Strathfarrar 4 with bike (& bonus car)

[gman]

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Took 7:30 for the hills including a cycle along the private road BUT...I cheated - met someone who had a car key mix up so I drove their car the last 7km along the road to get to my bike, real time would have been 9hrs ish.

Camped at Cannich campsite & planned to get up around 4am, but the cheap & comfy Argos airbed deflated during the night (on its 3rd outing) so woke up around 2, reinflated it and tried to doze off again. Alarm went off at 4 so I got up & attempted to pack up the tent, 5 secs later my head was crawling with midges so I ran off to the car for some Smidge. Drove up to Strathfarrar gate, got on bike & left just after 5am.

Lovely tarmac road for 12.5 km, there are a few hills but a lot of flat where it goes alongside the river & loch. Took 45mins to cycle in, there's more descent on the return so it's easier, but there was a head wind by that time so I ended up taking about 45mins on the way back too.




Start of walk is just after Deanie power station.


Good track initially.


Beyond the dam it becomes a path which is boggy in places (descent route is much better though).


Then steep slog uphill for Sgurr na Ruaidhe.


Onwards to Carn nan Gobhar, early morning clag was still hanging around.


Boulder fields at the tops of the next 2 Munros, Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais from Carn nan Gobhar:


Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais clear of cloud:


2 cairns & a trig point on Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais, steep boulders on the descent.


I was becoming a hill fog expert, noticing it blowing in from the north then sticking to the summits as it hit the clear air coming up from Glen Strathfarrar. View onwards from top of Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais:


Back to the boulder field descent from Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais:


Next hill is Creag Ghorm a'Bhealaich, cloud was lifting as I got there, back to Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais:


Nice, clear hills to the south:


Last Munro, Sgurr Fhuar-thuill:


Looking back to the ridge - Creag Ghorm a'Bhealaich, then Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais (the big one) with Carn nan Gobhar to its left.


Finally some views to the north, towards Orrin reservoir:


Descent from Sgurr Fhuar-thuill to the west & a bit of Loch Monar:


Towards Torridon:


Fannichs in distance:


Descent path stays high to avoid bog, it's about halfway up the ridge ahead.


Then runs along the left hand side of the lochan.


Path down is much better than the ascent, started to meet a few walkers who had driven up after the gate opened at 9am. Had a chat with a couple who had cars at both ends, but had left the key for the car parked at the other end in the car parked here. Asked if I could take the key round, and I could take the car parked here back to the start to save me the walk. "No", I thought "that would be cheating, I'll walk back with the key". Then had a nice drive back to the bike

[AnnieMacD]

Love the pictures of the low cloud scraping the tops - great atmosphere and you still got the views.

What luck about the car key - people you meet on the hill are so friendly - and trustworthy.

[dooterbang]

Nice report.

Track looks great for cycling, or driving

[bigkeith]

Enjoyed reading your report, looks like you had one of those days where you were just on the good side of changeable cloud and mist - lovely views anyway. Great pics, which give a good feel for the walk. I've been wondering about how to tackle these hills and been thinking about biking in to avoid the odd gatekeeper problem; your shots of the road surface and description have convinced me - I'll give it a go. Thanks for the encouragement and an entertaining and useful walk description. Also, I'm looking for a new camping mattress, will give Argos a miss and splash out!

[Butterscotch]

Great to know that biking in is possible - cuts down the problem with the locked gates. Planning to do these soon when my lockdown fitness plunge has improved