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After my enjoyment of climbing my first Munro in 20 years, I decided to do a two day trip, with an overnight stay in Portree on Skye, witha view to doing Bal Bheinn the next day. My walking companion Brian and myself, set off from Inverness at 9.30am and were expecting a wet day on the Hills as the forecast was for heavy rain around Clunie. When we arrived at the Lay By on the Inverness side of Clunie Inn, the rain had stopped. Our fingers were crossed that it would stay of, which it did. At 10.50 we set off along the side off the main on the Inverness road and 300-400 yards on the left was a road off to the left. there we struck up the hill onto A Chralaig. Most hills give you a gentle walk in before it starts to get steep but this one went up steeply straight away and was hard going on the legs. After a while we reached flatter ground and we progressed our way up the ridge of A Chralaig, where the path was less boggyand easier to follow to the Summit with no scrambling involved whatsoever. The cloud cover was down so we were soon in the mist. at the summit there was a magnificent, huge cairn, so we stopped for lunch. At this point it was getting colder so the gloves were on and also the wind cheats. We descended towards Mullach froach Choire going down a few rocky bits, nothing scary as there were no sheer drops. The ridge then narrowed and luckily the mist was all around so we could not see the drops. As the cloud cover came and went we were given glimpses of the narrow ridge heading up to the summit. I had read about some of the rocky towers that had to be negotiated before the summit but each had bypass paths that we used although there was one part of the path that involved the use of the hands and a drop way down into the valley floor, even in the mist gave a squeaky bum moment. soon we were on the ridge to the summit and once again our view from the summit of MFC was obscured by mist. We retraced our path back along the ridge and the Squeaky Bum section was easier going down. Once past that bit we exited the ridge on a narrow section between the two summits. The path was easy to follow at first but then disappeared so we had to make our own route down to the valley bottom. We decided to follow the stream as the ground around was boggy. Soon we could make out a path that was heading back to Clunnie, path is a loose term as it was more of an animal track in places and very wet and boggy. Soon a more firmer track was reached and before long, we were back at the main road and at the Lay by. After a pint in the Inn it was off to Skye. Brian had done A Chralaig before but did not go as far as MFC but he said he was surprised by the quality of the walk along the ridge and had enjoyed it very much.
- The Lay by with A Chralaig behind the trees.
- Brian heading along the road, with the turn off ahead on the left.
- The small wet path heading up the hill at the start.
- The start was steep and hard going on the legs. Loch Clunie in the background and the Lay by can be seen at the trees. The Track off the main road was the descent track we took but for the Ascent we struck up the hill on the wee path 10-20 yrds in.
- Finally level ground. A Chralaig in the background.
- Looking back along the path.
- The path up the ridge.
- The summit covered in mist.
- The summit reached in 2 hours. Huge summit cairn!
- A few easy rocky out crops had to be negotiated.
- Some nice ridge walking heading towards MFC.
- The ridge heading up to the summit of MFC.
- Brian at the top of the Sqqueaky Bum section.
- Almost at the summit.
- Brian at the Summit
- Me at the Summit, Munro No 4 bagged. Time 3hrs 20 from start and only 1 hr 20 from the summit of A Chralaig.
- The Squeaky Bum section on the way back.
- Heading off the ridge on the descent path, small cairn marking the way.
- Heading down to the valley floor.
- We decided to follow the river down.
- The animal track, boggy path back.
- A better track to the finish, with Loch Clunnie in the background. Arrived at the car after 5hrs 51mins walking and 2 Munros bagged.