Munros 2024 : Kinlochewe to Dingwall

Munros this section :

Slioch

A' Chailleach

A' Chailleach summit.  I had already decided 'no more' by this point...

My second day off in Kinlochewe, time for a rest, oh hang on, no, for some reason I decide to spend the day making my way up Slioch, the Munro I missed a few days ago - not like there is much else to do here it has to be said.  Well, it's easy enough to retrace my route past Loch Maree, then a long climb, with path all the way, this is not so bad.  It only rains some of the time, and I get one more selfie in cloud with a pile of rocks in the background, yay.

So, the last section, time to leave Kinlochewe with no hurry to come back, and it is raining of course, but slowly it stops, as I walk an easy ten km along a track.  I've been a little worried about the next bit, 13km of planned route with no sign of a path, starting with climb of Fionn Bheinn.  In fact the Munro is fine, a grassy hill, not too steep, even the weather holds off, though the summit is still in a cloud.  Dropping my pack one km from the top helps too, and I get back down to collect it at 3.30, with only 7km of the day left this should be easy.  I should be so lucky, rather I find my self struggling through truly awful, horrible bog, the rain returns, and my path is blocked by both deer fences and mountain streams swollen into substantial rivers I have no choice but to wade, one of them is waist deep...

Silver Bridge.

I sleep poorly, it may be July but I am so cold.  Next morning there is a Munro, A' Chailleach, nearby, I follow a stream uphill, there is too much rushing water to cross, but OK, it gets me onto a decent route to the summit.  But, this weather really is just too much to bear, relentless, driving, heavy rain, flung at me by a freezing wind strong enough to make walking difficult.  My hands and feet are numb, I can't do this any more.  I do get to the top, and just about use my bloodless fingers to take that so important selfie, the plan was for four more Munros today, but that is not happening.  One good thing, I meet an actual path here, I can follow it downhill, a long way down but in more good news, once I reach a loch I find a power company has built a little hut filled with humming machinery.  Not sure I should be in it but there was one of those combination lock key boxes with the code handily written next to it!  Anyway I grab the chance to sit somewhere dry, eat a big lunch, wring out my socks and generally shed water.  Looks like I can walk a road all the way from here to Dingwall, it is over 60km but I have more than two days, no problem - so, I walk a few of those km over a couple of hours and then camp.

The welcoming Ben Wyvis Hotel.

A genuinely easy last couple of days then.  I am 32km to Contin, seems there is campsite there which sounds good, and dare I say it the weather is actually ok down here, I am starting to dry off.  The road is actually a little busy for comfort, so it's good to find an alternative, the Two Bridges Trail along the Black Water River, then logging tracks to Contin - where obviously I get no response from the campsite.  Never mind, only two km more to Strathpeffer, a nice Victorian spa town, there isn't a pub here as such but several hotels.  One of then, the Ben Wyvis hotel looks super posh, but provides beer, soup and a hearty plate of chilli, and isn't even that expensive. The staff are lovely too, digging out a phone charger for me to use, my own being the latest casualty of the Scottish weather.  And OK, after dinner I have to go and pitch my tent in a wood, I can cope with this...  What is more I have practically made it to Dingwall, my last day of walking being an easy bit of footpath, finishing before midday.  Not a great bit of planning this, I have walked past several train stations to get here - I think I simply defaulted to 'make a circular route'.  Well, nice to be back in civilisation, I get lunch and a phone charger before taking the train to Beauly, a little nearer Inverness, where I have a campsite booked.

A somewhat more laid back walk in Beauly.  I liked the warning sign...

Beauly is nice, well, the name does come from the French for 'nice place'.  There is a Co-op, I decide to celebrate the end of the walk with a barbecue, many burgers ensue, and a few cans, and indeed a couple of beers at the campsite bar - I did say it was nice here!  And that is it, the next day various forms of transport take me away from Scotland.  And what can I say about this trip?  Ugh, well I guess doing this sort of thing you do run the risk of the weather not being great, and it was mostly pretty terrible.  This would happen when I clearly hadn't put enough thought into keeping things dry... Never mind, I did have some fun, saw some remarkable countryside, and that is thirty more Munros in the bag at least.  Well over half way through them now!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munros 2024 : Kinlochewe Loop

Munros this section :

Beinn Liath Mhor

Sgorr Ruadh,

aol Chean-Dearg

Spidean a' Choire Leith

Mullach an Rathain

Tom na Gruagaich

Sgurr Mhor (Beinn Alligin)

Ruadh-stac Mor (Beinn Eighe), Spidean Coire nan Clach (Beinn Eighe)

The little bothy there was a pleasant respite from all the water.

Kinlochewe seems to consist of a hotel with a bar / restaurant, catering entirely to tourists, plus a village shop and a rather nice petrol station plus shop and cafe that do likewise.  Seems the place is a popular stop for people touring Scotland in various ways - cycles and motorbikes, campervans and even supercars are common sights on the roads around here.  Well, I am not the only one turning up on foot, and between the bar and the two shops there is everything I need, and despite my not doing much the day seems to pass quickly.  Next morning I wake to find my tent in a puddle, of course it has rained heavily all night, ah well, I pack it up, and note the strong wind blowing around Kinlochewe - I am sure this in no way bodes ill for the situation higher up - and head to the petrol station cafe for a fortifying bacon roll.  Then off, on a truly awful 'path', muddy and overgrown, no fun at all in the rain.  Of course I could have taken the road, I only didn't to avoid going the same way twice as this is a circular section.  Some respite two hours later, a gravel track, it is dry, there's even a bit of sun.  Then up to a pass, it's getting windy and wet, I walk packless up Beinn Liath Mhor, enduring the crazy weather, and yet again my reward is a wet pile of rocks in a cloud.  Down a bit, then up Sgorr Ruadh, an easy enough ascent but not fun in these conditions.  After that a long descent, it's my own route but it's OK.  Time to camp, of course it is still raining...

Maol Chean-Dearg summit - they will all be selfies in clouds from now on.

And still more of this, I start another day by walking straight up Maol Chean-Dearg, on a good path, but the weather remains grim, wet, windy and horrible.  Down the other side, once again a 'special' route of my own devising, so steep, it's very good to finally reach a well built trail, this is a nice walk although of course it is still raining.  Down to sea level, indeed I pass Torridon, on the loch with the same name, which connects to the sea.  I eat a late lunch here, at 2pm, according to my plan I still have two Munros to do, Spidean a' Choire Leith and Mullach an Rathain, and I decide to carry on, how bad can it be?  Haha.  A little bit of road to the trail head, then up, steps, they seem endless, into a cloud of course, it is wet and cold, the climb keeps coming, it does get a bit dryer, I can even just about make out the sun from the summit.  On the minus side it is 6.30pm, and I manage to faceplant taking a photo with the self-timer.  I probably should backtrack now, but the next summit is only 1km away... of course, there turn out to be many rocky pinnacles in the way, I bypass most of them on a path following a contour line, but that means a terrifying drop to one side.  Somehow I make it, then it's a long way down, I chose this way because it descends over several km, thinking it should be easy, in fact the path is rarely visible and of course there are many crazy steep bits.  I camp at past 9.30, still nothing like all the way down, and my sleeping bag is wet...

The first, and pointiest, of the horns.  I did clamber all the way up.

Ok, an easy day in theory, only two Munros, Tom na Gruagaich and Sgurr Mhor - both part of the Beinn Alligin mountain complex - and a mere 18km, however I make a late start, and then have to descend from the camp spot, there's no path, and the route is still crazy steep of course.  I walk a bit of road, then paths leading up, I have to be careful navigating now, my GPS is not happy with the weather, it is showing the map, my position, and the location of the Munros, but not my planned route.  Well, the way up is obvious, there are more steps, so many steps, although at least it is dry for a change.  I see a lot of people, mostly passing me on the long climb, but still I make it up by 1pm.  From here it's an easy ridge walk to Sgurr Mhor, now I just have to get down - ah.  Various people had mentioned something about 'horns' hereabouts, I was thinking maybe those mountains I climbed yesterday - but no, rather my route down today involves clambering over a series of aptly named rocky pinnacles - well to be fair I find a contouring path to avoid the worst of the second two.  I get through it, am briefly rewarded by the sight of the sun, of course I haven't actually lost much height so there is still a steep descent, but then some good trail and I'm in the tent before 7pm.

Haggis!

Another supposedly easy day, again only two Munros, and this time just 16km, and there's even good trail to start with, though unsurprisingly I then have to turn uphill.  It's a well walked path, but long, and of course wet, and then I get to an insane scree slope, it just keeps getting steeper, eventually I am clambering up to reach a ridge.  I can at least drop the pack here, for an easy enough climb up to Ruadh-stac Mor, then back to get my pack and oh joy, lots of bouldering up to Spidean Coire nan Clach, all the while battered by a brutal wind, it is just so horrible.  All this for two selfies in cloud.  The way down is OK but long, it is 3pm by the time I am low enough that I can pause for lunch.  Then down even more, so good to meet a road, from here it is not far back to Kinlochewe, where I retire to the Stag Highland Restaurant for, well it has to be haggis.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munros 2024 : Ullapool to Kinlochewe

Munros this section :

Seana Bhraigh

Eididh nan Clach Geala

Am Faochagach

Cona' Mheall

Beinn Dearg (Ullapool)

Meall nan Ceapraichean

Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill

Sgurr Fiona

Ruadh Stac Mor

A' Mhaighdean

Beinn Tarsuinn

Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair

Sgurr Ban

T-shirt weather on Cona' Mheall.

I pack up the tent, and while doing so, nearly lose the tortellini I plan to have for dinner to a thieving seagull.  Having avoided that disaster, I walk straight up out of Ullapool, on a nice track past a loch, this is the Cape Wrath Trail apparently, an unofficial route leading to the most northerly point of the UK mainland, this explains why my map labels many of the paths around here 'cape'. The track turns into a path, then vanishes a few km from today's Munro, Seana Braigh, well it's dry enough underfoot anyway, and the sun is out, making for a pretty easy ascent, and a view at the top, though it's very windy up here.  Down the other side, and I see a couple of tents, two guys basically doing the same as me but in the other direction.  I don't go much further before camping myself.

Off to the coffin road.

For the second day of this section, I've planned five Munros, argh.  Well, I get up Eididh nan Clach Geala easily enough from a high start, reaching the summit by 10am.  I am walking without a path for most of the day, the ground is dry enough at least but this makes for slow going to the next Munro, Am Faochagach, for which I drop my pack for a relatively easy climb up and down, it is a sunny day though and this is hot work!  I then panic as I only have four Munros marked on my electronic map, it's a relief to realise I just forgot to mark the next one, Cona' Mheall.  It's a steep slog up, and the last 100m is scary clambering over rocks, good to get to the top, as luck would have it another chap is there, he helpfully takes my photo.  It's getting late, I am on a path now at least, and can lose the pack for both the remaining hills, Beinn Dearg (Ullapool), and Meall nan Ceapraichean, the first is a high mountain, with some patches of snow and also a wall built of huge boulders in some earlier age.  I enjoy great views, mountains all around, the Summer Isles and far out to sea, but this is such a long day, it is past 7pm at the last summit, and I still need to get down, on a nice path but no camp spot to be seen, it is nearly 9pm when I find one.

Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill summit.

The next morning my feet are sore, I still have a lot of descent to do, and am maybe 5km behind plan.  Nice weather again at least, and only two Munros today, but still the walking involves much up and down.  I reach a road, I'm not on it for long though, time to walk the coffin road, a long path over to the next valley, where again I cross a road then climb, on what is a path on the map, but in reality is barely there, at one point I even need to wade a burn.  My planned route up the first Munro, Bidein a' Ghlas Thuill, turns out to be a crazy line over a series of crags, fortunately there's an actual path which is not much longer, though very steep.  I get up the thing, there's a great view out to sea, and from here it's not far to Sgurr Fiona, the route between the two Munros is across a windy saddle, and I reach the summit at 7pm.  From here a marked path leads away, I hoped this would be an easy descent, but instead it is scary contouring above a cliff, then down a little bit down to somewhere I can camp, I am 6km behind now though.

High altitude camping.

I wake at that high camp spot, it's a long way down from here, and the descent turns out to be a nightmare, so steep, then a high deer fence to climb, more steep downhill, I even have to backtrack to avoid a cliff, and then another fence, argh.  I eventually get down, to my planned walk past the end of a loch, which of course in the event is blocked by a deep river flowing into said loch, OK, I walk upstream and eventually I can ford the thing with no more than wet feet.  Then there's an actual path, it is nice enough, and finally I reach the point I should have started from today, at midday, hmm.  Up Ruadh Stac Mor, a packless walk to the top, but it is 4pm by the time I reach the summit, and I am supposed to do four more!  The summit is, of course, in a cloud, but at least it's still not raining.  Down I go, grab my pack and head towards A' Mhaighdean, it is the other side of a saddle, easy enough to climb and again the summit is in a cloud.  From here it's a gentle route down, but all the way to 500m, not good if I want to climb any more mountains today.  Well, I ascend a bit but it's past 6pm now, I just can't go up the next Munro now, let alone the other two.  Camp it is...

It actually made for a good walking surface.

For a wonder I wake to a sunny day, time to get up Beinn Tarsuinn, it's an easy start but then the final approach is along an insane ridge, lots of clambering is involved.  I make the summit just in time for a view, right after it clouds over, and I head down, then up to Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair, in a cloud of course, and the howling gale is back.  Down again, to a saddle, I drop my pack and make an easy ascent of Sgurr Ban, a summit in a windy cloud yet again, but I am there for midday, this is good.  Then my own route down from the saddle, it's actually OK, a gentle slope and then a substantial piece of exposed rock to walk down, very cool.  One problem, I have a campsite booked for tonight, and have still not reached the point where I was meant to start the day.  OK, I can save a lot of time by not going up the planned Munro, Slioch, instead I stay on a marked path, good that there are no more hills, but I had hoped this would be easy and it's really not.  A steep climb up to a pass, and at 4pm I'm finally where I should have started, this is so hard, a section of trackless bog, more up and down, and finally a flat path by a loch.  I arrive in Kinlochewe at 7.30, just in time for a burger.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.