Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach

Sunday 28th August 2016

I first started planning this holiday in Scotland last year before I even went to the Outer Hebrides. The original idea was to start walking along the Cape Wrath Trail that runs from Fort William all the way along the west coast of the Highlands to the north-western tip of Scotland at Cape Wrath. The plan evolved so that I would walk only as far as Glen Shiel on this holiday, about a quarter of the way along the trail, climbing as many mountains as I could on the way. Eventually I settled on starting from Glenfinnan, not Fort William, and to do the holiday at the end of May this year, but then problems with the trains forced me to radically change my plans and I went to the Cairngorms at the end of May instead. When I was finishing that holiday it wasn’t the Western Highlands that I was looking at for late summer but a return to the Western Isles to walk along the new Hebridean Way. However that trail has not been officially opened yet so I thought it best to wait another year for that and turned my attention back to the Western Highlands. My memory of carrying a heavy rucksack was fresh in my mind when I booked this holiday so I decided to take my car to Scotland, which I hadn’t done since 2010.

Therefore, after an overnight stay in Crianlarich, I was driving along the narrow twisty road through Glen Garry to Loch Quoich where I parked at the foot of Gleouraich (this tongue-twister is probably best pronounced Glaw-reech), which is one of the mountains that had always been on my plan for this holiday. The walk started with a soaking while battling through the overgrown dew-covered rhododendrons that line the road. Once I emerged onto the open hillside I was immediately awestruck by the stunning array of mountains at the western end of Loch Quoich. The mountains of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart were looking spectacular in the bright, sunny conditions clustered at the far end of the loch and kept drawing my attention all day even after the weather deteriorated. The footpath, which Ralph Storer describes as ‘perhaps the finest stalkers’ path in the country’, zigzags brilliantly up the hillside and was a pleasure to walk along, while that view kept my eyes turned away from the ground at my feet.

The purple flowers of heather and devil’s-bit scabious covered the ground as I sweated in the warm weather up the excellent path, stopping frequently to admire the view and wipe the sweat off my brow. Unfortunately the good weather didn’t last as clouds descended over the mountain and my views became restricted, even at its best, to the steep, grassy slopes below me leading all the way down to Loch Quoich. The path had reached a narrow ridge and kept to the loch-side of the ridge around the grassy hump of Druim Seileach, and after crossing the saddle beyond I plunged into the thick clouds as I climbed the steep, stony slopes of Geouraich. Upon reaching the western top I was astonished to suddenly come out of the clouds and have a clear view of the summit a short distance along the ridge and into Glen Loyne north of the mountain. Thick cloud continued to hold onto the western slopes, but east that cloud was just about high enough to afford me with views along the gloriously rocky ridge and down into the fabulously craggy northern corries.

I immediately started thinking about lunch, however there wasn’t a breath of wind and this time of the year if I stopped I was soon plagued by midges, so I kept going, over the Munro and along the ridge. I had a great walk along that ridge with rock constantly underfoot and lots of interesting variations while the ridge undulated around the deeply indented crag-filled corries. The best hill-walking is ridge walking and the ridge between Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach is one of the best, but woefully far too short. It wasn’t long before I reached Creag Coire na Fiar Bhealaich where an excellent path zigzags ingeniously and gloriously down the steep, rocky slope. I was loving this ridge and the path along it, but I longed for better weather so that I could fully appreciated the mountain views little knowing that this was going to be the best weather that I would get during my entire two weeks in Scotland. Despite the dull views from the thick cloud overhead, I had enjoyed my walk along the craggy ridge and as I reached the col, Fiar Bhealaich, the sun finally came out again just in time for my steep climb up the slopes of Spidean Mialach.

Once the terrain eased I made my way along the interesting ridge over several tops before finally arriving at the Munro of Spidean Mialach. A clear path can be seen leading from the summit steeply down the south-western slopes, however this is not up to the same high standards as the ascent path. The path disappears into bogs that were a real trial to traverse. The guide book writers all recommend crossing the Allt a’ Mheill to the col with Meall nan Carn where another stalkers’ path completes the descent, however a wide track has recently been built up to a small dam on the Allt a’ Mheill for a small hydroelectric plant. This proved too tempting a lure and I made my way through the boggy terrain in increasingly windy weather down to the dam where an easy, though steep, descent down the track led me to the road a kilometre east of my car. This was an awesome walk in weather that was probably as good as you can expect in the West Highlands. These two mountains make a great walk and was a great way to start my holiday in Scotland.