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I was a wee bit concerned that we might not get away this weekend. Allison was living up to her name and was smitten by some cold bug that made her a living snot machine. Sent home from work on Wednesday I wasn't optimistic about our chances. I had picked several short routes that even an ailing Sick Kid might manage and she gamely opted to give it a go. I picked her up around 8 on Thursday (it's great, this phased retirement milarky) and we set off up to Cannich, which would be our base for the weekend. She seemed alive enough for a wee daunder on the way up - Beinn na Sroine, probably the quickest Graham of them all, just a few miles along the Dalmally road from Tyndrum.
We parked up in the small layby and got togged up - it's just a straight up and down this one, no Simms or other interesting deviations to add on. We ploughtered up the grassy slopes into mist - Ben Lui, that nemesis of mine hiding her upper slopes away. We made the trig point in under an hour and paused for an early lunch in a hollow on the return leg.
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
No quite deid yet
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Back at the car it was a case of get out of damp rain gear and drive on to Fort William for a visit to Morrisons to stock up on Pie (apple this weekend, since you ask). Then on up the road to Drumnadrochit, the "Land of Cheese" and beyond to Cannich. We'd stayed at the campsite here before and pitched in amongst the pines. Arriving early enough to pitch in the light, we had tea and headed off to The Slater's Arms for a Guinness. We spoke to Matt, the campsiteman who told us that it had been -11 at the site on Monday - was nowhere near that this weekend.
Campsite
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Al, on Flickr
Friday's hill was Beinn na Muice, deep in Glen Strathfarrar. The previous twice we've been in the Glen, we've walked - this time we were going to drive - excitement! I'd phoned the MCofS midweek for the combination code and felt all prepared when we got to The Gate... numerous padlocks, of which only one seemed to be of the combination variety. Problem was - this one had 5 digits whilst the code we had was only 4 digits. After trying a 0 at the start and end and any other combo I could think of, we were still stuck outside the gate. Damn. Allison noticed another padlock, black, with numbers underneath - this was The One. The code worked and we were inside The Glen
A pleasant morning for a spin up Strathfarrar. The famed potholes seemed to have been fixed in all but the last 3 or 4 miles of the route. We drove towards the dam, parking by a wee wood. Beinn na Muice was straight ahead of us, to the left the northern Mullardoch hills - Sgurr na Lapaich catching the eye. We wandered up the track round to the east of Muice, gaining some 150m in the process. Further north sat the imposing bulk of Sgurr na Muice, with Sgurr Fhuar -Thuill beyond. We crossed some boggy ground before beginning up the steep slopes of Beinn na Muice. And they were steep - heather, wet grass and slippy crags. Some tricky moments. After about 550m the pace lessened a bit, there were still a few more knobbles to climb before we were on the summit plateau. Good views west along Loch Monar to the Achnashellach hills.
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Al, on Flickr
Beinn na Muice
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Al, on Flickr
Sgurr na Lapaich
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Steep ascent
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Sgurr na Muice and the Strathfarrar Munros
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Al, on Flickr
Approaching the summit
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Al, on Flickr
View along Loch Monar
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
The diminutive Meallan Innis an Locheil
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Al, on Flickr
We continued the east-west traverse then headed down NW - a much easier route than the ascent - to meet the road by Monar Lodge. We'd decided to tag on Meallan Innis an Locheil, a dinky little Marilyn on the other side of the dam. This involved walking over the dam, straight up and back down. Gave some fine views of Beinn na Muice. On the return route Allison's obsession for Trig Points was excited
Back along the glen, passing any number of fine specimen stags, through the gate and back to Cannich in good time. A shower proved reviving before we settled down to a long winter's night.
View to Monar Lodge
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Our Marilyn
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Beinn na Muice
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
The Gate
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Al, on Flickr
Saturday we'd chosen Carn Gorm, the hill just to the north of Cannich. Most routes are given from Craskie, but I'd noticed an old route of Malky's that ended at the campsite, so had decided to give that a bash, tagging on 3 Simms for good measure. We walked through the village and up the Struay road for a little, crossing a river and immediately turning steeply uphill through a gate onto what is probably a stalker's track. Entering a fenced off area of regenerating woodland took us to a higher gate and onto the open hillside. There's an ATV track to follow that headed roughly the way we wanted to go. It's quite boggy and featureless, but it was a fine morning with blue sky, although a chilly wind. We made for Carn Cul-sgor first of all, then continued along to Carn Gorm. Further west, the distinctive sharp top of Sgurr na Diollaid razors the sky. The wind strengthens, we take shelter behind a peat hag to have lunch then continue over to the two tops of Sgurr na Ruadhraich - it's so cold that I reach for my Dachsteins to stop my fingers freezing. Some rain spatters, just to add to the mix.
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Carn Cul-sgor
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Al, on Flickr
Carn Gorm, Diollaid in backdrop
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Al, on Flickr
Summit
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Al, on Flickr
Sgurr Ruadhraich
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Al, on Flickr
The Simms done, we return to the south of the lochan and contour round the southern slopes of Carn Gorm to meet with our outward route. We get some moody views down to Glen Affric, a finger of sunshine picks out Cannich as we wander back to the tent. A pleasant meal and some Old Pulteney to assist with slumber
View down Affric
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Al, on Flickr
Carn Gorm
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Sunday - well I'd planned to climb Beinn a'Mheadhoin down in Glen Affric. This was another very short hillwalk, only around 5km. I'd considered adding on the adjacent Simm Am Meallan which involved a considerable re-ascent. It was also going through my mind to drive to Cougie instead and climb Carn a'Chaochain instead - fearing the Cougie road would be vulnerable to wintry weather - but I hadn't charted a route for that hill. In the end I decided we'd go with the original plan and we drove along lovely Glen Affric - lovely, that is until all the works widening the road, laying new pipeline etc came into view. A real scunner. We parked at Chisolm Bridge, the car park having been subsumed by machinery, and set off, the skies looking leaden and rain laden. The mountain tops were obscured by clag, another disappointment.
Chisolm Bridge
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Al, on Flickr
Am Meallan
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Walking up the track we turned off to our right up the nondescript slopes of Beinn a'Mheadhoin. Over to the left rose Am Meallan, but the river crossing involved in heading that way looked far from inviting. It's a steady and easy pull up Mheadhoin, there are twin prominences at the top, of which the southern is the higher. There are also two cairns on this one, neither marking the true summit it seemed to me. By this time it was raining steadily and plans for doing anything else were abandoned. On the way down the clag cleared a little, revealing a smattering on new snow on the summit of Sgurr na Lapaich. We were back at the car for lunch. I briefly thought about driving round to Cougie, but as Allison's coughin made her sound more in need of the sanatorium in Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain rather than another Graham, I decided home was the best option. Managed to be in the house before darkness fell, which I wasn't expecting either.
Ascent of Mheadhoin
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
New snow on Sgurr na Lapaich
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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So not the sort of weekend one might expect in mid-December in the Loch Ness area- no snow and unseasonly temperatures of 10 degrees or more (excluding Saturday's wind chill). Although it hurts my winter purist's mind I'll be glad if the snow stays away a bit longer, to assist with "the schedule"
