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Thanks to Pete I got a day off looking after elderly mum duties to climb a hill for my birthday. It's a birthday that places me firmly in the ranks of the elderly as well. Oh well, these things are all relative.
A sharp return to winter the day before made us revise plans to drive to Glencoe. It's a long way to go if there's a reasonable risk of not achieving our target so we set our sights on something nearer home. Moira was fresh back from three weeks basking in the hot sun of Botswana so I let her choose which hill (that turned out to be a very good move indeed when we got bogged down in peat hags and I didn't have to feel responsible for it
). The chosen hill was Sgorr na Diollaid in Glen Cannich which we thought would be a doddle with a wee scramble at the top.
View west from road in to Glen Cannich
We parked on the right side of the road where a track leads off to Muckrachd shortly after the bridge over the river Cannich.
Looking back to the bridge from parking area at start of track
From the road we headed straight up the hillside NNW. After negotiating an initial mud bath from tramping of many hooves it was easy enough going on alternately grassy or heathery slopes.
We headed for that tree
Mullardoch dam and Affric hills
There's nothing like a bit of Highland sunshine to top up one's African tan
View west up Glen Cannich to Loch Mullardoch and Toll Creagach
View east
Loch Carrie from rocky knoll at spot height 496m
The higher you go the more lumpy and rocky the terrain
We should have paid more heed to WH's advice to detour NW to avoid an area of peat hags and bog which we ploughed straight into, involving a bit of back tracking and circumnavigating.
Once through that we climbed steeply on to a prow of rock from where we got our first sight of the hills to the north west.
Loch Morar and Sgurrs a' Chaoracainn and Choinnich
West to hills of Affric and Mullardoch
Sgorr na Diollaid's summit tors
We stood and looked at the summit tors and Moira said "I'm not going up that but I'll wait for you while you do it." and with that the weather turned more wintry and the general mood took a downward slide.
So we plodded on and were just below the last steep pull when a friendly border collie suddenly appeared by my side and I thought "What's soulminer and his mutts doing up here?" but it was Raymond and Skye just 15 off finishing a second round of the Corbetts! It was shortly after that I walked into a snow covered pool and my boots filled up with icy water.
But meeting Raymond gave us the boost we needed. He said this hill can look a bit intimidating and I think he felt it his responsibility to get us to the actual top rather than to the foot of the tor. We went up the west side first and had a look at the scramble - which looked easy and in summer would have been fun but in a howling icy wind felt a bit unnecessary if there was an easier way. Raymond (who's been up before remember) said he was going round the east side which you can walk up and went off with Skye to check it out then called to us to follow him.
Western tor from foot of higher eastern tor
The way up the tor from the east side was easy with just one hand on rock bit and in minutes we were perched on the airy top with just room for two plus a friendly dog.
Thank you Raymond for showing us the way, lending us Skye for the summit photo and taking it for us! What a nice man. He told us that when someone was in the papers recently claiming their dog was the first to climb all the Corbetts this was incorrect as his collie had completed the Corbetts a few years earlier..... but SMC don't register dog finishers so it's hard to prove.
Raymond isn't familiar with Walkhighlands so I gave it a plug and took his photo - but won't post it out of deference to his not being keen on being in photos!
Not having my own two with me it was good to have a friendly mutt for the birthday summit photo!
NE to Loch Beannacharan
NE to Beauly Firth (with visible plume of steam from Norbord factory)
Strathfarrars
Western tor and Loch Morar
Mullardochs
As we started the descent we urged Raymond to go on as we'd be slower than him but we did follow in his tracks for a while.
Frozen wasteland
Sgurr na Lapaich (I think)
To save going back over the rocks and avoid the peat hags I suggested to Moira we drop down a grassy rake a bit to the east, which we did and once we found some shelter from the cold north wind we stopped for lunch.
From our lunch spot on way down to left of this rocky section
There were no difficulities with our return route which avoided all crags and peat hags and led down to an area of natural woodland on either side of a burn above Muchachd farm. We stayed on the east side of the burn then crossed to the west side and headed down to a gate in a wall into a field of cows. One option was to cross the field then along the far side to another gate which would take us to the track at the end of which the car was parked. But a more direct route was between the deer fence and the wall where there was a narrow muddy path which would avoid going through the field of cows.
Moira wasn't for walking further than necessary (fair enough) so we started along the path which was a quagmire to start with but we hoped it would improve. It didn't and the only way to get along it was by putting feet on a narrow ledge of grass at the edge and clinging on to the wire of the deer fence. After 10 minutes of that we aborted that route and cut through a gap in the wall and crossed the field. You have to be careful with cows that have recently calved (as these had) but they barely gave us a second glance and we reached the far gate without incident.
Then it was a simple walk west along the track back to the car. At one point the track went through a gate which was blocked by cows standing staring at us as we approached. By this time we were too tired to work out a detour so I confidently informed Moira I know about cows and can make them move without spooking them. Calm and assertive is the way to go and you talk to them like the farmer would - and they moved out of the way no bother.
Last lap along the cow track
Our route
I've called it a cheeky Corbett because it packed more of a punch than either of us expected - with a top of rugged rocky character - and all in all gave us a great day out!
