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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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