
The latest landmark for me was to get to 250

As per usual I’d been on weather watch all week, looking to see where the sun might be shining on the Sunday, or at worst the weather was expected to be less pishy

With the suggestion of “medium level cloud” and even a suggestion the big yellow ball might put in an appearance Seana Bhraigh got the 3.30 a.m. vote to be my 250th Munro

The route was to be the WH “standard” via Inverleal. This suggested 17.75 miles, although even sticking to the suggested route my GPS clocked up 18.8 miles. So, a short walk then

On arrival at Inverlael the first job of the day was to liberally coat myself in midge repellent..........the little blighters seemed to be out for their Sunday breakfast. Well, I was taking myself off the menu

Then it was a case of walking............and walking.........and walking.........and so on and so on

That might suggest this wasn’t a particular interesting walk. Nothing could be further from the truth

The initial walk in is familiar for all those who have paid a visit to the Deargs via Inverlael. An easy walk through to Glensguaib, where I then left the Deargs route and made for the zig-zag path up on to Druim na Saobhaidhe. From a distance this path looked pretty steep, but when foreshortened looked a lot less so. It might just be me, but I think the former view was the correct one


Once passed the deer fence the route continues to climb, more gradually now, but up is up and my legs were hoping we got to more level ground sooner rather than later. There’s a nice section of peat hags that the path goes through. Not too bad for me on the day, but I suspect it would be Hell on earth if the ground were wet

Dropping down to the Allt Gleann a’Mhadaidh and I was entering wild, remote country. The path was excellent and as wild as it was it was also superb



It was an uneventful stroll over a shoulder of Eididh nan Clach Geala to the Lochan Sgeireach. Here the path appears to end, but at the point this happened a sharp right turn alongside the burn and then the small lochan and it was easily relocated. I also managed to locate the path through the moonscape rocks and on up passed Meal Glac an Ruighe


It’s usually about this time, when I’m right in the middle of nowhere, that I start to thinking that I’m a forty s...cough, splutter....year old man in middle aged heart attack territory wandering around on his own in the middle of nowhere, with nothing or no one around for miles in any direction should the worst happen



The trickiest part of the route was then the point at which to leave the path and drop down the gully toward the Gate of Ca’derg

I did overshoot slightly, but a quick left turn and I was back on track (if not actually on a track


They spied me, but showed no immediate fear.......just standing and staring back at me. A few photos and I was on my way to leave them to their munching

Then came the drop down the gully.
The WH route seemed to suggest dropping right down the gully, although I was temped to traverse to the left and follow a cliff top route around the Cadha Dearg. In the end I followed the WH route, but wished I hadn’t. From what I could tell it was pathless and boggy


Eventually I was heading toward the top of the Gate of Ca’derg. Such a remote, yet beautiful place. An easily confusing terrain if you don’t know what you’re doing, but even so it’s stunning


From here there was a good, if boggy path up toward the point 905 and the start of some cracking views across to Creag an Duine These just got better as I walked the cliff edge and then up on to the summit of Seana Bhraigh


Great views all round from the summit

I spent a few minutes on the summit, enjoying a brief rest and taking in the views. By now the big yellow ball was starting to make an appearance too, although the hoped for views toward Assynt never happened for me.
Then it was a simple case of returning via the same route. I did opt for the cliff top route around the Cadha Dearg this time, which I found much more enjoyable than the suggested WH route!

Once up and over the gully it was plain sailing on the march back to the car.
Nice and warm by now as I took the chance to top up the tan, soaking up great views back toward Inverlael and the mighty An Teallach


All in all, a great walk and a great way to mark 250
