Ladhar Bheinn

Tuesday 5th June 2012

Upon leaving Loch Ossian I travelled to the port of Mallaig and got onto a small boat to the isolated community of Inverie in the great wilderness of the Knoydart peninsula. Although still on the British mainland, the easiest way of getting to Knoydart is by boat, since there are no roads into the area. A long walk by mountain path is the only other way in. Aside from the small coastal village of Inverie, where I was staying, and a couple of other coastal dwellings, there is little trace of civilisation throughout the peninsula, which has resulted in an area with a delightfully wild and unspoilt atmosphere. Loch Ossian felt even more isolated, though thanks to the railway station it is more accessible. I had a bit of a culture shock when I caught the train at Corrour after such a tranquil weekend away from everything. Thankfully after braving the crush of tourists at sunny Mallaig I was able to get away from it all once again. Inverie can also be quite a busy place at times, especially at the popular Old Forge Inn, but a short walk up a path soon took me into stunning unspoilt countryside.

At the start of my first walk in the area, I took the path that climbs away from Inverie beside the Inverie River past grazing highland cattle until I had almost reahed Dubh-Lochain. Just before reaching the lake I turned off the track and started to climb steep bracken-covered slopes all the way up to Màm Suibheig. This was a difficult climb through tall bracken with no sign of a path to ease my way, but my efforts were rewarded by sights of many wild flowers amongst the bracken that included bluebells, primroses and foxgloves. It is just a pity that the bracken was gradually smothering out all these spring flowers. Eventually I managed to get above the bracken and onto the top of the ridge at the col between the Corbett, Sgurr Coire Choinnichean, and the complex ridges of the Munro, Ladhar Bheinn. Larven (as it is pronounced) is the highest point in the Knoydart peninsula so it was an obvious first target for me during my stay in the area. Turning right onto the complex ridge I began a thoroughly entertaining and challenging walk along the top of the undulating, craggy ridge on a good path that bypasses all difficulties as it slowly climbs towards the Munro.

The ridge narrows and levels off along Aonach Sgoilte, which provided me with easy walking and stunning views of the awesome mountain scenery that was arrayed all around me. The centre-piece of the scene though was Larven, looking dark and brooding under heavy clouds. The weather had started well, but had quickly deteriorated, though it never got any worse than being heavily overcast. Everywhere else in the country that day was being lashed with heavy rain, but by some miracle I escaped it all, so in relatively good weather I turned left at the top of Aonach Sgoilte and followed the path down off the top. With awesome scenery all around me I descended to Bealach Coire Dhorrcail before climbing the fabulously craggy ridge that led me all the way up to the summit of Ladhar Bheinn. An excellent path took me safely up the complex and immensely satisfying ridge, including a little scrambling along the way, until I reached the triple-topped summit ridge.

The eastern top is the most interesting as this was the point where I reached the summit ridge and a complex side ridge branches off to the right at this point which would have been my route of descent if I had climbed Larven from Kinloch Hourn. The scenery to the north of Larven is stunning as it drops steeply down to Loch Hourn and made me wonder how much better this walk would have been if I’d started from remote Kinloch Hourn. The central top of the summit ridge is the Munro, the highest point on Larven. The western top contains an old Ordnance Survey Triangulation Point (known as a trig point) that has now half disintegrated with a big pointed rock stuck in the middle of it. I had my lunch at the summit on the narrow ridge before making my way down the grassy western slopes of the mountain. Larven has two faces; the eastern one is craggy with narrow ridges, but the western face has broad grassy slopes so I was able to have an easy, pleasant descent down the steep southern slopes into Gleann na Guiserein.

While walking along the track at the bottom of the valley I kept turning around and looking back at Larven thinking that my walk over the mountain had been too short. It was a great climb while it lasted but once I reached the summit all the excitement had ended and I was left with a straight forward descent and return to Inverie along forest tracks. It may have been better if I’d started the walk by climbing the Corbett at the start of the ridge that overlooks Inverie Bay, Sgurr Coire Choinnichean. I joined the ridge after this mountain, but maybe a more satisfying walk would have been to have done the Corbett first, but I don’t want to take anything away from the greatness of Ladhar Bheinn. This mountain typifies all that is great about Knoydart: complex craggy mountains amongst beautiful unspoilt scenery.