Sgùrr Gaorsaic

Monday 20th May 2019

My plan for this day, while staying in the Camban bothy at the head of Glen Affric, had been go up a Munro, preferably Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan, but when I got up the weather was dreich, which is a Scottish word meaning bleak and dreary. There was low cloud and it was drizzling with rain, so not the sort of weather for going up a Munro and therefore I prepared to move on from Camban. My plan for the week was to gradually head north until I reached Glen Carron following the route of the Cape Wrath Trail which runs from Fort William to Cape Wrath at the north-western corner of Scotland. Setting off from the bothy I headed towards the Alltbeithe Youth Hostel, however it wasn’t long before the rain stopped, the sun started to shine and blue sky appeared in the east. Despite the tops of the mountains still being covered in clouds, ten years ago this improvement in the weather would have been enough to convince me to immediately start climbing to the top of the mountains, but now I’m more wary. On reaching the Allt Gleann Gnìomhaidh I turned left beside the stream along what looked like a faint, though constructed path, but this soon disappeared so I moved away from the river to head slightly uphill until I reached the clear improved path that I should have taken originally and heads up the valley.

I came up this path in 2014 after staying in the youth hostel in Glen Affric, and just as then I enjoyed walking along this fabulous path as I made my way up the valley in the improving weather while at my feet I saw spotted-orchids and other delightful wild flowers. The weather was so good with the sun shining down onto the valley, even though clouds still covered the tops, I felt I had to go up a mountain. When I saw a small group of people heading up the hillside towards the saddle between Sgùrr Gaorsaic and Sgùrr nan Ceathreamhnan I immediately turned off the valley path up the grassy slopes and eventually passed this group as they admired the abundant array of wild flowers at our feet. It was very tiring climbing the steep terrain while carrying a heavy rucksack and I got very hot as I slowly dragged myself up the side of the hill until eventually the terrain eased and I was able to catch a breath. By that point it had also started to cloud over and soon it was briefly raining again, which seemed to be all the reward I got for making the effort to climb a mountain. Slowly I made my way up to the top of the Corbett-classed mountain of Sgùrr Gaorsaic plunging into the clouds that covered the summit.

While eating my lunch sheltered from the wind near the summit the clouds suddenly cleared and I raced up to the top to see a tremendous view of the surrounding mountains. After eating I turned north and made my way down the mountain while more rain showers plagued my progress with really dark, ominous clouds ahead of me, but behind me, in Gleann Gnìomhaidh, the sun was still shining as it had when I'd diverted up Sgùrr Gaorsaic. I recalled similar highly localised weather when I was in this area in 2014. When I reached the bottom of Gleann Gaorsaic I could not find any trace of a path and thought I might make better progress on the other side of the river, but this was no better and was probably worse with peat hags everywhere that were really difficult and tiring for me to make a way through. I had been trying to reach the Falls of Glomach to see this spectacular waterfall again, which I had previously seen in 2014, and then I planned to camp in Glen Elchaig. However I’m a reluctant camper and I preferred to stay in the bothy at Maol-bhuidhe, so after I calculated it would take me four hours to get there I decided it was worth the effort.

Crossing the river again I made my way towards the saddle ahead and soon found a vehicle track that provided me with much easier walking, which makes me wonder how far this track goes into the valley and why I hadn’t been on it earlier. This track took me past Loch Lòn Mhurchaidh and straight past the path that goes into Coire Easach steeply down to Glen Elchaig. I don’t know where the junction is, but I completely missed it and had to stay on the track as it takes a circuitous route gradually descending into the valley. Once at Carnach I followed the wide estate road along the bottom of the valley until after passing Iron Lodge I started climbing once again into Coire a’ Chadha Ruaidh Mòr. At the end of a long tiring day this climb was really tough and although I had a good path underfoot it was still absolute agony. Eventually I reached the top of the pass and wearily made my way down the path to the bottom of the valley where the Maol-bhuidhe bothy sits in splendid isolation.

This was a very tiring day that was not helped by climbing a Corbett on the way. I was walking in a very challenging area of the Scottish Highlands through weather that was highly changeable and very localised. The Cape Wrath Trail seems to be the most common reason why someone would walk in this part of Scotland, although lovers of solitude would find much to their liking as after leaving the group on the climb up the Corbett I didn’t see a single person until I reached the bothy. Ignoring my excursion over Sgùrr Gaorsaic it was easy to forget that I had good paths for much of the walk while the worst part was when I tried to take a course beside the Abhainn Gaorsaic where with hindsight I should have tried to find a higher path in the valley which might possibly have made the walk easier. However I think my best option was the one I rejected of visiting the Falls of Glomach and camping in Glen Elchaig. Although this would have added a couple of hours to the following day's walk, hindsight shows this wouldn’t have been a problem.