The South Glen Shiel Ridge

Monday 31st May 2010 

On the morning of this walk I was on the move once again travelling from Crianlarich, where I'd overnighted, to Glen Shiel, stopping off on the way in Fort William for supplies and petrol before continuing to the top of Glen Shiel. Glen Shiel is a wonderful place that I just seem to keep returning to, this being my third year in a row that I've been there. Last year, after spending two hours at Cluanie Inn waiting for a bus to take me back down the valley, I resolved to bring my car next time, so that is what I'd done. Parking near the Cluanie Inn I crossed the valley floor of Glen Shiel, and across the stream that emanates from Coire nan Eirecheanach, walking to the foot of A'Chioch. Thus began a relentless and exhausting climb up a steep hillside in stunning weather with no clouds in the sky but a cooling breeze. By repeatedly resting I eventually reached the top of A'Chioch where I had my lunch in the stunning surroundings. 

While crossing a saddle the wind picked up, which prompting me to put my cagoule on before starting to climb the rock strewn slope that leads to the start of the ridge, Druim na Ciche. After gaining the ridge I made a fabulous crossing of the narrow ridge with accompanying nerve shattering exposure. I don't have a great head for heights, but I do like a good scramble that pushes me close enough to the edge to get my heart pounding. I don't like anything that is too exposed and in this case there was a lower path that I could have used to avoid all difficulties (I didn't use it, but instead I tried to stay on top of the ridge as much as I dared). With a couple of moments of good scrambling, this is a great route to a Munro and it isn't even on the main ridge. Immediately after the scramble is the summit of Aonach air Chrith, the third Munro on the South Glen Shiel ridge, and the highest. 

The whole ridge includes seven Munros, but from my perspective on the third Munro the others appeared to be rather dull and the ridge linking them looked to be a mundane, straightforward walk. I'm sure a traverse of the entire ridge is a huge undertaking, especially in bad weather, but since my time was limited I followed Ralph Storer's suggestion and took in just two of the seven Munros on the ridge. I keep telling myself that I am not in the business of bagging Munros, that all I'm interested in is doing a good walk; after all, I'm on holiday and I should be relaxing, not wearing myself out! Incidentally when I told this to someone in one of the hostels that I stayed in, later in this holiday, he replied that that was how he'd started. He was now bagging every Munro. I don't want to do that because a height above three thousand feet is no guarantee of a good mountain. I still often have to remind myself that I'm doing this for fun, because sometimes hill walking can be really unpleasant! 

From the summit of the Munro I turned right onto the main ridge and walked along it to the fourth Munro on the South Glen Shiel ridge, Maol Chinn-dearg. After my exciting scramble along Druim na Ciche this was an enjoyable, leisurely stroll on the excellent path along the top of the South Glen Shiel ridge until at the summit of Maol Chinn-dearg I turned left, off the main ridge and descended the grassy ridge of Druim Coire nan Eirecheanach. During the course of this walk I was doing a full circuit of the corrie and now had a wonderfully relaxing walk down the grass covered ridge all the way back to the road. This was a fabulous walk, shorter than my usual full day's walk because of the driving I had to do at the start of the day. In near perfect weather conditions this was a near perfect walk in an absolutely fantastic area of mountains. When I first came to Kintail I was struck by the huge numbers of mountains in the area and I knew I'd be coming back for a long time to come. All my walks in Scotland are inspired by Ralph Storer's book "100 Best Routes Up Scottish Mountains", and out of those one hundred walks, six start from Glen Shiel. I have now done four of those walks, so you can be sure I will be coming back to Glen Shiel.