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The day after two thirds of SGS we overslept
Weather wasn't as good but still decent enough to visit a mountain, the best chance to avoid showers was in the far north so that's where we went.
It was too late when we arrived by Loch Stack, to even consider climbing Foinaven and to be honest, it's such a magnificent hill that we'd prefer to keep it for a sunny day with blue skies. Photos come out much better when the sun shines
Having climbed Arkle last year, now we opted for Meall Horn. I was saving this one for winter, but here it comes.
I hope I'm doing a good job advertising some less popular mountains, especially Corbetts and Grahams. When you say Sutherland (or far north) what do you think about? Arkle & Foinaven obviously, maybe Cranstackie, Ben Stack, Ben Hope. Who remembers poor Meall Horn?
One may consider this hill a boring, boggy lump, a sidekick to its two higher and more shapely brothers, and maybe there is some truth to it, but Meall Horn can be a great walk on its own - WH route suggest a good circuit, starting up the track between Arkle and MH and descending via Cadha Cumhainn bealach and the lower top, Creachan Tormaid.
One word of warning: this route ain't dry!
We started from the car park by Loch Stack and walked on the tarmac to Lone. The cliffs of Arkle always look magnificent from this approach and even though the day was grey with lots of high cloud, we held our hopes high:
Can this be "our" mountain? Yes, it is
We proceeded through Gates to Arkle and The Ked Forest (a small pine plantation where last year we were attacked by thousands of the wee flat b***rs). Views behind us opened up nicely, south to Ben Stack and the loch:
We followed the track for about 3 km, gaining roughly 300m in height. Of course we knew, we had to leave it and enjoy the bog feast at some point...
The trudge will begin soon:
We picked what seemed the easiest line, but still wasted some time traversing peat hags. A few days later, when we visited the infamous Drynachan Graham (one of the most peat-haggy hills on the list), we were well prepared for the challenge!
Looking back at the wet area and the track across the dip:
What was left now, looked easy: another 300m of ascent on steep-ish, grassy slope. It must have rained the previous night 'cause the ground was quite slippery, but I was in good mood. It might have been a day with fifty shades of grey, but who cares, we were going up another mountain!
Only when we gained more height, we were rewarded with better panos... The best views are towards Arkle:
...and to the south, where Quinag and Suilven dominate the horizon:
It didn't take us long to gain the ridge between the two tops of Meall Horn. We didn't bother visiting the lower top and aimed straight for the summit.
Creagan Meall Horn and Foinaven behind it from near the summit:
Cool! I hauled my big fat ass up one more mountain!
Zoom to Arkle. This hill never ceases to amaze me. I must visit it again:
Cranstackie and Beinn Spionnaidh plus Loch Eriboll:
Loch Eriboll zoomed:
On the northern horizon, Ben Hope is a dominant feature, with multiple tops of Ben Loyal hiding behind the Munro:
Soon we were on the summit of Meall Horn, which has a substantial cairn:
Lucy posing with Foinaven. MH was her third Corbett!
Sadly, the summit of Meall Horn is not the best viewpoint to Foinaven, as the long ridge of the latter is not seen face-on. The best vantage point to Foinaven is from Arkle, where one can appreciate every top an every corrie of this magnificent mountain.
View east from the summit towards Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughaill, which we visited earlier this year:
The last remnants of winter:
View south to our descent route. The easiest way would be to retrace steps back to the track and I bet all those doing the Sutherland giants in one go would do exactly that, but we were in no hurry. We could allow ourselves to do some explorations
After a short snack break on the summit, we descended the southern slopes to Cadha Cumhann, a high col. This place provides superb views down to the corrie below, harbouring Loch a'Choire Ghranda:
Meall Horn from the col:
So far, the terrain was easy, mostly dry grass and some flat slabs, quick going:
Arkle and Foinaven from the lower top, Creachan Tormaid:
Zoom to Foinaven. I have to get back on a good day and scramble up this mountain! Looks sooo much fun for Panther paws!
Suilven, the menace from the past:
The descent from Creachan Tormaid is steep to start with, lower down it becomes boggy with plenty of peat hags, but most of them can be avoided. It's kinda entertaining, searching for the way across them
Looking back at the steeper section and the hags below:
Rather than going down the steep side of Bad an Taghain, we stayed more to the left on less steep and more grassy terrain. We aimed for a small footbridge over Abhainn an Loinn. We had to cross one big peat hag, but apart from that, easy underfoot:
We located the track before the footbridge and all we had to do now was following it back to Loch Stack. The track descends more steeply between the cliffs of Bad an Taghain and it is a bit tumbly in places, but we didn't complain.
Mountain track stripping
We were lucky that the cloud stayed well above the summits and though the day was gray, we still enjoyed some superb Sutherland/Assynt views. On the way back, we admired the cliffs of Arkle one more time:
Summing up: more entertaining than one would think looking at the map
Boggy and peat-haggy in places, but no hard core stuff
A good one for winter (maybe we will repeat it in snow) and a great viewpoint. Whetted my appetite for the Big Brother Foinaven!
My next TR will cover a certain Aberdeenshire Graham and describe our encounter with Alfred Hitchcock's Birds!
