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Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Strathfarrar - WH Meet


Postby Fife Flyer » Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:58 pm

Route description: Glen Strathfarrar Munros circuit

Munros included on this walk: Càrn nan Gobhar (Strathfarrar), Sgùrr a' Choire Ghlais, Sgùrr Fhuar-thuill, Sgùrr na Ruaidhe

Date walked: 07/08/2015

Time taken: 6.25 hours

Distance: 20 km

Ascent: 1570m

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Day one of the WH Meet where we were all eventually gathering at Aultguish Inn. As is the normal custom to utilise the 'break' we all try and cram in as many hills as possible - well that is the theory, as we know the weather usually tries it's best to change/ruin plans :(
My original plan was to tackle An Teallach, Beinn Dearg (4) & the Central Fannichs, I wasn't bothered about which day each target was tackled. As usual the weather forecasters threw the usual spanner in the works :roll:
After numerous emails, PM's etc a group of SEVEN of us somehow came up with the idea of tackling the Strathfarrar 4 Munro's, the forecast was slightly better inland so that seemed like a sensible choice :clap:
The logistics of getting to Strathfarrar then Aultguish also required a bit of sorting out, the end result was I was meeting Martin (mg1976) at Inverkeithing railway station at 5.50am, then meeting up with Karen, who in turn was picking up David (stirlingdavo) and we were meeting at Tiso's car park in Perth at 6.30.
The next part of the plan was to get to the locked gate at Strathfarrar at 9am where we would meet up with Nigel, Evie & Hugh - considering the distance of the drive we did rather well to arrive just a couple of minutes late 8)
Now we had to decide how many cars to take along the track and which ones - Karen look away now :lol:
We opted to take 3 cars, one to be left at the start and two at the finish. For those who are not familiar with the Strathfarrar set up, I will try & explain :roll: The estate has a locked gate and a lady has the power to allow 25 vehicles through the gate, recording each vehicle registration number and each driver is given a nice green ticket. No money exchanges hands, however we were warned about the pot holes and to be back by 8pm. The road surface was actually better than most "A" class roads, albeit not as wide, there were a few pot holes but they were easily avoided, especially if you are following Nigel who was leaving a cloud of dust in his wake :lol: :lol:
Once we reached the start, the plan was to leave my car there, however I still had to travel to the other end to bring Nigel & Karen back :wink:
After all the planning and faffing around it was time to actually start walking :lol: :lol:
The initial part of the walk was OK, but it isn't too long before the path. like so many paths this summer turns into a bog trot :( The trudge up Sgurr na Ruaidhe was not what I would describe as a pleasant or enjoyable experience, it wasn't steep or difficult, just damp, squidgy and not much fun. Once the higher slopes were reached the ground was firmer and walking became much easier and then the rounded summit was reached. Thankfully the rest of the hills turned out to be most enjoyable, because the visibility was good we were able to see roughly what lay ahead 8)

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The initial path, easy & rather good

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Evie concentrating on not splashing

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Burn crossing

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The way up

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Looking back

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Looking back

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Nearing the summit

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Quick refuel, not very summery

After a refuel on the summit, not a leisurely one as it was a tad chilly we headed off to the next summit Carn nan Gobhar, David in his wisdom estimated it would only take 20 minutes to get there. Little did he know that his bold statement would be the centre of much banter, not only for the rest of the walk, but for the rest of the weekend :lol: :lol: We eventually reached the summit in 50 minutes and it really was a pleasant surprise after the initial haul uphill 8)

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Looking back to Sgurr na Ruaidhe

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Evie approaching the summit of Carn nan Gobhar

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Summit selfie on Carn nan Gobhar, some weren't paying attention

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The ridge/route to the 3rd summit Sgurr a'Choire Ghlais

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The view NW

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Nice and interesting snow feature

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Looking back

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We were getting a bit spread out

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David posing on the summit of Sgurr a'Choire Ghlais

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Karen & Evie appearing on the horizon

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Nigel deep in concentration

After another stop for a few photo's and a bit of larking about posing for photo's on the Trig it was down & then up to the final summit Sgurr Fhuar-thuill.

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Karen & Evie

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No intention of jumping down

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Now it was Karen's turn

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Not as easy at it looks, Evie assisting with the ascent

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Nearly there

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I may have been getting a bit of verbal abuse!!

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Looking down on Loch an Fhuar-thuill Mhoir

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Final summit of Sgurr Fhuar-thuill

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Low level selfie

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The way down takes you to the left of the small loch

After another refuel it was time to head back to the cars as we had to be at the gate by 8pm or else :lol:
The descent involves retracing your steps back to the bealach & the stalkers path down is easy to see, however about half way down there was evidence of avalanche debris and as a result the path had been turned into a mud bath. Shortly after negotiating the muddy section I slipped on my backside, the end result was a soggy bottom :lol:
Once the terrain levels out the path turns into a track & the gentle descent was very easy and good progress was made.

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Water feature

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The track down and we could just about see the cars

Once we arrived at the 2 cars it was a matter of squashing 7 of us in with rucksacks and then returning back to the start. For any purists who walk back to the start I take my hat off to you, that walk back along the road would be real torture :shock:
A great day out in great company, 3 of the 4 hills were fabulous :lol:
Next part 2 of the weekend :wink:
Forgot to mention - no map/route attached as it was the bulk standard WH route :wink:
Last edited by Fife Flyer on Sun Jul 16, 2023 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Fife Flyer
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby Gordie12 » Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:43 pm

That looked like a good day out FF but damn it - I was looking at these 4 for last Friday as well but in the end went elsewhere as I didn't think the weather was going to be up to much, turns out it was fairly decent.

Ending up on your bum coming off some of these hills this summer seems to be par for the course, I'm almost surprised if I don't have a bum slide through a bog on some of the wet grassy slopes to be had just now.
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby The Rodmiester » Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:00 pm

Good start to the weekend then. Nice report Martin, pity about the wet conditions at low level.
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby jupe1407 » Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:42 pm

Good trip report and fine photos again Martin :D

That looks a fine route, think i'll file that one away for next year...
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby Graeme D » Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:06 pm

Good stuff! Definitely next year for me! I like the little mini-series of photos of Karen getting up onto the trig point and giving you verbal abuse! :lol:
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby kmai1961 » Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:45 pm

Graeme D wrote:I like the little mini-series of photos of Karen getting up onto the trig point and giving you verbal abuse! :lol:


The abuse was undoubtedly along the lines of "you'd better NOT include any unflattering photos of me in your walk report. (Again.)"

You can see it worked to great effect. :roll:
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Re: Strathfarrar - WH Meet

Postby PeteR » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:30 pm

I'm surprised you all get round these hills so fast, with all this larking about on summit trigs :lol:

I quite enjoyed these four, but always had that worry in my mind that I had to be back by "closing time" or face the wrath of the Keeper of the Gate should I find myself locked in :shock:
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