2 smaller Cannich / Affric hills

[gld73]

2 separate walks in an afternoon:

Carn nam Bad (sub2k) - 2hrs, 8.2km , 320 metres ascent

Beinn a Mheadhoin (graham) - 1.8hrs, 6.8 km, 400 metres ascent

(Routes shown and distances/ascent are just rough indications rather than GPS plots)

Weather forecast wasn't brilliant for the day, but not bad enough to avoid the hills - strong winds and heavy showers forecast for high ground, but lower hills looked pretty certain to stay beneath cloud at least. These 2 easy looking hills were ones I was keeping for wet weather or winter and are close enough to do both separate walks in half a day.


Carn nam Bad - sub-2000

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Most of this walk is on a good forestry track/pylon track. Parking isn't allowed at the track entrance, so nearest parking spot to the start as far as I could see was a rough one car space on the verge of the A831 about 100 yards past the start (as you travel towards Cannich). I didn't spot it until I was passing it, so had to go further up the road to turn in a minor junction to get back to it. The start of the route is by the small Mellness Forest sign and has a big locked vehicle gate and a walkers stile next to it. Over the stile and then just followed the track for a few kilometres, ignoring a couple of branches off to the left and keeping on the track more or less following the line of the pylons. 2 vehicle gates to go through, but both unlocked.

View from the A831 of the start of the walk. Head over this stile and follow the track.

Once you get close to Loch nam Bad, it's just personal choice where you choose to leave the track and head over the short boggy lower part of the ground then up the steep heathery slopes. I seemed to end up going up a very steep bit, hauling myself up by the heather, but I could have avoided it. Doesn't take long to get to the summit plateau; there's a cairn at the west end which has good views towards Affric, then it's an easy walk to the summit cairn further east. I took a slightly less steep route back down to the track, aiming for nearer Loch nam Bad. Quick walk back to the car down the track the same way, torrential shower hitting just as I got back.

Keep on the good track all the way towards Loch nam Bad, then leave it to head up the slopes on the right

You go under the power lines of the Denny-Beauly line and start heading up the steeper part of the slope

Lower cairn at the west end of the ridge gives views in the Affric direction

...looking in the other direction, the summit cairn to head to

Carn nam Bad summit, showing how close it is to the good track

Beinn a'Mheadhoin - graham

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Short drive through Cannich and down the Affric road, though it takes longer than you'd expect for the distance; I was glad I wasn't doing this in school holidays or a weekend, I'd forgotten what a slow drive it can be when things are coming the other way along the single track road - though on the good side, the heavy shower and dark clouds had passed by the time I finally got to the car park. Last time I parked near here it was when I did the 2 munros of Tom a'Choinich and Toll Creagach a couple of years ago, before this new hillwalkers car park was open and before the path from it gave a nice start to a hike - at that time, it was just a case of heading up the hydro track from the road. There were a handful of cars in the car park this time, but all people off doing the various munros accessed from it I assume, I didn't see anyone on "my" wee hill.

I left the car park by the clearly signed path to the hills through the woods. There were a few points at breaks in the trees where I wondered about just heading up the slopes of the hill directly from the path, but I was interested to see where the new path met up with the hydro track I'd taken in the past. This worked out well, as I joined the track and followed it up for a bit, then noticed a small cairn beside the path which I figured could serve no purpose other than to mark a good spot to leave the hydro track and head up Beinn a'Mheadhoin. Right enough, there was a bit of a worn path this way taking a more gradual route up than I would have taken by going directly up the steeper slopes from the car park path earlier in my walk.

Path to the hills clearly signed from the walkers' car park

Next to the hydro track, spotted this wee cairn at a logical spot for heading up Beinn a'Mheadhoin

A break from the showers with some blue sky, and a view up the easy terrain towards the summit

The views back to the Affric mountains were beautiful even in the overcast and showery weather. The path petered out about two thirds of the way up, but it was obvious to just keep heading on that line up to the summit. 2 cairns at the top, like Carn nam Bad, maybe again it's that one is the summit and the visibly slightly lower one is the better viewpoint? Tom a'Choinich and Toll Creagach seemed to be staying clear of the clouds and, depending on the wind, might have been a good option for today by the looks of things. Even just slightly further west though, the munros had their tops in the clouds. Affric just looks stunning in any conditions though.

View to Loch Affric on the way up

...and down Gleann nam Fiadh to its munros

Affric panorama from the summit cairn

Beinn a'Mheadhoin summit cairn in the foreground, larger cairn further west

Headed back down the same way, didn't see a soul on either of my 2 hills today, but that's usually the case with the grahams and sub2ks!