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.