Corbett Trio in Glen Dessarry

[weaselmaster]

With the promise of one sunny day over the weekend, I just couldn't stay away from the Bounds of Knoydart. After last weekend's aborted plans to tackle some of the Dessarry hills I decided we were going back in. I had never driven along the Loch Arkaig road and had some reservations about it, mostly due to people using words such as "20 mile rollercoaster" and "awful road" but it had to be driven sometime. Couldn't get away from work til 4.30 on Friday and then there was the problem of *tiredness*. Now, any fool can tell you it's not a great idea to drive tired. As I had sat up til 4am watching the Election on Thursday night/Friday morning then had to get up for work at 7am I was a wee bitty tired So it made for an interesting journey. By the time I'd had a bit of food going thru Glencoe I felt better however and quite enjoyed the plunging ups and downs of the single track road - other than when we met the "Horses" truck on a blind summit (and there are very many blind summits on this road). I'd used googlemaps to scope out a possible camp-spot near the start of the walks and was pleased to see that it met the bill very well, and that it was free of other campers - lots of fisherfolk tents elsewhere along the loch. So we pitched, had a quick beer then off to bed - for some reason I had a sound night - can't think why

Driving along Loch Arkaig
P1070475 by Al, on Flickr

P1070478 by Al, on Flickr

Pitch
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Saturday morning was a beauty - looking out across the loch in dazzling sunshine, over to the right is Sgurr Thuilm, still snowy-capped. A leisurely breakfast in the sun, then we decide just to leave the tent up and the car by it and walk the extra 0.5km to the gate. More campers down by the loch by the gate, and a new car-parking area that doesn't feature in googlemaps. Our target for today were Sgurr Mhurlagain and Fraoch Bheinn. Being in this part of the world I was expecting steep and rocky as the order of the day - not what was delivered by any means. The tarmac track is exited with a right turn up the hillside marked for Tomdoun that passes alongside the Dearg Allt then crosses over some boggy ground on the way to the start of the shoulder of Sgurr Mhurlagain. It's just a grassy stroll the whole way up! Certainly not a Sgurr from this direction. There are pretty views along the miles of Loch Arkaig and the scenery is dominated by the Glenfinnan hills in the South - Thuilm and Streap being joined by the bulk of Gaor Bheinn and the lesser height of Braigh nan Umahachan as one climbs and gains a fuller view. A microlight appears from the Glenfinnan direction, circles around the peak of Thuilm before returning - what a glorious view they must have had today.

View from the tent - Saturday morning
P1070484 by Al, on Flickr

Thuilm & Streap
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Barrack ruins
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Warning!
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Track going up hillside on R
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Glenfinnan Pano
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Hillpath
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Fraoch Bheinn
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Mhurlagain
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Gaor Bheinn
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Streap & Thuilm again
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Easy for a Knoydart-ish hill - the rounded back of Mhurlagain
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Big Ben
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Loch Arkaig
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As we gain more height views to the northwest open up, with the long ridge from Gaorich to Sgurr Mor and beyond, in the distance, Sgurr na Ciche and Ben Aden. There's some snow held in the north facing corrie at the summit plateau of Mhurlagain as we cross the summit and go out to the Northeast promontary. Coming back the wind is cold as it has been blown up over the snow lined corrie. We retrace our steps for a bit then descend to the Feith a'Bhrolaich and stop for a languorous lunch in the sun. We look up at the face of Fraoch Bheinn, pick a line to the left of the crags near the top to ascend by and enjoy a modest meander up the grass, disturbing a pair of ravens who are presumably nesting somewhere round here as they chatter away to us for a while before flying off in disgust. A few wee scrambly bits (should you be so inclined) and the top of Fraoch Bheinn is reached. There's the odd snow patch, some with large footprints - either a Yeti or perhaps Scoob who was up here last week. We cross from the summit to the North top and enjoy views across the mix of Munros and Corbetts in Dessarry/Knoydart. Bidean a'Chabhair looks particularly impressive with its twin peaks. We can see the curving horseshoe of Sgurr Cos na Breachd-Laoidh, tomorrow's hill.

The Quoich Hills
P1070511 by Al, on Flickr

Along the ridge towards Sgurr na Ciche
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Quoich Pano
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Fraoch Bheinn
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Ascent
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Carn Mor & Bidean a'Chabhair
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Summit Fraoch Bheinn
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View across to Mhurlagain
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North Pano
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Sgurr Cos na Breachd-Laoigh... tomorrow's target
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It's a gentle descent down the shoulder of Fraoch Bheinn, eventually rejoining the ascent path at the fence/gate. On the way back along the track we see an number of walkers with big packs - we speak to a couple and realise that these are folk out doing TGO Challenge. We walk with them back to our tent, wish them well on the rest of their journey and marvel at being back at base before four pm with 2 Corbetts in the bag, sunshine and some beer cooling in the loch waters. A number of other TGO folk walk by as we sit and lazily bask in the sun - until the wind gets up and forces the donning of various layers.

Descent
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Bidean a'Chabhair
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Stats
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Sitting in the sun!
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It rains all night. The forecast I'd seen was for rain after lunchtime only, but there's obviously been a change of plan. I wake up quite refreshed at 6.25, but the drumming of rain on the tent cools my enthusiasm and I lie awake listening to a pair of cuckoos, one each side of the loch, try to outdo one another. Sometimes we have stereo cookoos, sometimes out of phase. We get up around 8 - it's still raining and a peer out the tent shows the clouds sitting at around 500m. Ah - at least we had excellent views yesterday. We pack up the tent in the rain and drive up to the car parking area - no sense in having more distance to walk in the rain. It's initially along the same track as yesterday, but instead of going up the hillside along the Allt Dearg, one continues along the track past Glen Dessarry Lodge and onto the grassy slopes that border Coire Chicheanais to the south. Steady incline with a few rocky sections thrown in, stony shapes looming out of the mist. We reach the top section and have a wander over snow patches and lochans til we find the pile of stones marking the summit. By now it is cold and wet, a vicious wind whipping at our waterproofs. We follow the line of fenceposts NE across a narrowish ridge, stopping in the shelter behind the pinnacle A'Chioch for some lunch. I have a half-hearted attempt to climb it but give up on account of the wet stone, winds and being a feartie.

Change in the weather on Sunday
P1070548 by Al, on Flickr

P1070549 by Al, on Flickr

Sgurr Cos...
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This represents local attitudes to wildlife
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Glen Dessarry Lodge
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Up the shoulder
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Things disappearing in the clag
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Approaching the cairn
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Walking over the ridge
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"The Pinnacle"
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We press on, up the rise to Druim a'Chuirn then down the SE shoulder to eventually join a stalker's path which leads us back to the wee bridge over the Allt na Feithe. Walking back to the car we meet a mature gentleman carrying a modest pack who is on his second week of walking, having come down from Skye, by Loch Quioch and is now heading through the pass to Glenfinnan. Meanwhile, we reach the car, divest ourselves of wet layers and prepare for a long wet drive home. On the road the is a rollercoaster we once again meet the "Horses" van on a blind summit - what on earth do they do with horses in Glendessarry that they're always trasnporting them?

Up to Druim a'Chuirn
P1070564 by Al, on Flickr

Easter Island Head?
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Descent ridge
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P1070569 by Al, on Flickr

[AnnieMacD]

Amazing views and what a great camp spot. Sorry about the rain on Sunday - you win some and lose some.

Don't know what's up with Flickr - they have changed it again. The only way I can get into the individual photos in my photostream to get the BBCode is to open a photo in a new window (by right-clicking and selecting Open etc). What a pain and just when I got used to the 'new' look!