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Grahams: An Ruadh-mheallan
Date walked: 10/12/2008
Time taken: 2 hours
Distance: 5 km
Ascent: 450m
Weather: Calm, cold and overcast, but with nice light
Another quick clearing of the closet from 2008 (again a little short on photos). Site visits in Lochcarron and Diabaig meant I was in the Torridon area after lunch. There had been some lethal early morning ice on the Achnasheen road, with about 5 cars in the ditch in a 3 mile stretch, but luckily this had thawed by the time I was round at Diabaig, and I enjoyed a scenic drive round, the corries of Beinn Bhan looking impressive enough to stop for a photo.
I parked at the high point of the road and threaded my way around various outcrops and lochans - not really the terrain for walking in a straight line!
I hit the snowline at about 450m, but it was only soft stuff, so made easy progress to the summit. Conditions were slightly overcast but still with great views of Loch Torridon, Ben Damh and out to Skye etc. There were also some nice shafts of sunlight on the surrounding hills.
Towards Gairloch:
Beinn Alligin:
Beinn Damh and Loch Damh:
Beinn Shieldaig and Beinn Bhan:
While I definitely recommend this hill as a viewpoint, it isn't a very good place to see the most popular Torridon peaks, as they are mostly blocked out by one of the less interesting shoulders of Ben Alligin. It was a great spot to be standing on a rather short winter's afternoon though.
I returned almost the same route, but ended up a bit further down the road and walked back up the final hill to the van. Despite the fiddly ground on the approach, this walk didn't take much more than an hour and a half. It was probably around this point that I really got stuck into the Grahams in a big way, having found a fair few lumps like this one in the preceding weeks to have provided great views.
