Lurg Mhor + Bidein a` Choire Sheasgaich from Attadale

[steven65]

Before doing these 2 munros I phoned the Attadale estate office to check the open bothy wasn't closed for any reason - it was open ok - the lady I spoke to was very pleasant and helpful wishing me a good days walking and to enjoy the bothy Fair play to Attadale Estate , the bothy book is testament to this.

I drove up late on Thursday night 26/1/17 - the forecast was very good for January !
Slept over in the car with Oskar - my Standard Schnauzer he`s done 200+ Munros I`d need to look to see exactly how many !!! After coffee we were off at around 6.30 am , it was a very busy area with the workforce arriving and making their way up towards the hydro works site. The route starts to the LH side and avoids the beginning of the works ,but ALL the way up to the bothy / cottage at Bendoraig you are constantly being passed by hydro work vehicles - it`s busy with them. Route finding is easy - just follow the dusty road of the hydro vehicles - it`s quite simple ! Very dry underfoot it was very dusty too , the "hardest" bit being the pull UP hill after Loch na Caillich , once up here it plateaus out a bit before dropping off along Strath Feith a` Mhadaidh - leading to a major concentration of hydro work about 1.5 Km before the bothy. It`s all fairly easy until here.
Once at the walkers bothy I unpacked a lot of my stuff as I was staying over - after I had bagged the 2 Munros. The bothy was very clean and tidy - with the lovely addition of a proper loo ! Albeit you need to fill a bucket up at the burn by the bothy to let you flush. There is a large main room and 2 bedrooms 1 to the RH Side an 1 to the LH side - the LH is the smaller one - both have fireplaces. Luckily for me the fireplace had been set with kindling and some coal , however I had brought in 2 fire logs with me .Also there was a basket of logs in the bothy provided by the estate. Nice.
It was very nice to move on from the bothy without a lot of my stuff , I made for Loch Calavie and Lurg Mhor 1st. After the LONG flatish walk in from Attadale I found the pull up alongside the Allt Coire Calavie quite sore.
I was pleased to reach Lurg Mhor at 2.25pm , nearly 6 hours after I had set off - but I had stopped for over an hour on my way in so I felt the timing was ok. As I came down off Lurg Mhor I saw someone on Bidein a` Choire Sheasgaich , he was coming down much faster than me and we met at the bealach. We chatted for a wee while , after Lurg Mhor he was heading to the small hut / bothy at Glenuaig . He had came in from Craig we wished each other well ............. The weather was changing a wee bit , dark looking clouds were coming in , but no rain thankfully.i didn`t stay long on top of Bidein as the weather was turning now - I had thought of going back down the same way via Loch Calavie, but I didn`t I went down over Sail Riabhach which had some snow in places - my 1st of the day too , it was a rougher descent than I`d thought , and much longer too than I thought. My legs were tiring. And it was getting dark , once at the bottom of Coire na Sorna rejoining the track back to the bothy I had to put my head torch on. Dark now , flashing orange lights could be seen everywhere - the hydro workers must work LONG shifts ! Back at the bothy I lit the fire and made dinner, enjoying my bottle of Shiraz that I`d left in the bothy with my other things. The wee bedroom to the LH side was nice and warm but very smoky as a lot of the smoke filled the room and did not exit via the chimney !!! It was early to bed and early to rise , I got up at 5am , it was freezing cold the fire had long went out. After a packing up and a quick bite to eat I packed up , cleaning the fireplace and taking all the ash out with me & my empty wine bottle too. Some of the hydro workers were doing a Saturday shift and most waved to me as I walked out , rain was forecast and I reached my car at 8.32 am just as heavy rain started. Perfect timing 3hrs 2 mins from the bothy back to the car. My plan was to go via Fort William and get breakfast at McDonalds which stops at 1030am - I arrived at 10.40 - too late for breakfast so I had to make do with something else , not my favourite items to eat at all - apart from theirs breakfast which I quite like.
A great trip , I was very lucky to do these in January and it was as epic - a long way indeed as other folk have said . 2 hills to be enjoyed , I did very much. That's 2017 started photos and video on F-Book and Talk Highlands via Fbook too.