walkhighlands

Grand Tour-de-Monar (Wanderers above the clouds)

Munros: An Riabhachan, An Socach (Mullardoch), Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich, Càrn nan Gobhar (Loch Mullardoch), Càrn nan Gobhar (Strathfarrar), Lurg Mhòr, Maoile Lunndaidh, Sgùrr a' Chaorachain, Sgùrr a' Choire Ghlais, Sgùrr Chòinnich, Sgùrr Fhuar-thuill, Sgùrr na Lapaich, Sgùrr na Ruaidhe
Corbetts: Beinn Tharsuinn

Date walked: 29/05/2023

Time taken: 42.5 hours

Distance: 102.7km

Ascent: 7125m

I plotted this route out on a quiet morning when I was bored at work. It started off as a way of trying to fit in Lurg Mhor and Bidean a’Choire Sheasgaich into a wider loop that didn’t involve trekking in to Ben Dronaig Lodge and then spiralled into an enormous circuit of Loch Monar, taking in some of the north Mullardoch hills which I’d climbed before in zero visibility and some other hills I had never been up before. It sat forgotten about in the long list of possible routes I’ve plotted until I was scrolling through looking for some ideas for short walks and I stumbled across it. I sent it to my pal Dean, my usual accomplice in longer multi-day walks. He seemed keen at the time (sometime in November), and we enthusiastically thought it might be possible for my birthday week in May/June the following year. Presuming that the chances of getting a run of decent weather that long were small, I put it to the back of my mind and completely forgot about it again.

April arrived, and Dean asked me if I was still planning on doing this route for my birthday. Yes, absolutely I replied, still not really believing that the weather would allow for it. But since I’d now more firmly agreed to it, I thought I’d better start packing in some longer walks in preparation.

The week arrived and the forecast was somewhat unbelievable. Blazing sunshine all week. No backing out now. After a flurry of messages regarding just how dehydrated we wanted to go food-wise, we packed, and with only a small delay due to my car breaking down we were on our way.

We made some last minute adjustments to the route to factor in picking up as much water as possible due to the warm temperatures. The full route we walked is below – this took us 4.5 days in total.


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Both of us had 4 litres water capacity although for much of the day we were only carrying just over 2 litres. As we were camping high up the extra 2 litres were for overnight, rehydrating food, and mixing with the frankly ridiculous amount of booze we decided to take with us. I’d like to say I learned some lessons from my birthday last year when I severely overpacked for a lengthy walk into Fisherfield, however although I would say I’d improved, taking 1.5 litres of vodka mixed with diluting juice doesn’t seem super sensible given how far we had to walk. It was however very enjoyable in the evenings! I would say worth the pain of carrying it all.

Day 1: Scardroy to Loch Monar


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We arrived at the end of the road to Scardroy at about 10am. Our packs were heavy. Very very heavy. I could barely lift mine. Dean definitely had to give me hand getting it on at one point. Thankfully we didn’t have to carry them for the first 3ish km as the small road section meant we could drop the packs off before returning the car to where we aimed to complete the walk. This meant the first half hour was spent marching along the road in the morning sunshine at quite a pace. An Osprey flew past at a pretty low level along the loch and we spotted all sorts of exotic looking butterflies on the Rhododendrons surrounding Scardroy Lodge.

Fresh faced at the beginning
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The glen which follows the river Meig westwards is beautiful. We actually considered sacking off the rest of the walk and just setting up camp next to the river for a week of swimming and drinking, but our better selves won the argument and we kept going after just a small paddle. We had quite a distance to cover before the uphill even started which meant that we arrived at the bottom of the slope heading up to Creag Dubh Bheag sometime round about midday. This was far from ideal as the combination of midday heat and enormous heavy packs made the uphill a real struggle. When we arrived at the summit of Creag Dubh Bheag we made the joint decision to have a nap until it had cooled off a bit. Having said that as soon as we stopped moving, both of us were quite chilly as the breeze really cooled the sweat fast. Nevertheless, we managed an hour of happy snoozing in the sunshine and Dean would have been quite happy to nap for longer but we had further distance to cover.

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We had thought we might make it to the Bealach Bhearnais to camp that night (crossing to Bidean an Eoin Deirg via the Drochaid Mhuilich) but on reaching the summit of Maoile Lunndaidh we were both roasting and had no desire to do any further ascent that day. We settled for following the ridge down the loch side as the waves on the loch indicated a breeze which might protect us from midges, and this would also allow us to camp next to a water source. This would also allow us to follow the Meall a’Chreagain Duibh ridge upwards the following day which looked mighty fine as we looked across at it. Our camp spot was wonderful, the midges were indeed kept at bay by the breeze and we sat and enjoyed our rehydrated meal watching the sunset (after which the midges did appear and we quickly retreated into our tents).

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Day 2: Loch Monar to Bidean a’Choire Sheasgaich


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We were up early. After the heat of the previous day we had made a plan to get up at 5am and set off by 6. We’d walk during the cooler hours of the morning and then have a lovely warm afternoon hill nap during the hottest hours. Surprisingly we actually managed this, Dean is not usually a fan of the early morning but neither is he a fan of walking in the heat.
The Meall a’Chreagain Duibh ridge is gorgeous. It starts as a wide grassy ridge, becoming more shapely and more rocky the higher you ascend, before finishing in a short narrow rocky section (somewhat reminiscent of bits of Streap). Without heavy packs this would have been an easy and fairly hands-off affair but the extra weight made both of us a bit cautious and we both were fairly slow over this last part, resembling two very slow mountain tortoises. Once on the summit of Bidean an Eoin Deirg the ridge becomes wide and grassy and we romped along for a fair while, gaining and losing height with great views opening up in all directions, up to Torridon and down to Kintail.

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The one issue we both were having with the heat was that our feet were getting very sweaty and on day two this was causing quite a hefty blister on the side of my foot. I’ve not had blisters from these boots since I broke them in so I was quite cross about this. We had a few stops to sit and dry out socks a bit but this wasn’t doing the job enough so after a few stops I slapped on the compeed hoping that it would solve the problem.

As we ascended Beinn Tharsuinn the heat was starting to really pick up again so we settled on the summit for our nap location. This time it was me who didn’t want to get up and after a hefty two hour nap I had to be prized off the hillside and forced back into my boots. By this point Dean had been awake for a while and had watched someone coming down off the north face of Bidean a’Choire Sheasgaich at breakneck speed. We had planned to pop round to the east where a gentler gradient and a grassy ledge would make for an easier ascent but having witnessed the speed at which this gentleman had descended we opted for his route in ascent, both of us keen to reach the summit where we planned to camp. This was a very steep and hands on route. Nothing technical, all well-trodden path, but with massive heavy packs it felt like quite a challenge, if only the pushing up of the extra weight. It did however get us to the summit in record time.

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Tents set up, dinner rehydrated, it was another spectacular evening, this time with an unblocked view of the sun setting in the west. Making inroads into the vodka we sat and chatted for an hour or so as the sun went down, both incredulous that weather was quite this good!

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Day Three: Bidean a’Choire Sheasgaich to An Riabhachan


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We awoke to a full inversion. I was like a child at Christmas leaping about with excitement, taking 200 plus photos and wondering at how warm it was already at 5am. Dean was less keen on early start number two, but the inversion was enough to get him up and eating his breakfast, drinking in the sunrise over the clouds. My foot however was less thrilled about going back into a boot due to the previous days blister which had grown arms and legs, but luckily I hadn’t ditched my first aid kit in order to cut down pack weight and I managed to construct a compeed-vet-wrap dressing (I think the vet-wrap was originally in there for the dog but seems to work on humans fine). This was a miracle solution as this held for the rest of the walk and the blister did not get worse.

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We saved Lurg Mhor for early in the day on purpose, both of us wanting fresh legs for any scrambling between Lurg Mhor and Meall Mhor. We weren’t sure what to expect as I had read on Walkhighlands that the slabs were awkward and some scrambling was unavoidable, but then read somewhere else that all was avoidable. We descended off Lurg Mhor with caution as it is quite steep and exposed on one side. There are no real difficulties in descending, again with huge heavy packs we had to take quite a bit of care going downhill and there were some small sections which we downclimbed backwards which actually would have been a breeze with small packs. Much of this descent is grassy, with only a few small rocky sections further down. There was then a series of ups and downs over rocky sections which we avoided by dropping down to the right (South). Finally we reached the section which I can only presume is the one referred to as unavoidable. It was steep and hands on scrambling, starting off with a small exposed scramble down to a gap in front of what looks like a tooth coming out of the ridge. Getting down was fairly easy but was a little exposed, Dean did not enjoy this much. It then took us a while to work out the route up and over the tooth (we went almost straight up bearing very slightly right until we hit a small ledge leading up the left, followed the ledge and then came up out on to the top). This section did look avoidable by losing quite a lot of height and dropping off down the grassy slopes to the south however you would lose a lot of height doing this. There is no difficulty getting down on the other side of this section if you do chose to go straight up. Again this would have been much easier with smaller packs!

After this there was no difficulties and we charged down the ridge, exhilarated by our scrambling prowess! Sadly that meant heading down into the cloud and we left the sunny inversion behind and descended into the clag. This was not an enjoyable section. Boggy heather lower down and little visibility made for a fairly grumpy me and although the visibility improved as we approached Pait Lodge I was feeling fairly hard done by in leaving the inversion behind. This continued as we used a fairly new looking track to ascend alongside the Allt Riabhachain. Again another plan change and we scrapped Beinn Bheag and An Cruachan in favour of following the river as high as possible into the Coire Gorm Mor so as to be able to fill up before heading onto the ridge. The minute the real ascent began, the cloud rolled back and the intense heat returned. Oh the joys of another roasting sweaty climb and we toiled upwards, reaching the summit of An Socach or nap location number three with much joy. Dean was feeling less snoozy at this point so spent the hour I spent dozing exploring the ridge round to Meall a’Chaisg and messing about with the remaining snow hanging around the edges of the corrie.

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After I’d woken up from my peaceful slumbers we carried on along the ridge, this being the only section I’d been on before but previously with very little views. I was hugely happy to be able to see for miles in all directions and now reminded of how interesting the ridge is. Narrowing and widening, grassy and rocky and full of character. Soon enough we were on the summit of An Riabhachan and pitching our tents, ready for another night of vodka and sunset.

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Day 4: An Riabhachan to Sgurr Fhur-thuill


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We woke to another inversion. This one was much higher and only the highest peaks were poking their summits up into the sunshine. It really was magical. In some directions only a sea of cloud and in others only the tiniest tops of mountains poking through. Dean took somewhat longer to rouse, the novelty of inversion slightly less for the second day in a row but we were still on our way pretty early. We took full advantage of the slowly rising cloud, spending as long as we could justify on top of Sgurr na Lapaich as we could see already that Carn nan Gobhar was already under the cloud.

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We covered ground fairly quickly for the rest of the morning. Both Carn nan Gobhar and Creag Dubh went by with very little to see, the ground making for easy going until we were much lower into the glen. We reached the river Farrar around 2pm and just as we did, the remaining cloud parted and left us with blazing sunshine – just in time for our next ascent! Thankfully by now our packs were getting a bit lighter, food had been eaten, booze depleted and after a quick paddle in the ford to cool our hot hot feet, we started trudging up the track running along side the Allt Toll a Mhuic.
We couldn’t decide how to get up onto Sgurr na Muice but we opted for a narrow grassy rake heading up towards the summit. This was not a good decision. I’m not sure if there was a better option and we just missed it but the approach to this was brutal. Knee deep heather mixed with tussocks made it a slog and a half and we were both ecstatic to reach the grass in the rake. Once on the ridge it was delight and we strolled happily up to the summit of Sgurr na Fearstaig, resting for a while before settling on Sgurr Fhuar-thill as our camp spot for the night. The last of the booze was polished off, another surprisingly tasty dehydrated dinner and another spectacular sunset.



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Day 5: Sgurr Fhur-thuill to Finish!


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We awoke to yet another inversion. I couldn’t even get Dean out of his sleeping bag to look at this one and he demanded that I take a photo and show it to him in his tent.

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Both of our legs were feeling the distance and we were slow on the start although once we picked up momentum we got back into a fairly fast rhythm. The inversion cleared fairly quickly leaving us with clear views from the remainder of the Strathfarrar ridge and we enjoyed summit after summit with stunning views all around. We had decided to go nap-free on this section as both of us were keen for clean clothes and a proper wash so we stormed along. Our speed was somewhat restricted on the descent as we chose what has to be the worst descent route (comparable to that horrible heathery mess off Toll Creagach at the end of the Mullardoch round). The gradient was fairly easy but huge holes opened up under the heather, invisible until you were waist deep in them, and boggy ground mixed with huge tussocks made walking a huge chore.

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It was with huge relief that we reached Luipmaldrig (lovely bothy, must go back and stay) where we sat outside and enjoyed lunch under the now clouded over skies. We encountered our first ticks of the entire walk which we were both somewhat surprised at, having expected to come across them much earlier.

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The final leg was a well built path which took us up over moorland, before descending into some beautiful forestry. Larch with some rogue birch and rowan trees scattered through them heading steeply down towards Inverchoran, the scent of the needles was just the balm we needed to get us through to the end. We emerged from the forestry to spy the car, waiting for us on the other side of the river. I don’t think I could have managed another day after that, I have never been so happy to see clean clothes. My legs were exhausted. But it’s a trip that will stick in my memory, the ridge walking was all wonderful and the inversions and other fantastic weather just made it even more special. I’m sure I’ll be plotting more massive big beasts now, in the hope that my birthday week next year might end up just as good!

Definitely not fresh
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For anyone else interested in doing this route, I would definitely recommend doing it in this direction. The few scrambly sections are much easier going anti clockwise as you are scrambling up the worst rather than down. Plus the descent towards Luipmaldrig would have been dire to go up.

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Comments: 3



Glamaig

Attachment(s) Corbetts: Glamaig
Fionas: Beinn Dearg Mhór (Sligachan)
Date walked: 12/05/2023
Distance: 11.92km
Ascent: 1272m
Views: 392


Sisters and Brothers

Attachment(s) Munros: Aonach Meadhoin, Sàileag, Sgùrr a' Bhealaich Dheirg, Sgùrr Fhuaran, Sgùrr na Càrnach, Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe
Date walked: 11/05/2023
Distance: 22.26km
Ascent: 2501m
Comments: 2
Views: 538


Meall nan Eun from Glen Kinglass

Attachment(s) Munros: Meall nan Eun, Stob Coir an Albannaich
Date walked: 24/04/2023
Distance: 27.15km
Ascent: 1185m
Comments: 3
Views: 574


Streap in the springtime

Attachment(s) Corbetts: Streap
Date walked: 15/04/2023
Views: 346


Lots of lumpy bits

Attachment(s) Corbetts: Sgùrr a' Choire-bheithe, Sgùrr nan Eugallt
Date walked: 01/04/2023
Distance: 36.66km
Ascent: 2524m
Comments: 1
Views: 559


Big Lawers Loop

Attachment(s) Munros: An Stùc, Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers, Meall a' Choire Lèith, Meall Corranaich, Meall Garbh (Ben Lawers)
Date walked: 25/03/2023
Distance: 18.8km
Ascent: 1900m
Views: 601


Fersit to Corrour

Attachment(s) Munros: Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin, Stob Coire Easain
Date walked: 26/02/2023
Distance: 21.4km
Ascent: 1207m
Views: 425


Straight up Ben Mor Coigach

Attachment(s) Fionas: Ben Mór Coigach
Date walked: 16/02/2023
Distance: 16.62km
Ascent: 1034m
Comments: 1
Views: 544


Ben More Assynt via South East Ridge

Attachment(s) Munros: Ben More Assynt, Conival
Date walked: 14/02/2023
Distance: 18.71km
Ascent: 1242m
Comments: 2
Views: 775

ghdnotcutt


Location: Edinburgh
Gear: Boots




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Statistics

2023

Trips: 10
Distance: 276.22 km
Ascent: 19990m
Munros: 31
Corbetts: 5
Fionas: 2

2022

Trips: 1
Distance: 79.95 km
Ascent: 4248m
Munros: 2
Corbetts: 3

2021

Trips: 1
Distance: 46 km
Corbetts: 1


Joined: Apr 03, 2018
Last visited: -
Total posts: 18 | Search posts