free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Meall Blair and Sgurr Choinich. So obscure that the couldn't be more obscure even if they wanted to. Very few walkers are even aware of their existence. So many of us drive past them on the way to all the grand adventures waiting at the western end of Loch Arkaig: Sgurr na Ciche, Sgurr Mor, Bidein a'Chabair etc. Who would bother with a couple of boring Grahams if you have much more entertaining and much rockier traverses in the area! But there was something about this duo that kept bugging me, they just looked like they were good hills for a Panther
From the small amount of information I found online and in books, I understood that a traverse of the two involved crossing a very boggy, very peat-haggy col, so it was a reasonable option to leave them for a dry day. And now the time has come to face the obscurest of the obscure
There is an expression in Polish, "where devil says good night" describing a place in the middle of nowhere, and this was exactly where we were heading.
The idea was to traverse the Grahams starting from the south, from Loch Arkaig road. A good starting point is the car park at Allt Muick butterfly reserve, the home of Chequered Skipper butterflies. We hoped to spot some butterflies but the day was so hot and scorching, that they probably decided it was too hot to fly!
We did the circus anticlockwise. I expected pathless walking but there are obvious ATV tracks up Sgurr Choinich and then down from Meall Blair, the only pathless section is the connection between the two hills, which is, as already mentioned, peat-hag ridden. We were glad we tackled this route in dry conditions!
Entering the butterfly reserve:
There is a good path through the reserve, the morning was a bit murky but very humid:
Loch Arkaig from just above the tree line:
The path reaches a forest track which contours the slopes of both Grahams (we used this track later on the return). We crossed Allt Mhuic by the bridge and continued the ascent on a very faint path along the stream. This area was very ticky, we kept stopping every 10 steps to remove ticks from our trousers
After 70m of ascent we came across an ATV track and soon we stood in front of a fence and a metal gate. It was padlocked but I noticed that there was enough space underneath for a Panther to squeeze through:
Kevin would not fit in the gap, so he had to climb the fence which didn't take him long. Thankfully, this was the only fence we had to scale on this route
The rest of the ascent is simple. Follow the ATV track, which would likely be soggy in wet weather but as it was a scorchio day, we didn't exactly have that problem.
ATV track and Loch Arkaig:
By the time we climbed half way up the first Graham, the morning cloud was gone and the temperature was rising at crazy pace. On the other hand, views towards the western end of the loch were fantastic:
The track goes almost all the way to the summit of Sgurr Choinich:
Kevin detached the bottom halves of his trouser legs, I kept mine on despite the heat, I just didn't want to get ticks all over my legs... At least the climb wasn't steep. The slope offered easy walking:
Our second target, Meall Blair, and the Arkaig Munros behind:
Shortly before the summit, we reached a line of metal fence posts and followed it to the cairn, where we had to undergo the ritual of sunscreen application
After using up almost all the cream, we sat down to have a drink and enjoy the views. I was very surprised how good the vistas were from this obscure Graham, from Ben Nevis in the south-east to Sgurr na Ciche in the west. A few panoramic shots below.
1. East to Lochy Munros & Corbetts:
2. West to Knoydart:
3. North to Kintail/Loch Quoich:
4. South east to Fort William:
Ben Nevis zoomed. I was thinking about the arete... It looked so tempting... We managed to do it a few days later
From Gulvain (left) to Sgurr Mhurlagain (right):
The descent from Sgurr Choinich is easy enough. Just follow the rusty old fence for about 2km then just aim due west across boggy moorland, full of peat hags and muddy puddles. Because of the recent dry weather, most of the terrain was bone dry, but I would NOT recommend this route for a wet day!
Looks benign but in wet weather it would be hell!
Clegs were buzzing about, looking for a good opportunity to suck us dry, so we packed up and began the laborious crossing to Meall Blair. We drank most of our water and ate a whole pack of Haribo bears as we walked (well, Kevin had most of it, I wonder how his stomach survived it intact
). The bealach drops to 443m before the slopes start rising again to a lower top Meall Lochan nan Dubh Lochan. From this point, we could see the final target, the summit of Meall Blair.
Panther powered up by Haribo bears
We crossed a slight drop and walked past a group of small lochans, before climbing the final 120m to the summit of the second Graham. A glimpse back made us stop and gasp. Amazing views as for obscure Grahams!
The final ascent is pathless but mostly grassy. I spied a large dragonfly and stopped to take a short video:
Soon enough, we landed on the summit of Meall Blair, sun now cooking us alive. Lucy claimed her 71th Graham, before she turned into slow cooked lamb
Graham no. 104 for us!
Kevin takes a snap of a fluffy lamb sitting on a Graham summit, wearing a pair of purple pants. Sounds like a sentence taken from "Alice in wonderland"
Now I know why people tell me I'm bonkers
OK, now to the serious stuff. Views from Meall Blair are even better than from Sgurr Choinich, because this hill is closer to the Arkaig/Knoydard mountains:
...but vistas are great in any direction, the eastern pano is mostly dominated by the Lochy group:
Ben Nevis peeking out from behind Beinn Bhan:
Panorama:
View north:
...and west:
We had only one bottle of water left and with no streams in sight for a refill, we didn't have time to linger. I bet the temperature must have reached 30*C that day, we were roasting! But before we started the descent, I had to undergo the operation of removing a tick from my calf. Just as well we carry the tick tweezers in our first aid kit
We dropped SE from the summit to the 532m bealach, where we picked up an ATV track. This track when followed carefully, leads all the way down to the main track contouring the lower slopes.
Once down on the forest track we walked back to the upper end of the Butterfly reserve, which was guarded by the local devil
THOU SHALL NOT PASS!
Thankfully, the car park by the reserve is in the dense forest so at least our car was not an oven when we returned from our cooking experience
But putting aside the heat, we were very pleasantly surprised by Meall Blair and Sgurr Choinich: this duo has much more charm than we expected. Definitely a pair worth saving for a sunny day, as the traverse would be much less interesting without the views. These Grahams could be also done in winter conditions, probably as two separate trips up and down the ATV tracks, as I can hardly imagine crossing the peat-haggy col in deep snow
................
The following day (Tuesday) we continued our Graham bagging voyage, this time diving in waist-high bracken and clambering over multiple deer fences, not to mention more kung-fu fighting with countless clegs. The story continues...
