Achnashellach - Torridon - Strath Carron Days 4 and 5

[pacol]

This is Days 4 and 5 of my 2017 trip to Scotland. The route for this year was:

Day 1 - 18.3k from Achnashellach Station to Torridon Campsite
Day 2 - 18.7k from Torridon Campsite to Loch Grobaig via Inveralligin
Day 3 - 11.9k from Loch Grobaig to Torridon Campsite
Day 4 - 13.9k from Torridon Campsite to Corie Fionnaraich Bothy
Day5 - 10.7k from Corie Fionnaraich Bothy to Strath Carron Station

and Days 1 to 3 can be found here

2017-Summary v02-crctd.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Day 4 - Thursday - 13.9k from Torridon Campsite to Coire Fionnaraich Bothy

Waking to a relatively dry tent on the Thursday morning after breakfast I packed the tent and set off on what was to be the reasonably leisurely walk back to Strath Carron station and the start of the journey home. This walk could comfortably be done in a day but I was planning to take a slight detour and didn’t want to put myself in the position of having to do it all by a train time deadline on the Friday.

Retracing my steps of the Monday I walked on the road to the far side of Strath Torridon to Annat and took the well-defined path to Coulags. Looking back, I said my goodbyes to Torridon.

Torridon

The cloud base was sat at around 800m but staying dry. The path crosses a number of outcrops of slab like quartzite “pavements” which I guess could be pretty slippery in the wet and the surrounding hills were showing the sandstone layering which was a regular feature of this trip. In geological terms I was heading back into the Moine Thrust Zone.

Quartzite “pavements”

In the wide bowl below Loch an Eion, and between Loch an Uillt-bheithe and Lochain Domhain, Maol Chearn-dearg came into view standing sentinel over what looks to be a glacier carved landscape.

Maol Chearn-dearg

A little further on I arrived at the picturesque Loch an Eion with its white quartzite beaches and clear waters.

Loch an Eion

After Loch an Eion, rather than take the direct path to Coulags I opted to take a detour skirting around the west side of Maol Chearn-dearg from where I was rewarded with views westwards to the Isle of Raasy and Skye.

Isle of Raasy and Skye

The stalkers path I was following took me in to the Coire an Ruadh-Staic and the loch of the same name.

Coire an Ruadh-Staic

Towering above it is An Ruadh-stac, formed of Cambrian quartzite that has been inclined at a 45 degree angle, although in the photo sadly the top is obscured by cloud.

An Ruadh-stac

Climbing further up the path past what is a staircase of lochans each in their own mini-coire I then took a left hand turn to ascend to the Bealach a Choire Ghairbh between Maol Chearn-dearg and Meall nan Ceapairean, from where I was able to look back to An Ruadh-stac.

Bealach a Choire Ghairbh

Dropping down from the bealach into the glen below Loch Coire Fionnaraich I picked up the Coulags path again and followed this to the Fionnaraich Bothy. My intention had been to pitch outside the bothy, but a large well maintained two-storey bothy won the day when the cloud closed in and the rain started at about 4p.m.

Fionnaraich Bothy

Day5 – Friday - 10.7k from Coire Fionnaraich Bothy to Strath Carron Station

A night of heavy rain and blustery winds made me thankful in the morning that I had gone with the bothy option rather than going with my normal approach of using my tent. The rain continued into the morning so I had the additional benefits of packing dry kit and somewhere to sit for breakfast…

Inside Fionnaraich Bothy

Leaving the bothy behind, under heavy skies and rain I made my way down to Coulags with the path following the route of the Fionn-abhainn burn. Not far beyond the foot bridge shown below there is a run-of-the-river hydro scheme being constructed on the burn – the “Coulags Hydropower Development” – which should be completed by September 2017. Heavy plant abounds and lots of earth moving is going on, but the walkers’ path remains open.

Fionn-abhainn burn

From Coulags, after a bit of road walking I was able to follow the track that runs alongside the River Carron back to Strath Carron and the station.

River Carron

By this time the weather was a complete mix of wind, rain, low cloud, sunshine and blue skies, each occurring within minutes of the other in what felt like a continuous cycle.

Standing at Strath Carron station I was rewarded with excellent views up to Sgorr Rudah and Fuar Tholl which I had walked the far side of on my first day.

Strath Carron Station

From there it was the train back to Inverness where I had chance to spend a few hours before taking the sleeper train back to London, taking the opportunity to walk on the banks of the River Ness opposite Inverness Castle

Inverness Castle

And walking up to the Ness Islands before crossing over and walking back down the other bank.

River Ness and Ness Islands - Inverness

This marked the end of this year’s trip and it only left me to get something to eat in Inverness and then join the sleeper train for the journey home.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope you’ve enjoyed the story of my Scotland 2017 trip.
P.