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I went up Cul Mor and Stac Pollaidh on the Saturday, and the weather in Assynt was so perfect, I decided to stay on in the area for an extra day. Ben More Coigach always looks so impressive as you drive north from Ullapool and the usual route up it is from Culnacraig, a bit of a drive round the peninsula. A colleague who lives in Ullapool said it was possible to do from the east side too (nearer the main road) so I took a look at the map, decided it looked okay, and headed off.
The parking area at Blughasary is signed for Dun Canna walkers - a sign gives info on the coastal walk, saying it is a tough walk, not as easy as it looks on a map. I did think a circular walk combing the ascent of Ben More Coigach from this side, then the Walk Highlands route from BMC to Sgurr an Fhidleir and back down to Culnacraig, then returning to Blughasary by the coastal route might be a good route, though I didn't end up doing it.
- From parking area, head through gate and over the bridge.
Anyway, from the parking area, I headed over the bridge, and where the route to Dun Canna goes left, I took the estate track to the right. It's an easy couple of kilometres on a good track - where the occasional section of ruts were wet and boggy, I was hoping they stayed that way, for the sake of the impressive frog spawn in them!
- Estate track, with views of Ben More Coigach ahead
- Surely there are more reliable puddles than vehicle tracks to spawn in?!
I continued up the track past the first small loch (Loch a' Chlaiginn), getting the impressive views of Speicein Coinnich, the aim of my ascent route. I left the estate track about half way between the first small loch and Loch Eadar Dha Bheinn to try and head straight over to the ridge - this was a mistake. I bog hopped my way as far as the burn between the 2 lochs, then couldn't find anywhere to cross - although not particularly wide, it was surprisingly deep - easily waist deep on me by the looks of it. In hiking boots and with tussocky uneven ground on either side giving a dodgy take off and landing, I didn't want to risk jumping across, so followed it up towards Loch Eadar Dha Bheinn. This wasted a good 20 minutes at least, compared to if I'd just stayed on the estate track, as the only decent easy crossing point was right at the Loch. Nice stepping stones made crossing the (at this point) shallow outflow a doddle!
- My logic was sound! I thought a gate indicated a possible route, so left the track here...
- ...but there was no route and the photo doesn't show how deep this was!
- That's better .....
So then it was just a case of heading north up on to the ridge, then west along the ridge. No real right/wrong route to take, as the good visibility meant it was easy to see the target of Speicein Coinnich and to just head up towards it. It was one of those ascents where it flipped between "looks straightforward enough" to "hmmmm, is there route up this?" depending on distance and angle I was looking at it from, but as I went up, I eventually started to see traces of a path. This route became clearer as the ascent went on, as the wide ridge funnelled down to a narrow path/scramble (any short sections of scrambling were easy).
- That's where I'm heading, Speicein Coinnich
- The ridge heading up to Speicein Coinnich was looking pretty inviting
- ...and the views from the ridge were typical Assynt ones :) (zoomed)
- Got a bit steeper and more scrambly, but nothing too tricky
The final section resulted in one of the best moments of my hillwalking .... I came up over a rocky section to the top area of Speicein Coinnich (too busy looking at my hands and feet to know I was reaching the top) and came face to face with a golden eagle! Well, it was about 2 to 3m away, no more, sitting on the craggy rocks, my sheltered approach from below must have masked any sound. Not sure which one of was more surprised! (Well okay, yes I do, it was me!). The eagle took off gracefully and I just watched it, gobsmacked. Didn't have my camera to hand as I'd been needing my hands for that part of the ascent, but frankly I didn't care, I'd rather see a golden eagle up close myself than fumbling around trying to look at it through a lens. I finally did get my camera out, hoping it would do a fly past at least, but no such luck. Still, the views of An Teallach and all around were worth a few snaps
- The view north from Speicein Coinnich
- View south, with the Ullapool ferry sneaking in
- Looking back to the eagle's perch of Speicein Coinnich
Ah well. After that excitement, it was a case of heading towards Ben More Coigach's summit - visibility was perfect which made navigating ridiculously easy; might be tricker up there in cloud. The ridge along to Garbh Choireachan looked impressive, so I walked part way along there before coming back, then down and up to the summit shelter of Ben More Coigach. That was the windiest point of the whole walk, despite still being in sunshine, I quickly had to don hat and coat to stay warm.
- Garbh Choireachan
- A beautiful day looking west from Ben More Coigach summit
- From Ben More Coigach to the north, Sgurr an Fhidhleir in the foreground
- Sgurr an Fhidhleir with Stac Pollaidh
Being a sunny Sunday, I'd expected to see a few people who'd come up Ben More Coigach and Sgurr an Fhidleir from the other side, but there wasn't a soul to be seen anywhere. Anyway, it was then off to the second Graham of the day, Sgurr an Fhidleir, with descent and ascent not too punishing as the terrain is easy enough on the legs. Reaching the summit, again I was greeted by fantastic views across Assynt, including Stac Pollaidh, Cul Mor, Cul Beag, Canisp and Suilven
- Sgurr an Fhidhleir summit view
- Assynt munros
- Stac Pollaidh and Suilven
Time to head back down, and it was decision time as to whether to do the full circular route or to go back the same way. The hope that the eagle had returned to its lofty crag lured me back the same way. That did mean heading back down to the bealach and back up to Speicein Coinnich, so adding ascent to the route - the Walk Highlands route from/to Culnacraig might have a slightly longer drive to the start point, but has the benefit of a nice route straight back down from Sgurr an Fhidleir!
No luck with the eagle unfortunately, it was nowhere to be seen. So down I headed, keeping an eye on the loch so I could aim for the correct location to cross this time. Once across the stepping stones, I just headed straight on to hit the estate track again. This drainage pipe was at the point I returned to the track - so if you ever do this route, this is the place you want to turn off the track to get to the crossing point! (There is a similar pipe a lot further down the track, but too far away to get confused as to which would be near Loch Eadar Dha Bheinn).
- Leave the track here to head straight to the stepping stones!
So this route meant a shorter drive than the one to the Culnacraig start point, but then a longer walk with more ascent. But it was perfect weather, so it was a good option on this occasion as it suited me to be outside longer rather than in a car!!
- And I can't have my last photo being of a drainage pipe, so here's the view of Ben More Coigach as you head out of Ullapool :)