some impressive big drops on the southern side. And the sun woke up:
For a split second, another glimpse of the good things waiting for us.The distant Torridon. Aaaaah!
The final walk to the summit, along the ridge, was now a formality, though we had to enter the cloud again. A little rocky outcrop houses the trig point and a small cairn. I jumped for joy when we reached the top - half the ton! Hooray!
We were still in the middle of the cloud and decided to have a short break now, a cuppa and a sandwich while waiting for the situation to develop. Kevin's energy levels seemed fine, in fact he was the one who charged up the slope, with me trudging behind
Misty, misty...
We descended just below the summit outcrop and found a sheltered spot. As soon as we opened the lunch box, bang! the cloud started to break for good!
We sat there and watched the spectacle, the panorama slowly revealing.
I looked behind me and suddenly, another bang! One very clear Brocken spectre:
A lovely present from the nature to celebrate my Corbett No. 50!
Having finished our refreshments, we returned to the summit. Wooooah, what a change in 15 minutes!!!!
I grabbed my camera...
...'cause there was stuff to record!
Generally I must say, Sguman Coinntich is a fantastic viewpoint. Even if you don't feel up to doing the whole circuit, it's worth visiting this peak for the breathtaking panoramas, like this one, back to Loch Alsh:
Clouds breaking off the higher peaks to the south:
The sky was so blue that it almost hurt my eyes
and even distant peaks were clearly visible, like Slioch and An Teallach:
It is possible to descend the southern side of this hill into An Glas-choire, where one can pick a stalker's path down to Glen Elchaig - that would be the short day, but with the weather now looking superb we didn't even consider that option! We were ready to conquer Faochaig as well.
Happy time for a certain cat:
Looking SE, the Affric hills:
The second Corbett seemed a long distance away from us, but the two hills are linked by an easy ridge, never dropping down below 600m and circling the big dip of Coireag Searrach/Coire Shlat. I worked out where our target was:
But there was also a spectacular view behind us! Well worth another short stop!
The cliffs of Coire Shlat:
We calculated we had about 5.5 hours of daylight left, more than enough to complete the long circuit:
One more look back to Sguman Coinntich:
The best views are north to Torridon:
Zoom to Beinn Damph, An-Ruadh Stac and Maol Chean Dearg:
Close up to Mam Sodhail & Carn Eighe:
Back to Glen Shiel peaks - just a perfect day!!!
We continued over the lump of Sron na Gaoithe and finally tackled the last ascent of the day - the slope wasn't too steep and not much snow left, just melting patches, easy to cross. Crampons stayed in our rucksack.
The final slope seen from Sron na Gaoithe:
From Killilan, Sguman Coinntich seems just another conically shaped hill, but the true beauty of this mountain can only be appreciated when one ventures into the wild:
4.5 hours after leaving Killilan, we touched the summit cairn of Faochaig:
...and posed with the fantastic views behind:
OK, now the most difficult part of the story - how to choose the best photos from this point??? We took hundreds of them while wandering around the summit area... Here are a few:
East to Mullardoch hills, still a bit cloudy over there, Aonach Buidhe in the middle:
One to frame and hang on the wall - Torrdon pano:
West Monar Munros:
Back to Sguman Coinntich...
Applecross cliffs:
Liathach:
Strathfarrar Munros:
Affric hills:
Panorama:
Not far away from us, a pair of ptarmigan were also enjoying the sunshine. I posted a few photos of these lovely birds in wildlife section - here is the link:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29246Having spent half an hour on Faochaig, we headed downhill. Instead of returning the way we came (which is an option but would involve climbing back to Sguman Coinntich), we descended the southern slopes of the hill till we picked a small burn.
Last moments spent with the views...
We followed the stream:
Lower down into the glen, we picked a stalkers path descending into the gorge of Allt Domhain:
The path was wet in places, but it gave us easy going down to Glen Elchaig:
We reached the Elchaig track only about 2 km west from Iron Lodge. We were on the flat ground now, but still faced some 11km of walking back to Killilan. Still, it was worth the effort!
Glen Elchaig and Loch na Leitreach:
There was no need to worry now. Even though the walk back was long, it was on a good track (later even a tarmac road) and we had torches in case it got dark...
We witnessed the sunset...
M-o-o-n. That spells MOON
We returned to the car just as the last beams of sunshine died over the horizon. We were tired but happy - we had an excellent day of hillwalking. Meow!
Summing up: two Corbetts perfect for a grand day out. Not a route for beginners, mainly due to the length, but there is no technical challenge anywhere. The ridge between the two peaks could be tricky to navigate in misty conditions. The descent route is a bit squelchy. But as we proved, this circuit can be walked even in winter (or should I say early spring). Views - priceless.
Part 2 of "Wild at heart" will take us into the heart of Knoydart - I'll post it as soon as I find time.
