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We've been pondering these hills since moving to the Black Isle just over 3 years ago – almost every time we head west they appear on the horizon, along with their near neighbours in Glen Cannich. The reason it's taken so long for them to filter to the top of the to-do list is that Strathfarrar is a restricted area. Even in summer the gate is only open for a maximum of 11 hours and I am a slow walker – so we wondered about doing 2 of the hills from Strathfarrar and 2 from Glen Orrin, but then this year we've done some pretty long walks – which have done wonders for both my fitness and confidence (especially when I realised that part of the reason I'm so slow is the number of photos I take on the way – well sometimes its necessary to get a bit of a break
).
So we worked out timings for the walk and an escape route – at least 3 munros should be possible so if we weren't at the top of Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais by 2:30pm we'd cut the walk short and do Sgurr Fhuar-thuill from the north. But it would mean no hanging about and a strict limit on the photo ops
.
So we set off from home in thick fog, which was promising to burn off, (we did hope we might even get a cloud inversion on the early part of the walk.) Its about an hour's drive and we arrived at the gate for 8:45, first car there so we settled down to wait (it transpires we should have waited in the car park on the left which we hadn't noticed
) while we waited the faint remnants of mist disappeared – no cloud inversion then. A couple of SSE vans came along, their occupants let themselves in to the glen and locked us out. Then a mountain rescue vehicle came along – it transpired that a climber had been injured and was being brought off the hill – I hope the injuries aren't too serious and the person concerned is making a good recovery.
Dead on 9am we were allowed into the glen – would we be back by 8pm?
Strathfarrar is a beautiful glen, but it was clear that this was going to be a scorcher of a day – well we were prepared, got the sun hat, sun cream and lots of water, including extra water for the dogs. Parked the car, got the stuff out ready for the off – first disaster of the day – my platypus had leaked the best part of 2 litres of water all over the boot of the car
OK fill it up at the first burn.
Several other walkers appeared, some, like us were parking at the east end of the glen, some going on to the far end. Most were sensibly using bikes to do the 6k of road work. We were planning to walk the lot (not sure how B&B would take to running after bikes – they might use it as an excuse to go in a completely different direction). One couple set off for the west end on bikes to walk the opposite way round from us, we would meet up in the hills later!
The walking started of very gently, lovely green landscape, filled up the platypus and gradually worked our way higher. As we did the day got hotter and hotter and the cleggs more and more vicious. My legs went slower and slower, the quads were really feeling the heat. At one point I wondered if I was going to bale out because it was too hot, in Scotland
Eventually we got high enough to catch the breeze, and from then on things got easier, I even sneaked in a few (illegal) photo ops. These hills really were green and gentle. Height and breeze dealt with the cleggs.
Sgurr na Ruaidhe (right) and Carn nan Gobhar
Looking back down Corie Mhuillich
Some of the Mullardoch Hills
Interesting view of Sgurr na Muice
Spotted a cloudberry on the way – first time I've noticed one still growing!
Sgurr na Ruaidhe
Regulation cereal bar break at the top of Sgurr na Ruaidhe and a few photos,
Hot dogs?
Classy head wear
Mullardoch to Affric
then off to Carn nan Gobhar – very straight forward descent / ascent. Quick break, enjoyed the views then off to Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais, where we planned to have lunch.
From Carn na Gobhar to Sgurr a Corie Ghlass
No we weren't hanging about, the curfew at 8:00 pm was being taken very seriously!!
Heading towards the bealach between Carn nan Gobhar and Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais we had the second disaster of the day – Biggles suddenly took off at great speed chasing down the south side of the hill. Much to our shame we hadn't noticed until a walker behind us shouted an alert – at which point Bertie decided to follow the pack leader's example. Called him back without too much effort, but Biggles on a mission is a different dog.
Roger sped off down the hill after him, not knowing if the dog was chasing something or had smelt carrion. In the event Biggles came back before Roger got to him – wise move – but it has left us worried about what he did
. The guy behind us didn't see a chase, but thought Biggles might have taken off to attack a young animal hidden in the grass below – theoretically possible but with hindsight unlikely as what ever it was was quite a way away and young deer don't have much scent. We certainly didn't see any other wild life in the area, so our suspicions are that it was carrion he went for, but even so his reluctance to come back was sobering
. Roger was so angry with Biggles that he and the dogs made a very rapid ascent of Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais.
We reached Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais by the back of 2, which is what we thought we'd need to do. if we were to do all four munros, so had lunch took a few more photos then off for the final hill of the day.
Loch Monar
Looking north west
Heading to Sgurr Fhuar-thuill
On the way over to Sgurr Fhuar-thuill we met the couple we'd seen at the car park who had cycled to the west end of the walk and were doing the trip the opposite way from us. A quick chat about heat and amazing views then we all continued on our way. Looking down into Glen Orrin I'm glad we did these hills by the Strafarrar route – the north side of these hills looks like a complete bogfest!
The route to the top is easy and rewards with some stunning views – although as the afternoon wore on they were becoming very hazy.
The Torridons
Sgurr na Muice and the south west
The route down
further down - where it is wet
The route down was straight forward – although seemed to be longer than I had expected
– and was wet in places, but the lack of water in the waterfall show how dry it is up there at the moment.
Waterfall
We were back at the road by 5:30, so only 6 km to go then
From the start of the walk back along the road
It isn't such a bad walk at all – beautiful glen, very few cars and the evening was lovely. Strathfarrar has clearly been more populated in the past – we passed various ruins.
Ruin
Knowing we didn't need to rush so much made the walk back more leisurely, with Sgorr na Diollaid keeping a watchful eye on us.
Sgorr na Diollaid
River Farrar
Back at the car park we arrived just as the cycling couple did (7pm) – which really made our day, even Biggles was somewhat forgiven.
