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The Grey Corries is one of those walks that Denise and I had promised ourselves we must do, I'd read the route description and other users walk reports which only reinforced our desire to walk that ridge.
We were in Roybridge again in June and with the weather of late being absolutely spot on we thought we'd have a go, noticing that some people had included Stob Ban as well we thought we would if the weather was kind, after all, the days are long so we could spend as much time out there as we wanted.
Our chosen day was the 22nd, waking up to clouds on the summits we decided to leave Stob Ban for another day and concentrate on the three.
The drive to the starting point along the bumpy track wasn't that bad, reading the description and some reports I was expecting an angst laden journey fearing damage to the car, in reality, if you take it steady there's no problem.
We parked up where WH recommends, there's not much room, maybe enough for four or five carefully placed cars, there was just a camper van when we got there so plenty of room by the little sign post.
We got ready and set off to meet the Wee Minister. The track to the start of the real climbing is excellent and good time can me made, we said hello to the little fella and carried on to the point you leave the track around NN263776.
The lower section along the fence is pretty wet even after a long dry spell, we headed straight ahead towards the steeper terrain in a bid to escape the worst, this worked but it's steep going keeping right of the craggy bits above.
Cloudberry I think.
Looking back.
It's a long pull up to Stob Coire Gaibhre, on arrival at the cairn we couldn't see the first munro, we were just below the cloud base.
It was a bit breezy and the temperature felt more like autumn than the height of summer, putting gloves on we set off for Stob Choire Claurigh, the clouds were swirling around in Coire na Ceannain and Coire nan Laogh making it feel wild and atmospheric, we soon entered the cloud.
This was how it was for most of the walk along the ridge, every now and then it got brighter and we thought it might clear, we arrived at the top of the first munro and considered going down but thought better of it and carried on.
On Stob Coire Cath na Sine
The way along the ridge is easy enough even in the mist, we just made note of the high points as we went and kept checking the map, we were still in the cloud when we reached Stob Coire an Laoigh but it did look decidedly brighter so we stopped for some lunch and waited to see what happened.
Hummph, not going to clear by the looks.
After about 20 mins we were still clagbound so set off for Stob Coire Easain resigned to the fact we weren't going to see anything, but, as we reached the top this happened. we could see our next objective, it looked a long way off but at least we were going to get some views from our last munro.
Sgurr Choinnich Mor
The walk to the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor from Easain took 45 minutes so it's not as bad as it looks, care is needed on the descent into the bealach, it's a bit hands on rock, and now we could see things, the surroundings were playing havoc with the concentration.
From the summit we could see the Aonachs, Mamores, many mountains in all directions, too many to name here, and The Grey Corries which were clag bound only an hour previously, we spent a while on the summit just looking at the views.
We had to pull ourselves away from this, reluctantly, and set off to return to Stob Coire Easain and then the long walk back to the car.
From the summit of Easain there's a good path to start with, we were getting some good views of the Grey Corries and the mountains around us.
Lower down this slowly but surely disappears eventually fizzling out altogether so it's a case of just heading downhill aiming for the forest.
Low down view of the Corries.
A long way back to the car.
Lower down you can spot a gate in the fence so head for that, beyond the gate there's a soggy path through the young trees leading to a forestry track that takes you back to the car, we just followed the WH route downloaded onto the GPS which guides you through the twists and turns.
We were glad to arrive at the car, the walk through the trees was warm and humid, probably the most tiring part of the day.
This is a good day out, very enjoyable even in the clag. I think we'll do it again on a clear day, the views along the ridge must be absolutely fantastic.
