Walkhighlands

A music tour to Ardnamurchan gave me the opportunity for a wee bit of fun on the way up – the forecast wasn’t overly inspiring so I picked something with some easy navigating

Saturday 17th June – Fraochaidh
22.3km
1333m ascent
6 hours 20 mins



I parked up at Ballachulish and set off through the village. Beinn a’Bheithir was looming out of the clag as I made my way up the track past the school


Schoolhouse ridge


Sgorr a’ Choise ahead was drifting in and out of the clag too


It was damp underfoot but on a decent track this wasn’t cause for wet feet just yet

Looking back to Ballachulish


Continuing up Gleann an Fhoidh I could see the beginnings of the ridge towards Fraochaidh


The path got gradually more and more damp underfoot and my choice of summer boots appeared to be unwise I left the path and headed down towards the River Laroch which I managed to cross without disaster


Slightly damp Jaxter


A very boggy path led me directly up the hillside towards the ridge. For some reason I was still attempting to keep dry feet but this soon became a losing battle


Sheepy sentry


Reaching the ridge I was able to start Beinn a’ Bheithir begin to appear – although it was a little damp it wasn’t such a bad day at all


Looking back down the ridge


Ribs not entirely healed at this point, I felt a wee twinge as I headed up the ridge. I assumed it would go away if I ignored it and continued



Looking down towards Duror


Mobile signal briefly resumed this seemed like a good point to acknowledge Father’s Day…until I walked behind another lump and cut me off in mid-flow….


It was brightening up again


The ridge was an enjoyable walk and the views, particularly backwards, were improving


Beinn a’ Bheithir


The final climb to the top of Fraochaidh – it looked fairly imposing from this angle!


Looking towards Glen Creran


Towards Duror


The final assault…


Looking backwards as I climbed steeply….


Looking towards the backside of Glen Etive


The weird cauldron effect


Ahead


The summit reached, I was denied the impressive views




It began to drizzle so it seemed to be wise to get down, especially as I had places to be


It was also a long way back…


Reaching the bealach obviously the rain eased and the visibility started to improve


In fact Fraochaidh even cleared




The option of going over Sgorr a’ Choise was quite appealing, especially as it was visible


Beinn a’ Bheithir


Fraochaidh


The ridge downwards


Another pointless gate


However I realised that I had places to be so elected to head straight back down and leave the delights of Sgorr a’ Choise for another day!




During the week (alongside actually doing some work ) I managed to cycle over 200km to all my locations…the weather was mixed but the scenery wonderful

En route to Mallaig….








Kinlochleven bound












And heading for Fort William



Thursday 21st June – Beinn Resipol
11.20km
602m ascent
3 hours 5 mins



Finishing at about 3 in Strontian I decided I had time for a wee hill before the ferry. The weather was perfect so I drove up the road a couple of miles to Ariundle and changed into my hill gear Just as I was preparing to set off I was spotted by Collaciotach

It was an easy walk along the track, then once it started climbing the views back were stunning




Garbh Bheinn


Given the dry conditions I had decided to wear my new trail runners….which halfway up the track turned out to be a terrible idea as they were rubbing my feet Even more unfortunately, never having had shoes that rubbed before I had no extra socks and no plasters….



Seeing Resipol ahead I decided that it was going to be painful enough to get back from here without going any further


But there did seem to be a nice wee viewpoint off to the right which I could visit on the way down – climbing up towards Beinn a’ Chaorainn it seemed to be less painful going uphill than down. Nothing like prolonging the agony








Back to Resipol


Looking down Loch Sunart to sea






Now on top of something it had become crazy windy to the extent where I was struggling to stand, leading to some undignified walking








Wobbly Jaxter




I had a ferry to catch, so time to head down, thankfully out of the wind!






Out of the wind I had a steady enough hand for a panorama



On the ferry it was a stunning evening and I was thinking it might be worth finding a spot for sunset….something to think on as I drove….


Driving through Glencoe I had an idea….


I managed to find some sticking plasters in the car and put on my still damp boots from Sunday. Wet but fortunately not uncomfortable

Beinn a’ Chrulaiste
7.82km
640m ascent
2 hours 15 mins



Setting off at a run I headed up the path towards Beinn a’ Chrulaiste. I reckoned I could make it


I stopped for a few photos on the way up…








….but mostly I was concerned with getting high enough for the sunset….




I reckoned I had time so made a run for the summit – this seemed to do something to upset my camera as the summit photo came out super blurry….



Heading back to a good vantage point I enjoyed the summer solstice sunset whilst trying to put all my clothes on as it was really cold










The sun set, it was time to get going…


Nearly back at the car, the moon came out and it was a beautiful evening.




It was about 1am when I got home so I unloaded the car and abandoned everything on the living room floor to deal with in the morning

Fraochaidh looks like an interesting hill, even if its sounds like something you should say "excuse me" after uttering

Interested to hear what a "musical tour of Ardnamurchan" entails, there aren't many venues to play in are there!!!? Though if western Loch Shiel counts, I have technically played "a gig" on a beach there. Well, got the guitar out and warbled a bit to my friends...some of them didn't even run off...

For the love of God woman! Stop doing Corbetts! You are about to overtake me! It's no fair!

Some lovely pics there - far to many to pick out favourites. Both stimulating but also maddening, since I have my arm in a sling after a shoulder op, and won't be able to get into the hills again for a couple of months!

The walk to Fraochaidh is quite a revelation...

I think you need to take your helmet and go-fast specs - especially the specs - on all your expeditions in future, and wear them for your Jaxter pose ...

Can't help feeling the wonderful cairn on Fraochaidh should be entered for the "Turner Prize". There have been (several) much worse winners

Mal Grey wrote:Fraochaidh looks like an interesting hill, even if its sounds like something you should say "excuse me" after uttering

Interested to hear what a "musical tour of Ardnamurchan" entails, there aren't many venues to play in are there!!!? Though if western Loch Shiel counts, I have technically played "a gig" on a beach there. Well, got the guitar out and warbled a bit to my friends...some of them didn't even run off...

I've still not quite worked out how to say Fraochaidh, other than with as much conviction as possible
There's actually a few venues around there - there's a Loch Shiel Festival in the spring every year. But I was with the Edinburgh schools rock ensemble, we went to some of the schools in the area, they worked toegther and then we performed for them in the afternoon. Load of fun

Graeme D wrote:For the love of God woman! Stop doing Corbetts! You are about to overtake me! It's no fair!

But corbetts are so much more interesting

Alteknacker wrote:Some lovely pics there - far to many to pick out favourites. Both stimulating but also maddening, since I have my arm in a sling after a shoulder op, and won't be able to get into the hills again for a couple of months!

The walk to Fraochaidh is quite a revelation...

I think you need to take your helmet and go-fast specs - especially the specs - on all your expeditions in future, and wear them for your Jaxter pose ...

I will have to take the specs with me next time if I remember
Hope you're out on the hills again soon!

past my sell by date wrote:Can't help feeling the wonderful cairn on Fraochaidh should be entered for the "Turner Prize". There have been (several) much worse winners

It's quite something isn't it

[Quote]But corbetts are so much more interesting [Quote]
I agree - most of them don't have huge eroded paths to the summit -yet! and in poor weather finding the summit can sometimes be problematical

Mal isn't it pronounced Frooky? or something similar