The Corryhully Horseshoe

Monday 28th May 2012

On my second walk in Scotland this year I was still feeling very tired. The day before I had abandoned my walk half way round because I didn’t have the energy to continue, and although I managed to finish the walk this time I still felt very tired, especially during the ascents. I caught an early train from Fort William to Glenfinnan, and while passing over the famous viaduct in excellent weather I couldn’t help thinking that the view along Loch Shiel has to be the best view in Britain from a train. After getting off I walked along a side road, past scattered houses and onto the valley road that passes under the viaduct. I felt privileged to be so close to this awesome structure that I could reach out and touch it. Concrete buildings usually have a grey, drab appearance but this early example of mass concrete construction is a tremendously striking sight.

I continued up the valley along the wide track, past the Corryhully Bothy and started to climb the hillside to the right of the wide Coire Thollaidh ahead. I had a good, though faint, path to follow but still found it exceptionally difficult to climb the steep slope. Once again I felt a huge lack of energy, but also it was once again very warm, though possibly not as hot as the day before. I frequently collapsed onto the grass, gasping for air, until I got my breath back before getting up and walking a few more steps, only to collapse again. I felt so unfit; I didn’t know what the matter was with me. Was it the heat? Was it lack of sleep? Or was I just unfit? Slowly I managed to get up Druim Coire a’ Bheithe and along the ridge to the Munro, Sgurr Thuilm. I was on a deadline with this walk and needed to be back at the station before five p.m. so I could catch the train back to Fort William. So, to that end I’d calculated that I needed to reach the Munro before twelve noon, but by the time I’d dragged myself up to the top I was already half an hour late. The train was looking out of reach, but while standing on that mountain all thought of catching trains went out of my mind.

I ignored my deadline and simply absorbed the awesome splendour of the fantastic mountain that I was on. It felt like an injustice to rush a walk on such great mountains, taking my time so I could enjoy the walk, I set off along the fabulously rugged ridge that connects Sgurrr Thuilm with Sgurr nan Coireachan. With clouds building overhead the temperature finally began to cool, and with an excellent winding path that negotiated the many crags and tops between the two Munros I had an excellent walk. After eating lunch while sitting on the western slopes of Beinn Gharbh I continued along the ridge over Meall an Tàrmachain and up to the top of the second Munro of the day, Sgurr nan Coireachan. The cooler temperatures made the walking much more pleasant as the heat that I’d encountered the day before had made it very difficult to do strenuous mountain walking. The best weather for walking over mountains is probably for it to be overcast with high clouds, or at least a lot of cloud that is well above the tops of the summits, to keep the temperatures cool. That is not the best weather for taking pictures, but that’s not my reason for being on these hills. My photos are there to illustrate the walk, not for the walk to describe the pictures. The walk itself was why I was out there, not to take pictures or even to bag the summit.

I had taken far too long to reach the second Munro, Sgurr nan Coireachan, so as I made my way down the rugged southern ridge I abandoned all thoughts of reaching the five o’clock train (the next train was two hours later). After passing over Sgurr a’ Choire Riabhaich I dropped steeply down and joined an excellent stalker's path that brought me back down to the track in the valley bottom. I really enjoyed this walk, despite the great struggle I had getting up the hills. I had no problem going downhill so I was able to get the most out of the walk. Unlike the day before, I managed to complete the whole walk as intended, even if not in the time intended. Since I had already missed the train I slowly walked down the valley, taking my time and even stopping off for a swim in a gloriously deep rock pool near Corryhully Bothy. The water was lovely and warm, and I had a wonderfully relaxing swim. The sun may now have been hidden behind clouds but this just made the walk back so much better. I slowly made my way down the valley all the way back to the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and after a quick visit to the monument that blots the landscape I returned to the railway station.

This was a fantastic walk around gloriously rugged mountains. The paths on this walk are very well designed, ingeniously snaking their way up and down the mountains, and the terrain, especially between the two Munro’s, is deliciously rugged. This is the sort of landscape that I crave for, and not the sort of thing you want to be rushing over. I was happy to just savour the walk and the incredibly wild area that I was walking through. Everywhere I looked there were mountains as far as the eye could see, with the Glenfinnan Viaduct, far down the valley, the only sign of human activity. I was reminded of the Cruachan Horseshoe while doing this walk, which also has two Munros at the top of the valley and a great rugged ridge that separats them. There the similarity disappears as there is no reservoir in Coire Thollaidh, thank God. They are both a fantastic range of mountains with a great walk around them.

Mullach nan Coirean and Stob Bàn

Sunday 27th May 2012

I’ve not felt that my Scottish holidays over the last couple of years have been very successful. I’m not sure what the problem has been but they do not seem to have gone as well as my other holidays, whether it’s through a lack of good planning or maybe I’ve just not being going up any good mountains. So this year I was determined to stop the rot by returning to Glen Nevis, the location of some of the best mountains in Scotland, and of some of my best ever walks. The last time I was in this area was in 2008 when the weather was terrible and it rained all week. Now I had the complete opposite with fantastic weather: it was really hot, clear blue skies and with forecasts that showed little change. To start this holiday I decided to return to possibly my favourite range of mountains in the whole of Scotland, the Mamores, which lie immediately south of Ben Nevis. I first went over these mountains in 2005 when I spent a wonderful weekend on them, and subsequently I have returned whenever I’ve been in the area. So I was assured of a great walk to start my holiday.

I was doing the walk that I took on my first visit to the Mamores in 2005 when I walked over the mountains on the western part of the range. On that occasion I had followed the instructions in Ralph Storer’s guide to the “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains” that took me onto a really muddy path beside the Allt a’ Choire Dheirg burn that was followed by an excruciatingly steep climb up to the ridge. I have since discovered that there is a better route beside the Allt a’ Choire Riabhaich so that was my aim as I set off from the youth hostel in Glen Nevis. After walking along forest tracks for a while I climbed up a fabulous path, until it petered out. A poor path, muddy in places, took me further up the stream until I found a point where I could get across the stream and climb the steep hillside opposite. Just as I started it occurred to me that this hill was a lot bigger and steeper than it should have been so I had a quick look at the map to check where I was. And then it struck me. I had been following exactly the same route as I had in 2005!

While crossing the Allt a’ Choire Dheirg burn again I despaired over the steep climb ahead of me, a climb that was much steeper than the one I would have had if I’d taken the right path. So with the sun beaming down on me and sweat pouring off me I struggled up the same steep hill that I’d struggled up seven years ago, but this time it felt much worse. I had absolutely no energy for the climb, every step was a struggle, but somehow I eventually managed to get to the top of the ridge. There I collapsed in a heap and had a long cool drink and ate some fruit and nuts to get my strength back up. The views around me were sensational. The Mamores are a fabulous range of narrow ridges, deep valleys and stunning white quartzite-topped mountains, and I had a grandstand view of not only the whole range but also the majestic Ben Nevis. After a rest I resumed the climb up to the top of Mullach nan Coirean, the smallest Munro in the Mamores range, but this was still an extremely tiring climb even though the gradient was now much gentler. It’s not unusual for me to not be hill-fit at the start of a holiday, but this was something more, possibly the heat (or, dare I say it, I’m getting older … ?).

Eventually I reached the summit of Mullach nan Coirean, the western-most Munro in the Mamores, and after another rest I set off along this fabulous range of hills to the second Munro, Stob Bàn. With the excellent weather continuing I really had no excuse for not having a great walk, but I was continuing to have difficulty when going uphill. On reaching the 912m northern top of Stob Bàn I collapsed onto the soft grass and had my lunch. It was very relaxing lying there on the grass, enjoying the sunshine and gazing out over the stunning mountain scenery. But this failed to stop my legs from aching when I resumed the climb up to the top of the strikingly shaped peak of Stob Bàn. I felt so tired I became convinced that the cause of my problem was due to a lack of a good night’s sleep, but the way I felt I’d probably need a lot of good night’s sleep!

Stob Bàn is an awesome mountain, with a top covered in white quartzite stones that make it look snow-covered even in the middle of the summer. It was great to be at the top of such a great mountain and coming back down it is even more exciting as it’s very steep, involving a bit of a scramble on the hard rocks. Despite my lack of energy I was still able to appreciate this magnificent mountain, but once I had reached the grass below the mountain I had to stop again and decide what I was going to do next. I had struggled all day on the ascents, which was really disappointing because the weather was fantastic and the scenery of the Mamores is sensational. In 2005 the walk had continued by going along the Devil’s Ridge to Sgurr a’ Mhain, but I did not have the energy to do that now, so I followed Ralph Storer’s route by dropping down into Coire Mhusgain and follow the excellent path through the valley that leads all the way back to the road. I desperately wanted to stay on the Mamores and seriously considered returning the following day so I could resume my walk over the wonderful Mamores.

Part of me felt that I should be disappointed by this walk. One of my reasons for doing this walk was so that I could use the better route up to the ridge, but instead I failed to do that, and without realising I blundered onto the path I’d taken in 2005. I was really annoyed with myself when I realised I’d gone the wrong way. But the biggest factors on this walk were that I was really tired, which made every climb excruciatingly painful, and it was very hot. You really don’t want to be doing strenuous walks in this sort of weather, which could be what was draining me of energy. But I can’t complain; this was a fabulous walk, in fabulous weather, and over fabulous terrain.