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I hadn't been out since the three Beinn a'Ghlo munros a month ago. In that time i'd been off on holiday, eaten badly, not had any sports/exercise due to a broken nose and also laziness. I'd also had my first game of football for weeks the night before, and combined with three hours sleep, I felt pretty cack arriving at the car park just short of Auchlean. This feeling not helped by taking not one but TWO wrong turns, first to Insh, then to some forestry track
Fife Flyer and Backpacker had arranged a 7.30-8am-ish start, so I was a tad late after my various detours. After getting ready incredibly quickly, mainly due to the swarm of midges I set off down the road to Auchlean then took the path cutting off towards the forest.
- Road to Auchlean
It's a lovely walk through the forest, with a carpet of purple heather, interspersed with tree and the lovely backdrop of Glen Feshie.
- Through the Forest
There was little breeze at this height and with the overcast conditions, it seemed very humid and I was probably sweating more than Cliff Richard by the time I emerged from the trees to a view of Carn Ban Mor and the long track leading up to it.
- Purple Carpet
I saw tiny figures well into the distance and thought they'd probably be Martin and Gary, and upped my pace (or tried to). As a result i spent much of the ascent breathing out of my ****. The views back down however, were tremendous.
- Glen Feshie and beyond
After a while the excellent path steepens and then relents as it reaches the bealach between the two summit bumps of Carn Ban Mor. I looked ahead and was quite glad i'd soon be getting some breeze, the clag was a price worth paying to cool down a bit.
- Into the Clag
The path becomes a worn track and meets a crossroads above the great plateau of Moine Mhor. I'm assuming it was great as I couldn't actually see it. The left branch heads to Sgor Gaoithe, with a feinter track to Mullach Clach a'Bhlair. No surprises there. I headed straight on and within yards it started raining, briefly heavy but nothing really to worry about, although it did necessitate and annoying change into a waterproof jacket and the seemingly endless footering trying to get the rucksack cover on. The path then meets a landrover-type track, ending just shy of an easy burn crossing of the Allt Sgairnich. I caught up with Martin and Gary here as they'd stopped to don waterproofs in the increasingly heavy rain. We also joined up with Kevin who is also a WHer. After a brief chat we headed off towards Tom Dubh, and eventually dropped down to the bigger river crossing of the Allt Luinneag. No photos of this as it was raining and the camera had been stuffed into a drybag. The others had sensibly brought flip flops, I crossed it barefoot. I swore, a lot. Everyone else got across with no problems other than the absolutely baltic water. Luckily i usually carry at least one spare pair of socks, so used the first pair to dry my feet and stuck the pleasantly fresh ones on.
Looking back, the summits of Sgor Gaioth and Sgoran Dubh Mor (a previous munro) were clear. That looks a fantastic mountain and it's sight dominates the Moine Mhor.
- Sgor Gaoith
After sorting ourselves out, we headed straight up the bouldery slope to Monadh Mor's large plateau, making the summit with no difficulties, other than not realising it was the summit. Luckily I'd touched the cairn and taken a photo or two. We only realised when heading towards the other cairn that it was the lower of the two.
- Monadh Mor Summit
Pleased that we could just completely ignore the other cairn, we headed for the bealach. The descent path is relatively steep but good, and the height loss seemed severe. Or maybe i was still knackered. We headed up the initially nice path to Beinn Bhrotain, which become a massive boulderfield. Thankfully a nice rainbow presented itself giving a great excuse to stop and briefly get my breath back.
- Rainbow
Beinn Bhrotain is a big rounded lump protected and a seemingly endless boulderfield.
- Boulders!
However the summit was soon reached with a mix of glorious sunshine and bitterly cold wind. The summit area consists of a couple of stone shelters and a trig point. We sat down out of the wind and enjoyed some lunch, playing the sunny-day-identify-mountains-around game. We also got a visit from a presumably hungry snow bunting.
- Beinn Bhrotain Summit
It's about 9.3 miles to this point so the thought of the trudge back, especially having to re-ascent Monadh Mor, is a bit annoying. I mentally shelved any half-baked idea to nip up for Sgor Gaoith on the way out and headed down to the bealach, and started the slog up Monadh Mor. The view back down past Bhrotain to Devil's Point and beyond is tremendous.
- Distant Devil's Point
As we slogged up to the plateau, Martin and Kevin made the schoolboy error of taking off their waterproofs. It immediately started to p*ish down, firstly with rain, then with sleet, blown into our faces by the strong wind. The walk back to the summit was less than awesome, but didn't take long. We then dropped and traversed across the slopes of Monadh Mor, back down to the Allt Luinneag, a journey during which I seemed determined to have an accident, twice standing in a wee hole and my knee bending the wrong way. Again, I may have sworn a bit.
Arriving at the even faster-flowing river, thanks to the not inconsiderable rain/sleet over the day, crossings were again discussed. I couldn't be bothered with the barefoot stuff so just walked through in the my boots. I was wet but not too cold. Kevin went barefoot and slipped on the bank. Everyone else was unscathed. All that remained was the long trudge up the track to Carn Ban Mor and eventually back to the car park.
- Heading back to Carn Ban Mor
All in all a fine day on two fine hills. I was absolutely wrecked by the time we eventually got back to the car, again attacked by midges.
But quite pleased with a good day in almost every weather condition imaginable, and also with the decision to leave Sgor Gaoith, as i wanted to leave it for a really good day. An additional bonus was not getting lost on the way out of the glen.
Thanks to Martin, Gary and Kevin for a great day out.
