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Still trying to clear up the backlog of reports from last few weeks...
This one will be about a Munro considered boring, the ascent described a long, wet slog up a featureless slope. Hopefully, I'm going to prove that there are no boring routes up Scottish hills
It was a windy Saturday, another day with 50-60mph gusts and climbing anything rocky was out of question. I was in a foul mood after retracing from Foinaven a few days before. The only way to make me feel better was a successful ascent of another hill, preferably something steep and exhausting
Meall Ghaordaidh was one of the options. Kevin has done it before in winter conditions, but he didn't mind returning to the area. He suggested I had a look at maps and check if Meall Ghaordaidh could be combined with another peak, possibly? I did my search and bingo! I found Beinn nan Oighreag!
At 909m, this is almost a Munro, well, one of the highest Corbetts. WH has separate routes for both hills but we found reports combining the Munro and the Corbett. We decided to do a circular:
BTW, many thanks to Rockhopper for posting his recorded GPS route from this walk - helped us navigate
So now, to the story...
WH description says:
"There is space for about four cars a short distance past the bridge over Allt Dhuin Croisg..."
I'd actually argue about the capacity of this small off-road parking
The climb up the Munro was up the usual route, a bit of a slog indeed, especially that the day was far from great, low cloud and showers, plus strong winds:
I was desperate to prove that the Foinaven retreat was a single incident, today not even a hurricane could stop me from reaching the summit!
Not much to say about the initial climb. Across a pasture full of sheep first, then up a track, eventually a well-worn path. Some boggy stages, a few peat hags, it might be more entertaining in winter, I suppose.
Closer to the summit, the ground becomes more rocky, and steeper:
The cloud was hanging low, just below the highest summits, so we didn't hope for any views from the very summit, but surprisingly, as we gained height, the clag thinned just enough to give us a chance for a few snaps...
Tarmachan ridge:
Lower Glen Lochay from above:
Upper Glen Lochay and a shower coming right towards us:
The cloud lifted even more when we reached the summit of Meall Ghaordaidh, thankfully the large stone shelter gave us some protection from the gusts.
Windblown Panther:
We sat down to have a snack, rest and decide what to do next. Despite high winds, it wasn't too cold and weather was slowly improving, so we didn't see a reason why we shouldn't traverse to the Corbett. But first, was the art of taking photos
I said "art" because I can't think about any other word to describe the weird maneuvers Kevin had to undertake to stay upright and still for long enough to get a picture! despite his efforts, half of our photos that day came blurred from camera shakes, but I managed to find a few decent ones.
Loch an Daimh and the dam:
Our next target:
Tarmachan Ridge again:
To traverse to Beinn nan Oighreag, we descended east towards Cam-Chreag, a lower top, but stayed on the side slope just below the ridge line, to be off the wind. There is a vague path to follow:
Further east, the shoulder turns abruptly left, leading to Creag an Tulabhain. The descent straight to the watershed (638m) looked very steep and slippery from above, so we traversed a bit to the north and found an easier line of descent on grassy slopes. The bealach was boggy, but soon we crossed it and began the steep, relentless climb up the opposite slope...
Windblown again, the glen between the two hills acted like a wind tunnel, it was blowy everywhere!
Looking back to the slope we descended, our route to the right hand side, avoiding the crags:
It's over 200m of very steep slope, but once on the ridge, it SHOULD be a pleasant stroll. Nothing pleasant for us, as we were pushed from pillar to post (almost literally!). I struggled to keep my camera steady!
This snap, a bit blurred like most of our photos, shows me trying to keep my balance with my camera in my hand:
Beinn nan Oighreag has two cairns on the flat summit area. We visited both (to be sure we reached the true top), but only took pictures by the southern one, which is perched on a top of a large rock. Here, we found some shelter from the crazy winds.
Lucy's 26th Corbett - sorry for another blurred photo...
Kevin's photo taking pose
View back to the Munro:
North-West to Loch an Daimh:
Hidden behind the rock, with Tarmachan Ridge behind me:
View south, this is our descent route:
After some more dancing with the wind, we began our slow descent back to Glen Lochay. Only after we left the summit I remembered, that it was actually Kevin's half way point on Corbetts! His no. 111! I stopped to congratulate him, but it was too windy for any celebrations
The descent was easy, higher up the slopes are grassy and we followed a path. The path disappeared lower down, but after a short boggy section we came across the upper end of the very same track we used on the ascent, so we simply walked down it back to Duncroisk. Lower down the gusts were not so severe and we even had some sunshine and warmth. I was surprised later on, when I found out, we climbed almost 1200m. it didn't feel like that much at all!
Hadn't it been for the wind, I'd say we had as good a day as this summer has to offer. Strange that very few walkers combine these two hills, I'd say it's a great combo and views on a good day are superb, especially to upper Glen Lyon.
...........
On the following day we visited the Mamores - TR to follow soon.