Looking along the ridge of An Riabhachan

This was the most successful trip that I’ve done that has lasted for more than two weeks. Generally very good weather dominated the first half of the trip along with plenty of spring snow remaining. The weight of my rucksac as I packed it was heavier than any trip I had done before:- eight days of food plus my new camera and winter gear all mounted up. Combine this with weather forecasts that suggested very unsettled weather and I was feeling quite anxious about the trip.

The journey up was dominated by clear views and generally blue skies. Overnight snow lay on the lakeland peaks with older snow lying in small patches on the northern pennines. It hinted at more snow to come once I arrived at the southern fringe of the highlands. The southern grampians only had small amounts of old snow and it was only when the coach drove towards the pass of Drumochter that the amounts of snow on the mountains really did make them look tundra like. It was now evening and long shadows were cast by the sun.

The Northern Cairngorm corries had a slight pink about them and the appearance of the cairngorms made them look serious and forbidding. I really did regret leaving my camera in the luggage compartment. The Citylink coach to Inverness was very quiet and I was hungry. These factors coupled with the forecast of storm on Sunday made me feel anxious as I felt a great uncertainty over the coming trip as I always do. At least the chippy at Inverness quenched my hunger.

A connecting coach brought me to Drumnadrochit and all I had left to do was a 13 mile hitch to Cannich where the independant hostel was. 30 cars and 1 hour later (nearly my worst hitch hiking record) a nice sports car pulled up and gave me a lift. I was releived for it was now very cold as a night time frost established itself. The hostel provided a comfortable nights sleep plus an enourmous load of hiking magazines though the years to interest oneself. It had been a long day for me and I welcomed bed (though not the clocks going forward).

I woke up nice and early at 7am. The hostel was freezing cold, even in my mildly heated bedroom. It was on with the outside clothing immediately and was probably colder than any time I had in my tent, depite being inside. However for £5 a night and when compared with some youth hostels (of even more expensive price) I wasn’t complaining. I’ve found the common room to be warm in the evening when the open fire is roaring. This morning the fire was dead and the sight of the darkening weather made me put off my departure as long as possible, the kids telly programmes providing ‘comfortable’ entertainment. Luckily the resident cat was to hand and voluteered itself as a convienient lap warmer! I briefly switched to BBC1 and just caught the last bit of the weather forecast. It spoke of fine dry weather after Tuesday for most of us. This raised my hopes and gave me the will power to leave the warm cat behind for my long trek!

My first obstacle was getting to the start of the walk. I decided to try and hitch to the start of Glen Strathfarrar and thus cut some time off my walk. After ½ hour with only one car (and a cyclist) passing me, I decided to reposition myself for a hitch up Glen Cannich as originally planned. More cars seemed to be going up that glen anyway. After ¼ hour a wildlife photographer provided me with the lift I needed to start my hike just before Liatre. He was an interesting guy talking about his attempts to photograph a rare bear in Alaska. He talked of the badweather he had there which was gloomy talk as I saw the first rain engulf Toll Creagach to the west.

I started walking just as the rain started, the route I had to get to Glen Strathfarrar followed a path to a bridge over the River Farrar. The winds never appeared to be stormy or even strong which suggested that the forecast low pressure was less deep than expected. A ruin provided some shelter from the moderate rain and I was happy that my new waterproof trousers were working very well for I was completely dry underneath.

It took 2 ½ hours to reach Glen Strathfarrar from Glen Cannich. Knowing it’s a glen with a locked gate, suggests that this way in would have probably been the only way in to the glen. The last leg of today was a 3km walk up a side glen to Coire Mhuillidh. It was a tiring slog for I had had little food or water up to now and so frequent rests were made. I felt the load on my back was O.K. and I didn’t seem to suffer any loss of performance when compared to previous years.

The rain tempo increased as I neared the campsite. This was typical as my inner pitching first tent would now get soaked while setting it up. Despite draping the flysheet over while the poles were fed through, the tent still got wet underneath. I was glad to be inside the tent and was glad for a hot cup-a-soup. I was now well positioned for my Munro collecting. The rain stopped at 7pm yielding a glimour of blue sky before dusk set in. The mountains loomed out of their mist and it felt like a fitting start to a long trip.

The Western top from Sgurr Fhuar-thuil

Meallan nan Uan (I think!)

The day dawned bright with some showers theatening to dampen down the breakfast and so that led to a hasty packing up. There was no wind down at the camp site and the going up to the main ridge was certainly very warm. By the time the main ridge was reached the wind was certainly chilly. The summits stayed clear all the time since breakfast .. until I reached the first one, typical! The two eastern summits of this ridge didn’t have much snow but the third summit – Sgurr a’ Choire Ghlais certainly did.

The view out to the west and southwest reavealled the bulk of my route. It looked vast and felt daunting, the east face of Sgurr na Lapaich looked especially snowy and looked a formidable obstacle from here. Richard Gilbert’s Wild Walks book described the east ridge of Sgurr na lapaich as the crux of the round of Loch Mullardoch. However it was something to worry about the next day. The walk out from the highest point today yielded some fine northern corries though the showers became more frequent with stronger winds touching glae force and making the day more exhausting. I attained several views out across Loch Monar to the hills I climbed last Easter. They looked particularly fine from this angle.

Looking east from Sgurr a' Cjoire Ghlais to Sgurr na Ruaidhe

Sgurr na Lapaich as seen from Sgurr a' Choire Ghlais

My progress was fast and it was now time to make my way down to Loch Toll a’ Mhuic which is enclosed in a secluded corrie with the fine cliffs of Sgurr na Muice. Despite the showers, there were some nice long spelss of sunshine and the views were predominantly good. My original intention was to camp further down this stream but the ground was heather rather than grass and so I continued right down to Glen Strathfarrar. It was now early evening and I was keen to find a good place to camp. I had my worries about having an angry landowner spot me here but luckily there was not a single person seen in this glen. Sgurr na Lapaich looked particularly majestic today and photographed it many times during today.  It was a fine round traversed today.