Moruisg and Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean

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Moruisg is rather a sprawling mountain but is a superb viewpoint. The ascent line given here has the one merit of directness, but continuing the walk onto Sgùrr na Ceannaichean follows an enjoyable ridge making for a good, fairly moderate mountain walk.

Terrain

The lower ground across the railway is very boggy, whilst the upper slopes give simple hillwalking. The descent is fairly steep; some parts pathless.

Public Transport

Inverness - Lochcarron bus passes along the A890.

Start

Layby on south side of A890. Open start point in Google Maps for directions.

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Walk Description

Stage 1

Park in the layby on the south side of the A890 1km west of the bridge over the Allt Coire Crubaidh. Follow the path through the gate down to the bridge over the river. Continue on the far side to eventually pass underneath the railway. From here, the bog trot begins! Pass through the gate ahead, keeping right at a faint forkin the path. From here a path continues up the hillside, aiming for and passing through a gate in the deer fence.

Stage 2

If there is no mist, you should be able to see the great gullies which score the wide face of the mountain; the path heads directly up the slope to the left of the section scored by two gullies which run close together near the top. When the steep section is reached the going finally becomes drier underfoot, and there are good views back to the peaks of the Couilin Forest. Eventually the slope relents to a gentler graident once more, over soggy wet grasses.

Stage 3

Continue straight ahead southeast to finally reach the broad ridge of Moruisg. Now turn along the ridge towards the summit; a large, well-built cairn is passed shortly before reaching the true summit cairn. On a clear day the view is just reward for the somewhat soggy ascent, with the great peaks of Torridon rising behind the Coulin Forest, whilst with good visibility the view takes in a vast swathe of Scotland from An Teallach and the Fannichs to the mountains of Skye.

Stage 4

The walk now changes character and becomes much more enjoyable. Follow the broad ridge southwest to reach the top of the crags of Coire Toll nam Bian. The ridge then turns south, keeping the crags close by and losing a little height before traversing a minor bump. Later the ridge curves southwest once more and descends more steeply down rockier ground to the bealach.

Stage 5

From the bealach, climb straight west up the opposite slope to reach the lower shoulder of Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean. Once on the shoulder follow the ridge as it curves south to reach a steeper final climb - a good path eases the ascent here, up to a small summit plateau. There\'s a large cairn at the centre of this, but the true summit is the smaller cairn just to the south, on the edge of a steep drop overlooking the empty upper reaches of Gleann Fhiodhaig. The summit was once a Munro but was demoted to Corbett status following a resurvey.

Stage 6

Return your steps back down to the shoulder, and then follow the ridge which descends north from here. The descent is mostly grassy, with some steeper sections. Further down the ridge is the rocky bluff of Creag a'Chait; this is avoided by keeping to the left side of the crags. Once below this steep descent, head northeast to reach the Alltan na Feola burn; cross it and then follow the path downsteam above the far bank.

Stage 7

The path becomes clearer and leads through a gate into an area of regenerating native woodland, keeping above the east side of the Allt an na Feola. The going becomes wet for some time before improving again lower down. Eventually the path leads through two more gates before bearing right across a final - very wet - stretch of heathery ground to rejoin the outward route at the underpass beneath the railway. Pass through this and over the bridge to return to the start.

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