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The first few photos were taken in May when Pete and I came to check out the first part of the route up Faochag. We parked just east of the Mhalagain bridge and walked in by the obvious gate.
Gate at roadside
Being May the gorse was blooming in all its glory.
Glen Shiel looking north west
The path leads to the river where boulders offer an option for crossing if you can't be bothered to detour east a short distance to a footbridge (which isn't visible until you reach it). When I came back in September with Rob and Mary we took a more direct line from the gate to the bridge, avoiding the water-logged path.
Whenever my black lab Tess finds water she goes into automatic retrieve mode, finds a handy stick and makes it clear by furious tail-wagging she wants it thrown. If you oblige this will go on until you finally give up from boredom or exhaustion... because she herself has never been known to voluntarily give up.
Tess at river with stick
Bridge over Mhalagain with Faochag ahead
From the bridge you head south west towards the deer fence, where there's a gate. This is the first of two fences, the second having a stile to climb, but with a handy dog size gap at the foot which isn't that obvious but my hill savvy hounds found it.
After the fence the gradient steepens and is steep pretty much all the way to the top.
Pete turned back about here and the dogs were torn about who to follow and kept looking back for him!
Jack
She's still got that stick
My male lab Jack isn't fussed about retrieving but sometimes out of sheer badness he decides to take her stick off her. Just to remind her males rule.
Gimme that stick!
I didn't finish the climb in May - never intended to - but came back with Rob and Mary in late September and it was interesting to see the difference in vegetation and growth. The path was also more muddy the second time round following a rainy spell.
Higher up, different camera, Biod an Fhithich and a balmy day in late September
Nearing top of Faochag
I had been in two minds about taking Jack with me for this climb. At nine he's slowing down and has arthritic joints. But a new tablet from the vet seems to have helped so I decided to give him another chance. There was one short scrambly bit on the lower half of Faochag where he needed a bit of encouragement, but apart from that he took it in his stride. But whenever he gets a chance he always lies down to rest, whereas Tess (a few months older) never bothers to lie down.
Well earned rest at the top
Sgurr na Sgine from Faochag
Mary, Rob, Saddle and Forcan ridge
Easy ridge connecting Faochag with Sgurr na Sgine via its north west top
Pools at col before path steepens up Sgurr na Sgine useful for rehydrating the dogs (Rob's pic)
Again there was one rocky step where Jack needed a little encouragement. The nervous tail-wagging tells you he's worried. I went up first, called him and when he jumped I grabbed his collar to give some extra lift and he was up. On the way down the same but this time I broke his landing to save him jarring those painful joints.
Sgurr na Sgine summit
Me photographing dogs (Rob's pic)
The photo I took - and yes, Jack looks tired.
Beinn Sgritheall and Skye
Ladhar Bheinn and Knoydart
View north east to ridges on both sides of the glen
South Glen Shiel ridge
We decided to return by the stalker's path from Beallach Coire Mhalagain. We should have retraced our steps over the north west top from where a path leads down to the lochan, but when we saw the lochan from the col thought we'd be clever and avoid any reascent by traversing the grassy slopes directly to it. It looked a more direct route but in practice the steep wet grassy slopes interspersed with boulders made for slow going and we'd have been quicker sticking to the higher route.
When we reached the lochan at the bealach the dogs went in for a swim and Tess was asking me to throw sticks for her like she hadn't just climbed a mountain!
Lochan at Bealach Coire Mhalagain
From there we followed the rough path along the wall to the start of the the Forcan ridge at which point the path improves, leading to the col between Meallan Odhar and Biod an Fhithich and back down to the road. We then had a short walk east along the road to where the car was parked, when Tess was delighted to find someone's discarded sandwich which she bolted down including its cling film wrapping. And no, nothing untoward happened to her digestive system - but that's labradors for you!
The next day Jack was stiff but nothing major and I was so pleased for the old boy that he'd managed to add another Munro to his tally. They're both great hill companions and I think it's sad that the dog's life span is so much shorter than ours and they have to retire from it long before we want them to.
