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The forecast seemed pretty good everywhere so I didn't need to worry about weather chasing, I could just go wherever I wanted - sometimes, I hate that as I can never decide but the Quinag Corbetts have been high on my list for a while now so eventually the decision was taken and I would head for the north west.
With the decision taken just before 11pm the night before I then needed to set the alarm for 4am so not much sleep to be had (journey time seemed to be about 4.5hrs according to the AA).
The journey was fairly uneventful (I managed to avoid the deer for a change) with the excitement building once past Bonar Bridge and heading west on single track roads. Weather wise it was either fairly thick fog or completely blue skies and sunshine so I wasn't sure what I would get for the start of the walk. As I got closer to my target hills it seemed to be blue sky all the way, that is until just after Inchnadamph when a bank of higher cloud appeared and covered the sun.
First car in the car park (which was a surprise at 9.30am) and walking for 9.40am.
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- A view of the first part of my walk
I chose to follow the recommended WH route so I crossed the bridge and walked up to the large cairn taking the left hand fork that would take me over to the lower slopes of Spidean Coinich. There is a line of natural rocky slabs to be followed which lead to the wide east ridge. I prefer climbs that are gentle on the legs to start with making this one perfect, the gradient is very easy and with a lot of rock slabs to be utilised it's also very dry.
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- Typical rock slabs with the summit of Spidean Coinich appearing
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- First good view of the top with the clouds clearing
This is an amazing October (so far), another still morning and even just with a single short sleeved top on it's a warm climb and with the easy gradient and rocky slabs it doesn't take long to get to the 620m point where there is a short descent before the steeper climb up to the summit of the first Corbett of the day.
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- Looking over to Sail Gharbh
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- Made it - Corbie 1
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- The walk ahead of me
With the clouds clearing the views are getting better but there is a bit of haze restricting my distance views as well as a bank of cloud out to sea but hey, it's still terrific
I can imagine in poor conditions it can be tricky to find the path off the top of Spidean Coinich but not today and my route is clear and obvious - it also looks like it will be good fun.
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- Looking back to Spidean Coinich
The hardest thing about walking along the ridge is making sure you concentrate on where you put your feet and don't get tempted to look around at the fantastic scenery. After the north top at 713m the ridge narrows and then there is a steep rocky descent down to Bealach a Chornaidh at 570m.
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- Looking down to the bealach and the climb back up to the 745m top
On the descent I could hear voices and then noticed a couple of guys climbing up my descent path when I come off my third Corbie. The climb up from the bealach to the 745m top is pretty steep but all the effort is rewarded with a fantastic viewpoint (it deserves a name - nothing on my map).
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- The climbs already covered
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- Looking back from the 745m top
I spent a few minutes at the top taking in the views and looking at the route of the path across to Sail Gorm.
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- More fun ahead
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- The final climb looks straight forward
The final section off the 745m top is steep but there is a good path and there are no problems and it's now a straight forward walk over to Sail Gorm with one short section where the path narrows and the drop off to my right looks a bit "interesting".
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- Rocky cleft
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- Sail Gorm summit
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- Zoomed down to some of the distant houses
After a quick stop at the summit of Sail Gorm for a sandwich it was time to retrace my steps back to the 745m top where I would then head over to Sail Gharbh.
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- My route back to the 745m top
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- Nearly back at 745m top
There is a by-pass path to avoid some of the climb back up to the 745m top but the temptation to check out the views a final time is too strong so I plod on and spend a few minutes at the top.
The walk over to Sail Gharbh looks to be the easiest of the day and that proves to be the case and in only a few minutes I arrive at a busier summit. An American family arrived 5 minutes ahead of me and I leave them to it and carry on about 100 yards to where I get a better view down to the Kylesku Bridge ( I can remember when it was a ferry crossing, only just mind, only just
)
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- Kylesku Bridge zoomed
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- Fish farm zoomed
A short walk back to the summit but it's still quite busy so I head off (sounds a bit unsociable I guess but it had been such a wonderful silent day it just felt wrong somehow). Heading back towards the 745m top (which is the focal point of this walk) and the 703m bealach, a cairn marks the point where the path descends down into the coire before swinging round and heading back towards the start of the walk (keeping to the north of Lochan Bealach Cornaidh).
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- This shows how steep the descent of Spidean Coinich is
Once down on the flat alongside the lochan the walking is easy, a few damp sections on the path but nothing compared to some of my recent walks.
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- Looking over to the car park with what looks like an interesting climb behind it
The sounds of a few rutting deer keep me company on the walk back to the car, assume these are the sensible ones that choose to spend October on John Muir Trust land.
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- How good was that?
All that's left now is the four and a bit hour drive home. The extra bit was following someone in the 40mph zone (for tree felling) on the A9, he averaged 30mph and each time he got close to the average speed cameras he braked hard leaving an HGV driver and around 40 odd cars a "little bit frustrated".
I had read the reports on these hills and had looked forward to them for some time, they didn't disappoint. I'd waited a long time to get the right day to do these hills and the wait paid off with a great day (just wish it wasn't so far away but then again I suppose it would be a lot busier).
