The Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail

Wednesday 31st August 2016

The last time that I was in Torridon I had attempted to climb Beinn Eighe, but was thwarted by high winds and poor weather. I came back to Torridon this year with the specific aim of completing that walk that I had been unable to do six years ago, but unfortunately bad weather prevented me from doing the walk again. I arrived in Torridon on the previous Monday when I attempted to walk around the tops at the eastern end of Beinn Eighe, and I had hoped that I would later be able do a walk over the highest points on Beinn Eighe, the two Munros of Spidean Coire nan Clach and Ruadh-stac Mòr. This day was my last chance before moving on the following day so I was disappointed to wake up to awful weather with heavy rain that looked like it was set to stay for the rest of the day. Instead of climbing to the summit of Beinn Eighe I turned my attention to the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve, on the eastern slopes of the mountain. After driving through the horrible weather in Glen Torridon I reached the visitor centre near the village of Kinlochewe where the rain was still falling and the midges were having a feast on unsuspecting tourists. After a brief look around I decided to move on to the starting point for the reserve trails at a car park beside the shores of Loch Maree.

The Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve was the first reserve to be established in Britain and I’d heard that there is a path in the reserve that is the only way-marked mountain trail in Britain. This sounded intriguing and sparked my curiosity so on this wet weather day I thought it would make a good wet weather option. After picking up a leaflet for the mountain trail in the car park I headed off into the woods initially beside the bank of the Allt na h-Airighe gradually climbing past tall purple-flowering heather and dense bracken with an abundance of moss everywhere. Astonishingly the rain had now stopped and the sun was beginning to come out, which added to an enjoyable walk as I followed the clear path that began to climb steeply up the hillside past scots pines. After crossing another burn, the Alltan Mhic Eoghainn, the path steepened even more and rock began to cover the ground underfoot further enhancing this delicious walk.

I had great views across the valley to the other side of Loch Maree where Slioch and the mountains on the other side of the deep ravine of Gleann Bianasdail were blinking in the newly emerged sunlight. I was still relatively low so I didn’t have far reaching views, but the rocky ground underfoot made me feel like I was on top of a high mountain. Quartzite, such as is found at the top of Beinn Eighe and not usually at this low level, covered the ground and made for a fun walk as the way-marked path weaved steeply through the gorgeous rock landscape. Even though this walk ultimately doesn’t climb very high, this surprising abundance of mountain-top rocks made this walk feel like a real mountain walk and I loved every moment of it. Eventually the path started to level off and cold winds forced me to wrap up warm for the next stage of the walk across a mountain-top-like traverse over the rocky terrain until I finally reached the summit of the walk, the top of Leathad Buidhe, where the view west suddenly revealed itself in astounding clarity.

Beinn Eighe was arrayed before me, surprisingly mostly clear of cloud with the eastern peaks of the mountain looking fabulous from this great vantage point. Creag Dhubh, which I’d climb two days previously, was on the left with Ruadh-stac Beag on the right while Sgurr Ban and the Munro, Spidean Coire nan Clach, lying at the far end of the corrie. This was a fabulous sight and made me long to be able to climb those mountains one day in good weather, unfortunately on this walk the rain had already started to fall again. I felt fortunate to have such a good view of Beinn Eighe on this walk despite the poor weather and lingered at the top for as long as possible to take in the view until eventually the cold and descending cloud on Beinn Eighe forced me to resume my walk along the mountain trail. Ahead of me was Meall a’ Ghiubhais whose rocks are darker, brown rather than grey, than those on Beinn Eighe due to a major earth movement that shoved the older Torridonian sandstones on top of the younger Cambrian quartzites, which was why I was able to enjoy a mountain-top walk over quartzite during my climb.

After passing passing Loch Allt an Daraich and Lunar Loch, the path begins to descend once again through what I thought of as less interesting scenery with less rock and more heather and devil’s bit scabious, which is the norm on mountain slopes at this height and this time of the year. The path follows a stream called simply An t-allt, the burn, into a deep ravine that provides enough shelter from the wind to enable relatively thick vegetation to grow in the area. With the rain now falling quite heavily and low cloud everywhere I made my way down the path quite unfazed by the weather. A spectacular gorge was passed before eventually I plunged once more into the wood and finally reached the car park at the bottom of the path beside the shore of Loch Maree. This was a great, though short walk, where I lingered on the trail, taking my time to stop and read the trail guide to get a better appreciation of my surroundings. When I’d started I’d thought I’d be able to do some more walking afterwards, but since I didn’t reach the bottom until three o‘clock I decided to call it a day there. I had had so much fun on the climb over the mountain-top-like quartzite rocks that I didn’t feel as if I needed to do anything else. This walk had truly felt like a mountain trail even though it technically doesn’t climb to the top of a mountain.

Beinn Bhàn

Tuesday 30th August 2016

I had two different routes planned for this walk and even as I was parking my car I still hadn’t decided which one I would do. Ralph Storer’s route up Beinn Bhàn seemed too difficult to attempt so on looking for an alternative I had found a different, much easier route on the walkhighlands.co.uk website. This had been my favoured option until I got a taste of the strong winds coming off the sea and suddenly Ralph Storer’s corrie-foot walk became more appealing. From Torridon I drove over the hills and down to Kishorn where I parked just before the bridge over the River Kishorn. The walkhighlands.co.uk route would have had me walk along the road for a bit before climbing the long southern ridge of Beinn Bhàn, however I think that walk would have been better done in the opposite direction with the steepest section in ascent and the ridge then used in descent, which is always more pleasing way for me to do a walk. Instead I headed north along a good path that heads along the valley towards a fish farm and ends at Loch Gaineamhach below the corries of Beinn Bhàn.

Ralph Storer (in his book “100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains”) says to come off the path when the first corrie, Coire Each, comes into view. Unfortunately the clouds were down so low it was difficult for me to see any of the corries and the path that I was on was so good I didn’t want to come off it and onto the boggy, pathless moorland. Eventually I did come off the path, and possibly earlier than I should, and struggled through the rough terrain slowly climbing towards some distant location I couldn’t see. Heather, bogs and rocks abounded underfoot as I made my way up the steep terrain passing the mouth of Coire Each and Coire na Feòla. Ralph Storer would have had me go into the corries but I think I must have stayed quite low at this point and didn’t get to see all the way into any of these corries, though low cloud would have spoiled the effect. What I could see of the tall crags of these corries was still awe-inspiring and only improved after I rounded the end of A’Chioch and past the crag-filled Coire na Poite. Ralph Storer directed me to climb right into the heart of this corrie “where two hidden lochans lie at the foot of the dramatic 350m corrie headwall”.

In view of the poor weather, I did not do this and instead I crossed the bog between the corrie and the beautiful Lochan Coire na Poite whose sandy beaches would have been more enticing in warmer conditions. Passing the spur that ends in the dramatic pinnacle of A’ Phiot I climbed into the grassy Coire an Fhamair and contemplated the northern ridge of this corrie which looked like it might be a possible route up, albeit with a scramble. This is a viable route up, though it would have been better done in good weather, so I decided to stick with Ralph Storer’s route heading up the corrie to the far right-hand corner where a steep, grassy rake took me up to the summit plateau. This was an exhausting climb and I stopped frequently to look behind me at the view down the corrie towards the mountains of the Coulin Forest where the sun was starting to come out. Beinn Bhàn remained under cloud and when I eventually reached the top of the corrie strong winds forced me back down into the shelter of the corrie rim where I had my lunch. By the time I re-emerged onto the summit plateau the cloud was beginning to lift and I suddenly had a fleeting view north across Loch na Beinne Bàine and the northern ridge of Beinn Bhàn.

It wasn’t long before I was once more enveloped in cloud, so turning south I headed into a bitterly cold wind as I headed towards the summit of the Corbett. In better weather I would have kept to the rim of the corries in order to get a good look into these steep, dramatic rock theatres, but with low cloud and a strong wind trying to blow me into the corries I wisely kept far from the edge as I made my way up the bleak hillside until eventually I reached the trig point that is encircled by a stone wall and marks the summit of Beinn Bhàn. Continuing south I headed towards the long ridge that the route of walkhighlands.co.uk would have had me climb. Careful navigation took me onto the narrowing ridge at the head of Coire na Feòla where the cold wind became a torrent that made standing upright virtually impossible. However, on reaching the col I suddenly came below the clouds where I had a view of the edge of the corrie and the slowly descending ridge. This was an awesome sight and made me mourn for the other sights on this amazing mountain that I had failed to see due to the low cloud. On approaching a slight rise I turned back and beheld an astonishing sight as the whole of Beinn Bhàn emerged from the clouds with the sun illuminating everything.

This was an amazing sight that made me quake in my boots at the astounding rock scenery of this spectacular mountain. It was still very windy at this point even though I now had brilliant views so that the pictures I took at this point don’t give any indication of just how poor the weather was still. It is really frustrating to see such a spell-binding spectacle and not be able to truly appreciate it due to gale force winds. I could have stayed on the southern ridge all the way down to the road, à la walkhighlands.co.uk, but the winds encouraged me to come off the ridge as soon as possible following Ralph Storer’s direction, but I was careful to wait until after I’d passed Coire Each where long, steep slopes led me safely down to my car. During the descent the weather eastwards continued to improve prompting me to stop frequently to admire the view and take in the tremendous scenery. I like pathless descents, almost as much as I hate pathless ascents, so I was keen for this descent to take as long as possible, while the cloud quickly enveloped Beinn Bhàn again and even darker clouds began to appear from the west. The usual Scottish weather was very quickly establishing itself once more on Beinn Bhàn.

I tried to make the most of this descent and enjoy the great views I had east towards Beinn Damh that looked so much better than what I had endured on Beinn Bhàn. This is a mountain that really deserves better weather with some absolutely awesome rock scenery that is screaming out for a return visit when I can better appreciate them. I only got a glimpse on this walk of what this mountain has to offer and in better weather I’m sure the experience would be considerably better. Away from the mountains the weather continued to improve and on my way back to Torridon I stopped off in the delightful seashore village of Shieldaig for supplies. The sun was shining brightly and in this sheltered location it felt lovely. The contrast between this tranquil place and the wind-swept summit of Beinn Bhàn was considerable so that while enjoying the warm sunshine I wished the weather had been nicer to me on Beinn Bhàn. Good weather is vitally important when hill-walking in Scotland, but unless you are able to go at a moment’s notice you are taking your chances. On this walk, and generally on this holiday, I was dealt a poor hand, but on the occasions when I did have some sunshine, such on the descent from Beinn Bhàn or at Shieldaig, I wanted to stop and enjoy every moment.