Keeping upwind of the deer stalking

[heatheronthehills]

We had planned to walk the horseshoe circuit of 2 corbetts in Glen Affric, Carn a'Choire Ghairbh and Aonach Shasuin. It felt quite ambitious but we set off early (leaving the FC Carpark at the head of Glen Affric at just before 9am) and the forecast was for misty conditions at first but the visibility was due to improve as the day went on.

Leaving the FC car park

We checked Walkhighlands the previous evening but there was no route description, so we ready Malky_c report and the SMC guidebook route and set off along the beautiful glen, the mist beginning to burn off the high tops in the Autumn sunlight. The forest was stunning, lichens draped from branches, bracken turning a coppery colour and the mountains reflected in the lochs.

Lichen draped trees

Affric Lodge and ponies

Soon we arrived at the white cottage and Allt Garbh, but the path on the west of the stream was barely visible, whereas there was a right of way path on the east of the stream, so we decided to follow the better path, hoping we'd be able to cross the river higher up as the map seemed to show the path crossing the stream.

Right of way sign with good path on East of Allt Garbh

Bearberries

We continued up through the forest and followed the river. The path is quite boggy and slippy in places. We checked the map as we seemed to be drifting further from the river the higher we climbed, and the craggy ascent which we should have been aiming for to the right seemed to be getting further away from us. We were by now quite high up and decided to do the horseshoe in reverse, rather than attempt a river crossing and wading through the long heather we could see on the craggy hillside. Ahead of us we could see large white bags littering the hillside and as we got closer we saw they were full of pine saplings. Major tree planting is in progress, although it's all being done by hand and we chatted to one of the planters. They are planting 150,000 native trees, a mix of scots pine, birch, rowan, alder and juniper. Each of the guys can plant up to 1500 trees per day!

Bags of saplings ready for planting

Boggy track

The track is pretty beaten up by the off road vehicles, and was really muddy.

We continued through the deer fence and into the glen, and ahead of us we could see a bridge. I was delighted that we now had a way to cross the river, and I wasn't going to get my feet wet, but it wasn't til we had crossed the bridge and were heading towards the small lochan (Loch an Sguird) that we realised we shouldn't have crossed the river if we were planning to climb Aonach Shasuinn first......note to self....pay more attention to route planning

Anyway, we decided to stop for a cuppa and enjoy the watery sunshine that was now breaking through the mist. We heard a rumble of an engine down the glen and sure enough an eight track soon appeared alongside us. The keeper with piercing blue eyes asked where we were headed and when we told him we were hoping to do the circuit he said 'hmmmm - I was afraid you'd say that'. He explained that with it being an easterly wind they had to get to the end of the glen and then get behind the deer and with us planning to do the route going up Aonach Shasuinn we'd scare the deer off into the next glen. We asked what he'd like us to do and he asked if we could just do Carn a'Choire Ghairbhe today and maybe save the other corbett for another day. He also requested that we descend via the same route...I guess so that he knew where we were at all times. We were quite happy with this suggestion, as at least we would still get one hill done and to be honest I wasn't sure my legs were up for doing them both

So we finished our tea and headed up the steep hillside and into the mist as we made our way over the craggy terrain. We noticed the line of fence posts that Malky_c had mentioned in his report and followed them over very boggy ground in the general direction of our summit. Every so often the mist would clear and we got snatched views of the spectacular Glen Affric hills to the North West. At one point we had a brocken spectre accompany us for a short while.

Brocken spectre

Glimpses of views

Glimpses of Glen Affric hills

Boggy terrain

View back along the ridge as clouds cleared

The 3km walk along the ridge seemed to take forever with no real views but we finally arrived at the summit, which was shrouded in mist. We decided to wait a while to see if it would lift, as the cloud had been drifting in and out all morning. Eventually after about 20 minutes our patience was rewarded and the cloud began to lift, giving us hazy glimpses at the magnificent landscape all around.

Me on the summit

Derek waiting patiently for views....

Patience finally rewarded

As we began our descent, back the way we had come up, the clouds lifted all around and we got spectacular views for the rest of the day.

Carn Glas lochdarach on our descent

Better views now

Descent back into glen

Cool boulder on the descent

Back down towards the bridge

Washing the mud off my boots

Back down the right of way and into Glen Affric

Caledonian pine forest

Cool tree

We finally arrived in warm Autumn sun back at the car park just before 5pm. A lovely day on the hill, and we have a great excuse to return to do Aonach Shasuinn another day

[The Rodmiester]

Hi there heatheronthehills, wonderful Glen Affric, a beautiful area and lovely walks, this one looks really nice, I must get back up that way soon, so much to see, pity about the low cloud early on but once that lifted you had some fine views, thanks for posting

[Gordie12]

So that's where the path goes. I've been round Loch Affric a few times and kept meaning to check.

[gaffr]

I found the round of both of these tops to be very enjoyable especially with a bit of snow around on a cold February day. A broad ridge up to the AS tops and then some work to do over the high ground to CCG. On descent pick up the wee path down to the West end of the Loch.