walkhighlands

Is a Boggy Path Worse Than a Pathless Bog?

Sub 2000s: Cruach Doir'an Raoigh

Date walked: 08/12/2024

Time taken: 3 hours

Distance: 7.6km

Ascent: 394m


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Short answer: It depends. The obvious additional question is what sort of terrain (how flat, how vegetated) lies underneath... but then it still depends. :lol:

What's worth noting is that this was the day after Storm Darragh had passed. I looked for a short walk low enough not to be under the fresh snow, and decided to go for the Ardnish Sub of Cruach Doir'an Raoigh.

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I stopped at the layby on the A830, under the craggy slopes of Beinn Chaorach

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But went SW instead, on the marked path

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The path was fine initially - but then got really boggy in the oak woods, with numerous detours around a puddle of swamp at one point, each marginally drier than the previous one

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Looking over the nearly-still Loch Dubh towards the snowy Druim Fiaclach, Loch Ailort hidden in the dip in between

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A questionable-looking bridge over the outflow from Loch Dubh... held my weight just fine though

I crossed the railway tracks and the bridge held together by rope, and continued on the path. The plan was to stay on it until the highest bit, before the path started descending again to cross Allt Camas an Raoigh, and then tackle the slopes of Cruach Doir'an Raoigh from there. But the path was so boggy that after the second time I had to bash through the heather in order not to submerge, I decided sticking to the path wasn't worth it, and headed directly uphill from where I was.

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And the hillside was a lot simpler to walk on

That being said, the rocks, which would've been fun to climb over in the dry, were wet and slippery, so finding a way around them, stepping only on surfaces I could trust, meant the going was slow. But I was gaining height.

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Down to Loch Beag, and the larger Loch nan Uamh

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Once I reached 150 m, I veered right to reach the small top overlooking Loch Camas an Raoigh

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The Sub was directly beyond the loch, but I veered SE to climb more gently along the ridge

Well... until the ridge started getting too steep for how slippery it currently was :lol: - so I turned right to climb alongside the burn, then doubled back to pass over the minor top anyway.

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There were nice views back to the snow-capped Corbetts and Fionas of Moidart

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But I continued over the >270 m tops W of me

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To the main summit of Cruach Doir'an Raoigh: at 292 m, the highest point of the Ardnish peninsula

Because of the crags you can see in the picture above, the summit is highly resistant to walkers approaching from the SE, so I had to circle around, climb it from the W, then get down the same way.

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Over Loch nan Uamh, with Eigg and Rùm in the distance

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Cruach Doir'an Raoigh kept the Arnabol Viaduct out of the sun

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While the shade the NW sides of An Stac and Rois-bheinn were in gave the fresh snow on both Corbetts a tinge of the blue sky above

Further on, I continued down the ridge - and tried to bag the tops along the way - with the distinct shape of Cruach an Fhearainn Duibh serving as a spot to aim for. Some of the flatter areas were littered with bogs, and I kept avoiding the numerous crags, but it was an endearing ridge, and probably even much more pleasant to walk outside of the aftermath of a storm.

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Lots of little rocky bumps in the grass

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And a few lochans too

Eventually, I came across a grassy track of sorts that led me to the Peanmeanach path - and since I was right under Cruach an Fhearainn Duibh, and had been looking towards it for almost an hour, I nipped up it for a final view towards the islands. :D

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Unlile Cruach Doir'an Raoigh and its grass, Cruach an Fhearainn Duibh was covered in heather

The gully leading to the summit even had a path of sorts - so maybe it wasn't as unfrequented a hill as I thought?

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Back along the ridge I'd walked down

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And out to the sea

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The ridges of Cruach an Aonaich SE of Loch Doire a'Ghearrain looked interesting and moderately challenging

But I had to head back to the car, since it was December, and daylight wasn't a commodity there was a surplus of. On the way down from Cruach an Fhearainn Duibh, I tried to veer left to join the path a bit further, but came across crags, and had to return. No easy shortcuts in Ardnish!

I was a bit wary of the path when I got to it - and pretty soon, I managed to lose it twice, when I went for the marginally less boggy alternatives, and lost sight of the main one.

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At times, the path was okay, good, and rocky; at other times, it was indistinct and attracting bogs

That's what the title question is about: If there's a path, I want to stick to it, and make use of the good sections - but allow myself to be led into potentially boggier areas. Without a path, choosing the best line is up to me the entire time.

For a kilometre, the path stayed at ~150 m, and sticking to it was easy, especially with a slope on both sides. The descent that followed was trickier, with the whole path flowing down the slope - although that was most likely largely thanks to Darragh. One more bash through the heather, then the boggy grass, and I made it back to the layby a little before sunset.

So the answer should probably be this: Recent heavy rain makes bogs a lot worse, whether there's a path or not! :D

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Comments: 1



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aaquater



Munros: 80
Tops: 39
Corbetts: 49
Fionas: 51
Donalds: 26+14
Hewitts: 18
Sub 2000: 57



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Statistics

2024

Trips: 11
Distance: 222 km
Ascent: 9538m
Munros: 1
Corbetts: 3
Fionas: 2
Donalds: 2
Sub2000s: 7

2023

Trips: 22
Distance: 367.3 km
Ascent: 21031m
Munros: 10
Corbetts: 2
Fionas: 8
Donalds: 5
Sub2000s: 9
Hewitts: 18

2022

Trips: 17
Distance: 337.2 km
Ascent: 20763m
Munros: 14
Corbetts: 6
Fionas: 8
Donalds: 4
Sub2000s: 8

2021

Trips: 9
Distance: 172.7 km
Ascent: 12317m
Munros: 10
Corbetts: 8
Fionas: 2
Sub2000s: 5

2020

Trips: 3
Distance: 95.4 km
Ascent: 3016m
Fionas: 1
Donalds: 3
Sub2000s: 2

2019

Trips: 5
Distance: 154.2 km
Ascent: 9150m
Munros: 10
Corbetts: 5
Fionas: 2

2018

Trips: 13
Distance: 356.1 km
Ascent: 15601m
Munros: 20
Corbetts: 7
Fionas: 8
Sub2000s: 1

2017

Trips: 7
Distance: 204 km
Ascent: 9902m
Munros: 7
Corbetts: 4


Joined: Jul 08, 2019
Last visited: Jul 16, 2025
Total posts: 139 | Search posts