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Geologically speaking, they tell me, this mountain is one of the Fannichs, so if we did the nine on Monday and Tuesday, then really on Wednesday we had to finish them off. And we needed a hill that was not too enormous.
Having cycled back from Fannich Lodge first thing in the morning we had a short drive to Achnasheen where we called in to the cafe at the station. Although it was not officially time to serve bacon and egg rolls, the lady in the cafe was happy to make them for us, with three rashers of perfectly frizzled bacon and an egg with just the right level of drippiness. mmm.
It must have been well after 11am by the time we set off up the path following the route as recommended on the website. (if you look in the Walkhighlands book the instructions are incorrect, but some helpful signs point you in the right direction).
I won't post a GPX of our route as we followed the WH recommendation. It was quite hot as we set off and the path up by the burn was very pleasant. To our left there is a new bulldozed track with heavy machinery at top and bottom constructing something - is it a small hydroelectric scheme?
- From the path up the side of the burn, showing an interesting bit of glacial sculpting of the valley floor, and the more recent track up to the ??new hydro installation
- view opening up to the south west-ish
- Work going on at the top of the steep slope
When the slope started to ease off we struck off to our right and from here on there was no path, but occasionally we found traces of boot prints. The views to the south were lovely if not spectacular, and to our left we could see Slioch appearing between the two hills. We managed to avoid the worst of the peat hags, and it was very dry underfoot so no real problems.
- We nearly lost Mrssanta in a bog!
- attempt at arty shot showing a nice wet bit of Sphagnum moss and looking south to some more hills
- I really wouldn't fancy walking across here one bit!
Eventually we reached the top, just as a cloud came over and obscured the view into the Fannaichs.
I did take some pictures but they don't really show anything much.
We came down off the top and the sun came out again. We found a nice sheltered spot where we ate some snacks and lay in the sun for a while. I'm sure Rudolph was snoring a bit.
- Having a rest
So then it was time to go down. This time because we could see the lie of the ground from above we managed to steer a route avoiding peat hags completely, getting back to the car a little after 4.30pm.
- view to Slioch between Fionn Bheinn and Meall a'Chaorainn. That's tomorrow's project.
- Sundew
- Achnasheen
By this time, all I wanted was SOUP, so we went off in search of it before the next adventure. And we found some wonderful soup in the Kinlochewe Hotel.