Tom a Choinich & Toll Creagach. Clockwise to avoid the rain.

[bigkeith]

My original plan had been to walk these two hills at the end of a two-day walk starting from the west end of Loch Mullardoch taking in the eight Munros on the south side of Loch Mullardoch and I was a bit excited and nervous about my planned first high camp. But Angus the boatman wasn't available due to Coronavirus restrictions and I wasn't getting a good enough weather forecast for the trip so I ended-up walking the eight hills in three separate days from Glen Affric. They were all great days so that worked out fine. These two hills were the last two for me and made for a relatively easy but fun day.

I started at the new walkers car park, just about 200m before (east of) Chiswell Bridge. After 40 years of hillwalking in the Highlands I really appreciate the improvements in parking facilities - £2 or so is well worth it to feel that you've parked in a safe spot which won't be in the way of the local community. This car park is free so even better 😀. It's signposted and I've included a few shots of the signage and car park.

The forecast was OK but said expect a few showers and I ended up putting on my waterproof trousers within 5 minutes. Only very light rain, though. There is a signposted well-constructed new path linking the car park with the original track. Roughly 500m or so.

The track up the start of the hill proper is very good upto the the micro hydro scheme and then a little soggy for the last kilometre or two.

There is a good path to take you up to Tom a Choinich. Loved it 😀. The path helped with the ascent and the gradient eased off as WH said and soon I was at the top. The rain had pretty well stopped but I kept the waterproof trousers on because there was a chilly breeze which worked well and meant less faffing. On the way up I met a very cheery chappy who I'd initially seen and had a chat with in the car park. He left before me but then he mysteriously caught me up at the start of the climb. He said he'd got caught in a heavy shower and had decided to call off the hike for that day but then saw me plodding up and changed his mind! Glad to be of service 😇. We chatted for a bit on the uphill but he was faster than me and eventually pulled away.

At the top it was satisfying to look west to the Carn Eige hills, knowing I'd been there a few days before. Pity I accidentally deleted my photos of that view 😬.

The walk to Toll Creagach is straightforward, although I checked my map and took a compass bearing when I set off from the top. That soon got me onto the track.

On the eventual short pull up to Toll Creagach I met a couple coming the other way who had encountered quite a few showers whereas I'd hardly had any. I suppose the lesson there is to walk the circuit in a clockwise direction 😏. The wind was at my back as I walked between the two Munros which was nice and I soon reached the top of my second Munro of the day to be rewarded with a nice rainbow over Loch Mullardoch.

The descent is straight down the pathless hillside to intersect with the approach route. Going was pretty easy, with the vegetation not too long and the gradient not too steep I thought. Some nice flowers to look at on the way down.

Then just a nice easy walk back to the car with just a bit of a rigmarole again at the two deer fence gates. The latches for these are a bit finicky and would be tricky if your hands were cold. One of the gates was actually not latched as I returned so I think someone had just given up. Anyway, with a bit of fiddling and lots of sanitising hand gel it was no trouble really. No matter how nice the walk I always love getting back to the car and today I felt doubly pleased, knowing that I'd completed all of the Munros on the South side of Loch Mullardoch and what an outstanding bunch of hills they are, not just those big-hitters to the west 😃👍.

[litljortindan]

Useful report. Not been here but on the radar as it's my least visited area of Scotland and I need easyish walks these days.

[bigkeith]

Thanks . If Toll and Tom make it into your easier hills category then I'm sure you'll like the general Glen Affric area - it's nice with a few non-hill attractions, like Plodda Falls.