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I was going West on this day no matter what. That's what I told myself before bed on the Friday night anyway. When my alarm went off the next morning I hit snooze and really could not be bothered getting up but remembering the weather forecast and all the posts on Facebook etc stating really good weather I forced myself to get up. Of course once the mutts get wind that a day on the hills may be on the cards all hell breaks loose downstairs.
I had made my mind up the night before that the targets would be the Munro-Corbett double of Maol Chean-dearg and An Ruadh-Stac. In this case it was mainly for the Corbett as I had seen a couple of reports on it and it looked stunning and i planned to save it for a great weather day, well Saturday was that day believe me.
Away up the road to Inverness and over to Coulags where I parked in the already full lay by just west of the bridge, I squeezed into the verge and was away up the track signposted for Torridon by the back of 10 am.
- From Coulags with Love
The dogs were having a ball diving through the vegetation and i was really looking forward to my day ahead. Once a couple of Km's up the track i bumped into an older couple whom i stopped to natter to. It turned out they were from Aberdeen and help run the Camphill school for children with special needs there. What a small world and what a wonderful couple of people dedicating their lives to the children.
- Looking North up the glen
- Looking North, Sgorr Ruadh on the right, the bridge in front
Further up the track i crossed the river and kept going towards the bothy where there were around 8-9 mountain bikers fueling up before carrying on over the track to Torridon, they over took me and to be honest cycling that track looked much harder than walking it
We stopped at the rock where legend has it Fionn MacCumhaill tethered his dogs
- My dogs on the tether where Fionn MacCumhaill tethered his dogs
I made the turn off to the left that would take me up to the bealach and it was then the real climbing began, the walk in along the glen was a breeze and now my lack of fitness was becoming more apparent. The remarkable event of the day was the weather, it was roasting in the sun light, i was dripping with sweat but the minute i was in the shadow of Meall nan Ceapairean while going up Bealach a'Choire Ghairbh it felt a lot colder.
- First sights of the bealach
- Getting there
- And again
- Torridon through the bealach between Sgorr Ruadh and Meall Dearg
- Sgorr Ruadh (left) and Fuar Tholl (right)
Once i made the bealach it An Ruadh-Stac which caught my eye, the most stunning mountain i've seen in a while, certainly no let down in terms of how much i was looking forward to seeing it in real person. I was leaving it till last so took a right at the bealach to start the ascent up to Maol Chean-dearg.
- First sight of An Ruadh-Stac from the bealach
The ground was bad and the scree was energy sapping but i made the top of the first section before you drop a bit of height prior to the final push to the summit. It was here i met a nice guy from Inverness with his two spaniels, lovely wee beasts. We nattered for a while before i took off to make the summit as i knew there were a few folks behind me and i wanted the summit to myself for a while before they all joined me.
- Maol Chean-Dearg coming into sight
- Looking back to the obsession of the day
The section just before the summit was full of boulders and care had to be taken but we made the summit and the views were stunning
- Summit Maol Chean-dearg
- Beinn Damh
- Torridon
- Beinn Liath Mhor (left) and Sgorr Ruadh (right)
- Looking over to Monar
- Beinn Damh
- The nemesis
We sat for ten minutes before being joined by the guy from Inverness. I left shortly after as i saw one of the walking group approaching whom i spoke to briefly on my way back down. I passed another 4-5 of them before coming across a lady all by her self a fair bit behind the group, she asked me as to their whereabouts and this surprised me, i thought walking groups tended to wait for their slowest member but to me the rest of them were bombing on ahead like they had summit fever or something.
The poor lady said she was just a bit slower but she was desperate to get to the summit, this did stick in my mind throughout the rest of the walk. Shortly after i nearly took a wee tumble and went over my ankle which felt quite bad, however after a few choice swear words i was ok and continued to the bealach. I decided to go up and over the rocks to the south east of Loch a' Mhadaidh Ruadh which i would not recommend as the ground is not the easiest. We made the foot of An Ruadh-Stac and it looked daunting. All rock and chimneys
We took a line to the South west and stuck to it, the first section is on rock which was easy to grip to due to it being dry, i'd not want an attempt at that bit in wet. Once past this section the ground become ruff but faint paths trickle in and out of the climb. The dogs are usually good at finding the easiest way up so i followed them and they didn't let me down. After a few stops for food, water and AIR
i made the dip between the top of the climb and the summit, with the summit cairn in sight we plodded up for a well earned rest. The views were stunning, Torridon, the Fannichs, Strathcarron and Auchnashellach hills looked stunning as well as many more than i knew the name of. From this view we saw the lot
- Summit of An Ruadh-Stac
- Maol Chean-dearg from An Ruadh-Stac
- South West along Loch Carron
- Hazy, hills as far as the eye can see, loch Carron
After 30 minutes i reluctantly left the summit for the steep descent, i took out a walking pole to aid me as i didn't want to go over my ankle again.
- The route down An Ruadh-Stac
I made it down safely and let the dogs have a swim in the wee Northern part of Loch A'Mhadaidh Ruadh. They enjoyed cooling off and i threw stones in for them to swim after, this lasted about ten minutes before i had to get going again.
- Dogs cooling off
At the bealach ahead of me were a couple of guys that set a fast pace so i tried to keep up with them to aid my time to getting back. I actually caught them once we reached the glen floor and joined them on the way back to the bothy where we had a look in, what a great bothy with four rooms, two up two down, it's a pity it is so close to the road or i'd probably plan a walk around a night there. I had a rest shortly after that and the two guys took off and i never saw them again. I enjoyed the walk out to the car and once there was delighted with my days efforts.
My thoughts from the summit of An Ruadh-Stac:
Alba nam beanntan ard.........I see the Scotland of high mountainsCheers
