free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Forecast suggested this was going to be a cracking weekend, and I'd decided we'd put a few more miles on the car and head to Lochcarron - the Applecross Corbetts of Beinn Bhan and Sgurr a'Chaorachain were overdue a visit. As the week drew on, however, the forecast became less promising, but a thought put in motion was not going to be stopped. Leaving work behind on Friday afternoon we motored up to the Wee Campsite in Lochcarron, passing numerous vintage sportscars on some three day event. As we turned up Croft Road and into the campsite we were met by about a million motorbikes, with nearly every available pitch taken up - a bikers' rally clearly enough. It was gone 7pm and too late to consider going anywhere else, but it was with some trepidation we pitched in a small area in the parking lot. Have to say the bikers were a good natured lot (when they returned from the pub at closing time and woke us up).
A busy Wee Campsite
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Al, on Flickr
Morning was overcast with a band of thick fog covering the road as I turned up towards the bealach na ba road. Faint outlines of hills peeped out of the mist, but it was quite disorientating. We'd decided to climb up the SE shoulder of Chaorachain and link it in a grand horseshoe with Beinn Bhan - something I was surprised to see hadn't featured yet in the WH walk reports - seemed an obvious way to link these two beauties. Having read AnnieMacD's useful report we were prepared for a bit of scrambling over the terraces. As we walked over boggy ground to the foot of the hill the clag steadily cleared and we could see what we were up against. Allison led, finding deer tracks that led into a more human path - some nice short sections of scrabbling between 550-600m and we were onto the easier slopes leading up to the summit. Over to the right, was dramatic outline of Na Ciochan whilst ahead the remains of the spur that links the summit with the main body of the hill undulates over a couple of tops before reaching the monstrosity of metal that is the antenna.
Morning mist
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Sgurr a'Chaorachain
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Al, on Flickr
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Shoulder of Beinn Bhan
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Al, on Flickr
Na Ciochan
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Al, on Flickr
Chaorachain summit
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Setting off for the antenna top
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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We followed the egde of the lip of Coire Nan Arr - Corrie of the Giant - and enjoyed the variety of geological features to be found at our feet. It's an impressive mountainscape. We paused for lunch near one of the little lochans and enjoyed the "infinity pool" appearance. The terrain is rough underfoot and made more disconcerting by the fact that over to your left runs the road - we could hear numerous motorbikes zip by and see people standing at the viewpoint on the Bealach na Ba - actually above us (and we're climbing a mountain

) We continued onto the summit of Carn Dearg (SIM bagging has a lot to answer for), enjoying views over to Raasay, with the diminutive flat topped Dun Cann clearly visible, before descending to the Bealach nan Arr and joining a clear path that led up onto beinn Bhan. We met another walker here who was doing the two hills from the Bealach na Ba. Personally I consider that a shameful way to climb these two beauties, as you miss out almost all the best features of both hills.
Coire nan Arr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Rough terrain
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Torridian Cheese Rock
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Al, on Flickr
View over to Raasay
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Al, on Flickr
Na Ciochan from the other side
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Al, on Flickr
Crazed rock, crazed Sick Kid
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Al, on Flickr
Bealach nan Arr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Up over flattish ground to the impressive natural stone trig that marks the summit of Bhan. Views were good back to Chaorachain, although clouds prevented further horizons being visible. We wandered SE onto the broad beginnings of the downward ridge and were then gobsmacked by the appearance of Coire na Poite and A'Chioch - truely outstanding formations and I could see the attraction of scrambling/climbing up this way (if you possess more nerve than me). We followed the shoulder down to about 180m after which we turned towards the road, meeting it slightly before the bridge and walking back up the road for the mile or so to where the car was parked.
Towards summit Bhan
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Long shoulder of Bhan to descend
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Al, on Flickr
A Cioch
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Chaorachain
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Al, on Flickr
and again
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
View from the bridge
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Al, on Flickr
Welcome sight
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
More arrivals at the campsite
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Al, on Flickr
I was thinking, as \I drove back to the campsite, that the bikers might have packed up and gone off to their next port of call - however no, they hadn't and in fact, in our absence, even more had arrived. We cooked tea and chatted to some of the neighbouring folk who seemed decent guys - in fact it seemed rather like a WH meet, with hills replaced by Harleys

- all the same banter just with a different subject. The pub was pretty mobbed so we only stayed for one. Unfortunately sleep was a little hard to come by, not least due to the polyphonic snoring coming from a sizable number of the bikers' tents. Ach well
