I'm cheering myself up, in what has been a nervous week for the world , by tidying up a couple of Walk Reports that I'd never gotten round to posting at the end of last year ... and it has worked, I'd have to say. My photos have reminded me what a lovely walk this was, and after all, the hills will still be there for us all, long after COVID-19 (and maverick world leaders) have been consigned to history's great dustbin, inshallah ...
Despite the very late start to the season, I'd actually managed to clock up more Munros than I'd initially thought possible during the ill-starred year of 2020. The fine weather, plus the impossibility of holidays overseas, probably both helped. By the end of August my tally stood at 13 new ones since the July "re-opening" of the hills post-lockdown, plus two repeats, taking me to the 200-Munros mark in total ... and with the weekend of 20th September earmarked for a walk and another surprisingly fine weather forecast to boot, I thought that I might just have a look at Gulvain before the winter weather set in, and try to make it fourteen for the year.
Gulvain is of course a real Awkward Singleton of a Munro, with a long walk-in for a single "tick" in a relatively remote corner of the country. It is potentially day-trippable from Glasgow at a push, but I thought that I might as well take it easy on myself (and give the hospitality industry some much-needed custom), by taking a Friday Annual Leave day and driving up to the Roybridge Hotel late afternoon. I hadn't bargained on a road closure on the A82 and a long and painful diversion via Connel and Ballachulish, of course ! Once I finally got to the hotel however, it was a pleasant enough stay (good bar food and draught beer fair perked me up after the nightmare drive ), and I took their room-only deal so that I could sort out my own breakfast and get an early start on the Saturday morning.
As per the website's route description, I parked at a handy parking area at the start of the A861 just beyond its junction with the A830, and walked back the short distance to the A830 to take the Gleann Fionnlighe track on the north side of the road. Thankfully the route-finding at the start of the route (usually the hardest bit!) was straightforward enough, and the weather was looking very promising as per forecast, once some early-morning haze had burned off...
The approach up the Gleann Fionnlighe track is long but scenic, through mixed forestry beside the tumbling waters of the Fionn Lighe burn that gives the glen its name, and soon enough the sun was shining brightly .
Some nice spider-webs dusted with early-morning dew to the side of the track:
...And a pleasing wee waterfall on the Fionn Lighe:
It was a long walk in right enough, even after I'd passed the derelict building at Uachan, but a pleasant one on the whole. Eventually I emerged from the forestry with a grand view of Gulvain's south ridge and south top basking in wall-to-wall sunshine ahead:
This hill's Gaelic monicker is somewhat unpromising - the usual translation seems to be "Dirty or Rough Hill" (from Gaor Bheinn), although I see that the Walkhighlands Munros book has it as "Noisy Hill". I'd have to say, however, that the entire route was unusually bog-free by West of Scotland standards, and I actually managed to finish the day without getting my boots wet or even particularly muddy ... which is something of a first for me in Scotland's Wild West. The grand weather undoubtedly helped, of course.
A bit further down the track, there was a pleasingly Tolkein-ish view of this Lonely Mountain, nicely framed between two trees ... although thankfully Smaug the Dragon was nowhere in evidence!
Just about at the end of the track now, where it degenerates into a rougher (but still serviceable) path, and the Lonely Mountain was looming very large now. That had the look of being something of an unrelenting ascent .

Before starting the ascent, however, I came to the rather cute footbridge over the Allt a' Choire Reidh, with some nice wee birch trees around it:
Well, it was a bit of an unrelenting slog up Gulvain's long but grassy south ridge right enough, but as is often the case, there were excellent views by way of compensation. The vista in this case is the spectacular one back down Gleann Fionnlighe, with various impressively pointy Glenfinnan Corbetts jostling for attention on the south side of the A830.
A zoomed shot of those Corbetts:
Eventually I reached an initial cairned rise, where the gradient suddenly starts to ease off, after which the effort of the long slog up the south ridge was rewarded with a long and exhilarating rollecroaster of a ridge walk. Gulvain's twin summits were both clearly visible ahead now. The first one has the trig point, confusingly enough, but it's the further-away northern top beyond it that is the true summit.
Looking back southwards down Gleann Fionnlighe, there was now a truly lovely view of the long ribbon of Loch Shiel, framed by all those Corbetts:
It didn't seem that much further from the first cairned rise to the trig point on Gulvain's South Top, with a lovely view of the ongoing sinuous ridge leading to the second (and true) summit to the north:
Another impressive West Coast vista looking (I think) roughly westwards from the South Top, into the Land of the Corbett (there are some eighteen Corbetts in the corner of Scotland south of the A830 that the SMC calls "Section 10a", although there are no Munros - and they all look very distinguished hills indeed).
Looking south again from the South Top trig point, with that fantastic view down Loch Shiel in the distance:
I pressed onwards down the twisting ridge towards the North Top, with a bit of descent and re-ascent, but again with fabulous views to make up for the physical effort, and before long I was at the well-built true summit cairn. Munro Number 201 for me - a tally that had scarcely seemed possible at the start of the lockdown in March 2020.
Well, splashing out on hotel accommodation the night before this walk may have been a relative extravagance, but I had consoled myself with the thought that after all those hotel comforts, I'd at least be looking unusually suave and debonair in the Summit Selfie. Um...
Anyway, enough of that. Further jaw-dropping West Coast views from Gulvain's summit - this was the view westwards, with the neighbouring Corbett Braigh nan Uamhachan in the foreground, and with the Paps of Jura and the Skye Cuillin both clearly visible way out west:
A zoomed shot of Paps (if it's not too early in the day for such a thing):
And a zoomed shot of Skye's "antlered Cuillin" away in the distance:
Another view south, to that fantastic vista along Loch Shiel:
Looking east now, with Ben Nevis inevitably being prominent in the middle distance:
A zoomed shot of the Ben:
Well, needless to say it felt just as long a walk on the way back downhill and along the full distance of the Gleann Fionnlaighe track back to the car, although to my considerable relief the A82 had re-opened for my drive back to Glasgow .
On a day like this, though, Gulvain amply repaid the effort involved in reaching its summit - it really is a fabulous viewpoint, and a very special place indeed. The hills are still there...