Glen Nevis

Wednesday 7th September 2016

When I drove away from the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at the start of this day I didn’t have a clue where I was going to be walking. It was raining when I got up with low clouds that were not an encouragement to go walking anywhere. I had a lot of poor weather throughout this holiday and I was becoming fed up with it. It is so much nicer walking up mountains in good weather, and in comparison there is no fun in being at the top of a mountain in bad weather. Although it wasn’t very windy it was still drizzly and murky; it was just plain wet and miserable. I moped around the hostel for a while trying to decide what to do, and then sat in my car for twenty minutes trying to make a decision and eventually set off down the valley road towards Fort William still not knowing where I was going. Before reaching Fort William I saw a sign for the Braveheart car park and immediately made a decision to park there and do a walk in Glen Nevis. This car park is named after the famous Mel Gibson film because it was constructed to take the film vehicles while scenes were being shot in Glen Nevis.

There are a number of way-marked walks through the woods that line Glen Nevis and start from this car park while the one that had caught my eye was the longest, the green-marked walk to Dun Deardail fort. The walk follows a wide forest track and is soon joined by the West Highland Way as it climbs above the valley floor towards the ancient hill fort. The forest track was very tedious to walk upon as it is very wide and it very gradually took me up the side of the valley into the clouds until eventually I reached the top of the pass that leads out of the valley. At this point the way-marked trail turns off the West Highland Way and keeps to the top of the ridge heading towards the vitrified Iron Age fort. Just before I reached Dun Deardail I noticed that I had risen into an eerie gap above the valley fog but below the clouds. I was in a curious bubble with dramatic views across the valley to the slopes of Ben Nevis opposite, but on top of the earthworks that are all that remains of the hill fort I was once more enveloped in cloud.

After returning to the junction with the West Highland Way, I made my way back down into the valley exploring the various narrow, unmarked, seemingly abandoned paths that maze through Glen Nevis Forest and were considerably more interesting than the forest track that I had taken earlier. When I eventually reached a track near the bottom of the valley I decided to head back to my car before heading to the Nevis Gorge, where I was keen to return. As I was driving up Glen Nevis I was astonished to see the clouds begin to break, the sun start to appear, and my heart began to sink. The afternoon was revealing itself to be warm with glorious sunshine, which is just the sort of weather for being at the top of a mountain, but I was stuck at the bottom of Glen Nevis. If I’d spent the dreary morning climbing a mountain I could have now been basking in the fabulous views from the top.

I still didn’t know where I was going to walk or how to make the most of this unexpectedly good weather, but in the meantime I stuck with my idea of walking through the stunning Nevis Gorge. Less than a week later a serious rockfall forced the closure of the path through this gorge, but fortunately I was able to enjoy this fabulous path that is described by some as being the best footpath in Scotland. Thankfully the path has now been reopened thanks to the heroic efforts of the John Muir Trust. By the time I reached the meadow at the top of the gorge overlooked by Steall Falls it was very humid and I was cooked in my waterproofs, so I stopped to have my lunch and cool down while continuing to ponder where I was going to walk. Across the river is the Munro An Gearanach and I decided that would be my target, but first I had to get across the river. On previous occasions that I have been up An Gearanach I simply stepped across the river, but there had been a lot of rain recently and it was unlikely that I would be able to cross now without getting my feet wet. There is a wire bridge but that appealed to me even less than wet feet.

Therefore, once again, I didn’t know where I was going to go walking so I just wandered up Glen Nevis towards the ruins at Steall where I noticed a path that branches off to climb towards the Munro Top of Sgurr a’ Bhuic. Finally I decided on a walk and followed the clear, though boggy, path beside the Allt Coire nan Laogh heading for a prominent prow of rock ahead of me eventually losing the path as I made my way steeply up the hillside. The views behind me of the Mamores were stunning in the sunny, humid conditions and I was having a fabulous time even though I secretly wished I was already at the top of those mountains. I have a fondness for the Mamores and would love to return to this area to reacquaint myself with the fabulous ridges that connect these great mountains. On the other side of Glen Nevis I continued to slowly climb the steep slopes until I eventually reached the top of the prow with the heat pouring off me. I could hardly move a muscle as I hauled myself up the final few steps to the tip of the western ridge of Sgurr a’ Bhuic with the summit of the Munro Top still some distance away along a rocky ridge. Slowly I dragged myself along the stony ridge that reminded me fondly of the Grey Corries.

At the summit of Sgurr a’ Bhuic the Grey Corries themselves came into view, but the glorious sunshine that I had been enjoying had gone as clouds now covered the sky and everything was dull and grey once more. Beyond the summit, the Grey Corries still looked inviting while the sprawling mass of Aonach Beag dominated the view to my left, and behind me Ben Nevis gazed upon all it commands. All the peaks in view were clear of clouds and were teasing me for my lack of preparation, but I was now amongst them, at the top of a peak more than three thousand feet high, even though it is a only a minor top of Aonach Beag. Sgurr a’ Bhuic may only be a top, but it is a Munro Top so it felt like a proper mountain and I had finally achieved something on this changeable day. This was my last three thousand footer of the holiday, and based on the stunning, albeit grey, views from the summit I considered it a good one. Happy, I made my way down to the col with Stob Coire Bhealaich dropping down to the forming stream soon picking up a path that I followed all the way back down to the ruins of Steall Hut at the bottom of Glen Nevis. Considering that most of this day I had no idea where I was going to walk and was really making it up as I went along, it eventually turned out quite well. When the day started I would never have imagined the weather that I enjoyed in the afternoon, or that I would manage to climb a peak more than three thousand feet high.

The Rois-Bheinn Ridge

Tuesday 6th September 2016

I have had my eye on this walk for many years whenever I’ve stayed near Fort William, though it has usually only been a backup and other walks have previously taken precedence. I had been waiting to do this walk for so long that it had become a must-do so it was on my original plan for my late spring holiday this year and now I have finally managed to do this long-awaited walk around these amazing mountains. There are no Munros in this area, south of the Mallaig road and railway, which Cameron McNeish says in his book “Scotland’s 100 Best Walks” means there are no real footpaths, no erosion, no lines of cairns and no roadside car parks. There are however, quite a few Corbetts and this walk climbs three on a walk that Ralph Storer describes as one of the finest ridge walks in the Western Highlands. First thing in the morning I headed off along the ‘Road to the Isles’ eventually parking at the Lochailort Inn, with kind permission.

After walking down to Inverailort I had a little difficulty finding the path until a lovely old lady, who reminded me of my Great Grandmother, told me the path was past a fallen tree that had been obscuring my view. Beyond the tree the path got a bit boggy and at the point where the track turns left at an old building, as per Ralph Storer’s instruction, I took a vague path that heads towards the gap between the foothill of Tom Odhar and the ridge coming down from Seann Chruach. It didn’t seem like anyone had been on this narrow path for a long time, which made it almost impossible to follow. It passes through some interesting wooded terrain that is delightfully wild-looking as I climbed beside a stream until eventually I reached the top of the path and found myself on a wide gravel track that was quite a surprise after the tricky climb. This provided me with an easy walk up the valley to a dam that has been built on the Allt a’ Bhùiridh, presumably for hydroelectric purposes, and after crossing the stream I headed up the laborious, grassy slopes of Meall Damh.

Usually on these instances the tedium of a long climb is relieved by listening to some music on my mp3 player, however on this occasion I had left it in the youth hostel so I had to endure the entire walk in silence, which is rather unusual for me. This meant the walk was an interesting experience for me and at times eerily quiet with the only sound being the trickle of a stream far below in the valley. It took me a long, wearying time to get up to the ridge between Beinn Coire nan Gall and Druim Fiaclach, and as I climbed up onto the latter I plunged into clouds that I had been promised would lift. Eventually I reached the summit of Druim Fiaclach where it was quite windy, very cold and there were no views, but occasionally as I made my way south-west along the ridge the clouds parted to reveal the gorgeous ridge that I was walking upon. The path on top of the ridge was very faint and difficult to follow, often disappearing so while it was encouraging when the path was visible, it was not clear enough to be relied on.

The cloud soon came down once more leaving me to practice careful navigation on the undulating ridge that veers left and right and plunges steeply on occasions such as down to Bealach an Fhalaisg Dhuibh before climbing more gradually up to An t-Slat-bheinn. It was a challenge walking on this ridge in these weather conditions, and although I quite enjoyed it I would have given anything to have had a view and to have been able to see along the whole length of this fabulous ridge. Eventually I climbed up to top of the first Corbett of this walk, Sgùrr na Bà Glaise, and on the steep descent to Bealach an Fhiona it was very windy, but before reaching the bottom of the saddle I emerged, to my great surprise, out of the clouds with the unspoilt landscape of Glen Moidart revealed to the south. On the other side of the pass I was sheltered from the wind so I was able to have an enjoyable climb up the rock-covered slopes switching several times between both sides of the ridge-top wall until I eventually reached the summit of Rois-Bheinn, but not before plunging once more into clouds.

It is recommended to go to the west top of Rois-Bheinn for the stunning views out to sea, but since the clouds were thickly covering the top I turned around and headed back down the ridge I had just climbed. My next target was An Stac, which is the other side of a deep col north of Bealach an Fhiona. I don’t think I took the right route here as I came off the ridge long before I reached the bottom of the pass and descended steep terrain where it was difficult to keep a foothold. Eventually I came upon the wall that I should have stayed beside, but I now stayed beside the wall for too long while cloud filled the trough between the Corbetts. The wall does not climb An Stac but descends the western slopes, however fortunately the unrelenting descent alerted me to my error and prompted me to check my GPS and move right towards the foot of An Stac. An opening in the clouds revealed the steep climb ahead of me up the complex slopes as the clouds slowly began to lift spectacularly from the ridge that I had walked upon earlier in the walk. The climb to the top of An Stac was entertaining, though long, and by the time I reached the summit of my third Corbett of the walk, cloud was covering the top once more.

When I moved towards the northern slopes the clouds suddenly cleared overhead revealing bright sunshine while my shadow fell onto the thick clouds below encircled by a wondrous rainbow-coloured halo. This is a Brocken spectre, which is something that I have seen on only a couple of occasions before and usually only briefly. This time the optical effect was visible for many minutes and enabled me to take countless pictures and gaze in awe at the lovely rainbow colours. Eventually I got fed up with taking pictures of it, so I started heading down the steep slopes of An Stac as the weather slowly improved with the cloud gradually lifting from the mountains all the way around me to reveal stunning views most notably along the coast across Ardnish and towards Arisaig. After my cloud-covered walk on top of the ridge, it was a welcome change to now be enjoying bright sunshine and stunning views while I made my way down the steep, grass and rock slopes of An Stac towards Seann Chruach.

This descent was lengthy and challenging with some very boggy ground to negotiate before the terrain finally eased and I was able to enjoy the relatively flat landscape of Seann Chruach. The descent continued on tussocky grass for a long time as I slowly lost height until eventually I dropped onto the access road for the hydroelectric scheme that I had been on earlier. At the point where I thought I’d joined this track I couldn’t find any trace of the path that I’d taken at the start of the walk, probably because the path is so faint. Eventually I descended on the track thinking it must go somewhere and is probably a much easier route. By carefully studying my map I was easily able to find my way back to the foot of the faint path and saw why it is no longer used, before returning to the road and back to my car. This was a very tiring walk that was also very challenging with the low cloud making navigation very difficult. It was a fantastic walk that I would love to do again so that I could enjoy some of the great views that I’ve heard can be seen from it, and to more properly experience that fabulous ridge.

Bla Bheinn

Sunday 4th September 2016

While planning this holiday I decided that I would spend a night on the Isle of Skye for no other reason than because I love this island. I was going to have a rest from hillwalking on this day which I would spend sightseeing on Skye, but the weather forecast for the following day was so poor I switched things and the walk that I had planned for Monday now got moved to Sunday. It hadn’t taken me long to decide which mountain I was going to go up on the Isle of Skye as Bla Bheinn (Blaven) is sometimes described as the best mountain on Skye, which is praise indeed as this island also boasts the awesome Cuillin Range. Bla Bheinn has much in common with its famous gabbro-encrusted neighbours but is more accessible than the fearsome Cuillin Mountains and standing a distance apart from them offers a magical viewpoint towards those razor-toothed mountains that are so loved by rock climbers. I climbed Bla Bheinn by the south ridge eight years ago, which is probably the best route, but by far the most popular route starts from the shore of Loch Slapin up the eastern slopes, and that was the route that I now took.

After driving across to the Isle of Skye I parked up in rather drizzly conditions that did not bode well for the day. There was hardly a breath of wind which encouraged the midges to come out and attack me soon after I opened the door of my car. The John Muir Trust owns the land around Bla Bheinn, and they have done an excellent job preserving the land for wildlife and improving the footpath that leads up to Bla Bheinn that had previously been famously boggy. It was a pleasure to walk on that path across the moor with the heather gorgeously decked out in its purple flowers and the Allt na Dunaiche stream in a gorge on my left. The clouds were low on all the mountains around me, which spoilt my view ahead towards the jagged line of the northern ridge of Bla Bheinn. After passing a spectacular waterfall I climbed into a wide circle of rock that had an eerie closed in feeling due to the cloud coming half way down the slope of the corrie. This was Choire a’Caise, which lies to the east of Bla Bheinn.

A clear, well-made path crosses the stream before climbing into the narrowing Coire Uaigneich with enormous, dark cliffs looming over me on both sides as I slowly made the climb. The terrain eased as I came into the spookily tranquil Fionna-choire where the well-made path vanished and I was left to find my own way on a maze of faint, contradictory paths up the rest of the mountain. My surroundings looked amazing with rock dominating in every direction and stone shoots coming steeply down into the corrie from all around. A guidebook had warned against trying to climb up the Great Scree Gully directly ahead of me that looked like the obvious route, but instead recommended that I take an emerging path that climbs the southern slopes of the east ridge. This path took me to the foot of a steep stone chimney, a narrow channel up the side of the mountain that provided me with an entertaining scramble to the foot of a great lump of rock that may have been part of the Great Prow, whatever that is.

By now I was enveloped in clouds with still a long way to go up a fabulously rock-covered terrain as O tried to find the best route up this complex mountain. Since I had no view, the climb was not particularly enthralling as I was largely making my way up loose stones with just one scrambling moment around a chock stone to enliven the proceedings. As I neared the summit the sun started to come out and blue sky appeared overhead. Eagerly I took my waterproofs off, but by now my top was soaked with sweat so I soon became so cold I had to put my cagoule back on, and as I looked back over the past few days I realised that this had happened a couple of times. Ideally a hillwalking top should allow sweat to pass through (known as wicking), but the top that I had been wearing was not doing this. A cotton top does not wick so should not be worn when hillwalking. The top that I was wearing was actually a cheap polyester top that was also absorbing my sweat and was leaving me cold and clammy. I’ll not be wearing this top again.

When I reached the summit of Bla Bheinn I had no views west towards the Cuillin ridge despite the weak sun, so instead of admiring the view I made my way south towards the col that separates the summit from the south top. Eight Years ago I had came to the summit from the south top crossing the gap on a tricky, exposed scramble, but this time when I attempted the crossing I chickened out as it just seemed too exposed. I do remember that eight years ago it was trickier going in this direction and it was only the knowledge that I had just crossed the gap not long before that enabled me to cross it then. Whatever the reason, what I could do eight years ago I couldn’t do now, so I returned to the summit of Bla Bheinn and had my lunch. The clouds were breaking to the west and offering me with tantalising, but ultimately frustrating, views of the jagged Black Cuillin while the best views were north towards the smooth-sloped Red Cuillin. Soon the clouds closed in around me once again and I decided that I would have to start making my way back down the mountain.

I made my way slowly down the mountain with a goal of avoiding the two scrambling moments that I had encountered on the ascent by taking one of the many other faint paths that I had seen during my crawl up the mountain. The chock stone was avoided surprisingly easily to the right while the stone channel was bypassed by zigzagging down to the top of a stone chute that was not the easiest thing to descend, but the experience was made as short as I could make it by keeping out of the chute for as long as possible before emerging once more in the delightful Fionna-choire and below the clouds. At the top of Coire Uaigneich I suddenly had surprising views of the sun shining on Beinn Dearg Mhór and Beinn na Caillich. While Bla Bheinn and the Black Cuillin had held onto their clouds, the Red Cuillin were basking in the sunshine and now that I was finally below the clouds I was enjoying great views of these distinctive mountains. I had a very pleasant descent in the sunshine down the rocky path into Choire a’Caise and from there down the heather-fringed path through the moor with the glorious Red Cuillin before me and the awesome crags of Bla Bheinn behind me.

I now had good views of the serrated northern ridge of Bla Bheinn over the tops of Clach Glas and Sgurr nan Each that are strictly rock climbers territory. Bla Bheinn may graciously allow mere walkers to climb it, but there are still parts of this mountain that are decidedly Cuillin in their nature. Bla Bheinn is a great, awesome mountain, and I was astonished at the complexity of the paths that lead through the rocky landscape up to the summit and enabled me to take almost a completely different route down to Fionna-choire as I’d taken up. I’m not disappointed that I didn’t manage to cross the col to the south top, but I do wish that the weather had been better so that I could have seen the astonishing views across to the Cuillin ridge, but the glorious views that I had on my descent were a welcome consolation. After all the problems that I have had with the weather on this holiday, it was great to enjoy a bit of sunshine before the rain started falling again the following day.

A’Chràlaig

Saturday 3rd September 2016

Ever since I started coming to Scotland for my walking holidays, I have used Ralph Storer’s “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains” as my inspiration. The day before this walk I completed walk number forty-four in the book, Ciste Dhubh, and now I attempted to do walk number forty-five, up A’Chràlaig, the highest mountain in Kintail, which begins at the point where forty-four ended, at the foot of An Caorann Mór. The path through this valley heads from Loch Cluanie to the top of Glen Affric, but I didn’t take this path and instead I veered off at a small pile of stones near the start following a narrow path that climbs the steep, grassy and very boggy ground up the slopes of Fuaran Mór Chluanidh. It had rained hard overnight, which added to the already saturated ground and made this a very wet path with even more rain falling as I started climbing. The faint, but clear, path follows a pretty, little stream that cascades down a rock channel and provided me with a pleasant distraction from the drudgery of the relentless climb.

As I neared the top of the path the weather began to improve significantly so that by the time I reached the top of the ridge there was fantastic weather before me with glorious blue skies north towards A’Chràlaig and across Coire a’ Chait eastwards towards the complex mountain chain of Sgùrr nan Conbhairean. I was basking in fabulous sunshine and could clearly see the ridge leading towards the summit of A’Chràlaig laid out before me that promised a great mountain walk, however behind me Glen Shiel was shadowed by very dark clouds that ominously foretold what was to come. After all the poor weather that I had endured on this holiday it was great to be on a mountain in glorious sunshine, but it wasn’t to last. As I started along the ridge I was hopeful that the dark clouds over Glen Shiel would lift and I would have a fabulous day, but it wasn’t long before the ominously dark clouds had enveloped everything to the south of me and soon I was surrounded by clouds once more with rain following soon after.

My glorious day had been ruined and instead I was walking along the ridge with no views, and I was getting wet. After the promise that had been shown by the sunshine, it was very disappointing to once again be walking in bad weather. As I neared the summit of A’Chràlaig the ridge narrowed becoming craggier and would have been a fun walk in good weather, but despite an easing of the strong winds that had plagued me all week the rain and low cloud meant I still had to take extra care as I made my way along the ridge. On the way I passed many small cairns and any one of them could have been the summit as in the poor visibility I would have no idea, but I kept going past all these false summits until eventually I reached a large, grand cairn that undoubtedly sits at the summit of the Munro, A’Chràlaig, but it was still raining. It can be difficult to know when you’ve reached the top of a mountain in poor weather, especially when there many cairns on the route, but this cairn is so big and impressive there is no mistaking it for anything but the summit of a big mountain.

After a pause at the summit while I regretted not being able to enjoy the views, I continued along the ridge, which now became more rocky and interesting with a few instances where I needed to put my hand to rock. The rain was making the rocks slippery so I had to be very careful as I made my way along the narrow ridge until I eventually reached the grassy dome of Stob Coire na Cràilaig where I had my lunch beside the small cairn at the top of this hill and pondered my options. There is another Munro further along the ridge, Mullach Fraoch-choire, which is on Ralph Storer’s route that I was following, but a series of rocky pinnacles called Na Geurdain have to be negotiated on the way. I was wary of tackling this jagged ridge in such poor weather and with limited visibility, plus Ralph Storer admits that it’s difficult to get off the ridge once you have reached the Munro with the most pleasant descent route actually being to return all the way back to the top that I was currently sitting on.

Since it was still raining when I had finished my lunch, and considering there was a tricky, rocky ridge to negotiate, I decided it was more prudent to come down off the ridge from where I was, on Stob Coire na Cràlaig. The weather on top of the ridge really demanded this decision, and a good walker should always be prepared to change their plans due to the weather. I will be able to come back to Kintail another time to go up Mullach Fraoch-choire in better weather conditions, but if I’d attempted that ridge on this occasion I may have had an accident and never been able to return. I kept repeating these thoughts to myself as I made my way down the steep, grassy slopes of Stob Coire na Cràlaig, however half way down the slope I came out of the clouds and the rain stopped. Soon the sun came out and the clouds began to lift from Ciste Dhubh on the other side of the pass. As I stood there contemplating the view before me of the lifting clouds I glimpsed a small herd of deer grazing on the hillside below me. I reflected that since it is deer-stalking season they were lucky that I had walking poles in my hand and not guns.

As I slowly moved down the hillside the deer moved off and I found the path that goes over the pass joining it at almost the same point that I had joined it the day before. Although the cloud struggled to clear from the tops of the Munros, it stayed dry for the rest of the afternoon while I descended An Caorann Mór on an exceptionally boggy path that eventually improved. I had been hoping for better weather on this walk and I didn’t get it, and more than that I got the worst weather of the day at the wrong time, when I was on the mountain ridge. This is a great ridge but unfortunately I wasn’t fully able to appreciate it because of the rain, and I was wary of the pinnacles as I am not keen on exposed locations. As a sole walker I do feel that I have to be more cautious than others. I don’t have a safety net if things go wrong, so consequently I take fewer risks when walking than others may take. One of these days I may actually need some sort of a safety net, but so far the thought that if I do get into trouble I’m done for has kept me out of trouble.

I was disappointed that I had abandoned this walk before reaching the second Munro and was consequently back at my car early. I tried to make the most of the mid-afternoon sunshine that had been robbed from me on the mountain by going for a stroll around Loch Cluanie after I had reached my car. I had great views across the valley towards the mountains that I had climbed over the last two days. Ciste Dhubh was hiding behind Am Bàthach and Mullach Fraoch-choire was hiding behind A’Chràlaig, but I still enjoyed getting these grand views towards these grand mountains. The weather had been very changeable with sunshine interspersed with rain on these walks, and they had both finished disappointingly early, but there was some good ridges on both walks and great views. When I first came to Glen Shiel I knew that I would need to return many times to do all the walks that Ralph Storer describes in the area, and even though I have now done almost all of those walks I know that Glen Shiel will still draw me back many more times.