For this year’s New Year break in the Highlands, Ruth, Josh and I rented a cottage in the village of Strontian, which would give a wide range of walking options across Sunart, Ardgour, Morvern and Kingairloch. After breakfast at Mum and Dad’s on Wednesday morning, I said my goodbyes then took the short drive from Kendal to Natland to meet Ruth and Josh at 8am to load Josh’s van and set off on our much longer drive!
For the most part, the journey went well. The only significant delay was a big queue through Dumbarton where the A82 was flooded and all the traffic was being diverted through town. We wanted to go through town anyway to do our main supermarket shop at Morrison’s, but could have done without the traffic jam! It rained pretty much the entire way, so there were a lot of puddles on the road, particularly alongside Loch Lomond, but the morning snow had melted off the road by the time we came to crossing the high ground of Rannoch Moor. After a short wait and smooth crossing at the Corran Ferry, it was just a few miles to our destination, an old croft house with thick, rustic stone walls on the outside but modern décor inside and under-floor heating throughout.
Thursday was forecast to be another day of frequent showers merging into continuous rain, so we didn’t think it would be much fun to climb a large hill. After breakfast looked like the least wet spell, and we used it for a 10k trail run from the cottage. We passed through Strontian village then climbed a little to follow the traversing ‘Fairies Road’ up the valley. Then we dropped down to the Strontian River and followed a loop through the attractive deciduous Ariundle Woodlands before returning down the lane. A little light rain fell at times but not enough to be unpleasant and it was good to get out for some fresh air before the heavier afternoon rain.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2473008
It looked like there should be some good sunny spells on Friday so we opted for a walk up one of the Ardgour Corbetts, Carn na Nathrach. This was a route that would not require fording any significant rivers after the previous two very wet days! A short drive north over the pass brought us to Kinlochan where we found a parking area a short distance up the track towards Glenhurich. We enjoyed some good sunrise colours in the sky as we set off up the forest tracks up the glen.
Beyond the cottage at Glenhurich, we ascended more steeply on zigzagging forest tracks to reach the crest of the ridge, where a small walkers’ path marked by a pair of cairns led a couple of hundred metres through the trees to the edge of the forest. The ridge of Beinn Mheadhoin then offered an easy-angled ascent all the way to the Corbett summit, with some crunchy snow above about 550m. There were particularly good views of the parallel Meall Mor ridge to the north, with the Glenfinnan Munros and Streap becoming visible over the top as we got higher up.
Nearer the summit, we gained views of the pointy peak of Sgurr Dhomhnuill to the south, looking much snowier than our hill. We returned the same way, with Beinn Resipol visible down the valley.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2474652
On Saturday, a storm was expected to arrive by late morning, so we got up early and were parked up by Loch Sunart at Laudale, ready to start at first light. Ruth and Josh opted to do a bike ride along the lochside track to Glencripesdale and back, while I walked up the nearby Marilyn, Beinn nam Beathrach. My route followed the track past Laudale House, then turned up Glen Laudale for a bit, before forking left onto a rougher ATV track (but still improved with proper drainage) that took me a bit further than mapped, up to around 400m.
From there, I could see the trig point at the summit, so just made a bee-line directly for it, traversing the northern slopes of Beinn Bhan then ascending fairly steeply on short grass between small crags to the summit. I could see that the rain front was only a few miles away to the south, and it was already pretty blustery. I quickly grabbed a few photos of the view, most impressively over the sea to Rum and Skye, and over Loch Sunart to Beinn Resipol, then started my descent by the same route.
It didn’t take long to get back to the head of the track, by which time it was snowing lightly. The cloud was dropping fast, so it was good to have the clear path to follow, to save having to think much about navigation. Once down in the valley, the snow had turned to wet sleet, so I put on my full waterproofs for the final few kilometres along the tracks back to the van. On the shore of Loch Sunart, the easterly wind was very strong, and it was a real battle to maintain progress upwind! I was thankful that Ruth and Josh, having got back about half an hour sooner, had moved the van a little closer to Laudale House, beyond the end of the public road, to save me some time in the rain! We returned to the cottage for lunch and a leisurely afternoon indoors.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2474650
New Year’s Eve was another day with showers forecast. Ruth was keen to do a hill with coastal views and I fancied bagging a Graham, so we met both objectives by heading to Kingairloch for a walk around the horseshoe of Beinn Mheadhoin. Josh was also inspired by the opportunity to pass above the huge Glensanda granite ‘superquarry’ on the south side of the hill.
We parked by the Boathouse Restaurant, as suggested by the Graham guidebook, and set off through the Kingairloch estate with its main lodge and various associated cottages. We followed a track up to a transmitter on the lower slopes of Sgurr Shalachain, then continued on rough grass, gently then more steeply, to reach that summit, with good views east over Loch Linnhe.
That was the majority of the hard work done for the day, as the continuation over Beinn na Greine to Beinn Mheadhoin was gentle and grassy, and did not have any significant snow cover. There were distant views of Moidart and Ardgour under cloudy skies to the north, whereas it was a lot sunnier around Glen Nevis and Glen Coe to the northeast. It looked like a day in the Mamores would have been a great choice for those based the other side of the ferry! To the south, Mull was mostly obscured by low cloud, but there were good views over the sea towards Oban, with the peaks of Scarba and Jura visible in the distance.
We continued around the horseshoe to Beul Choire nan Each, there gaining our first view of the quarry. Further along, a viewpoint had a sign pointing out the key features, including the “glory hole” shaft used to deliver the crushed granite 500m vertically downwards for extraction to the coast.
We found a sheltered spot for lunch, then descended easily by the ridge of Meall an Doire Dhuibh. A zigzagging stalkers path led down the final stretch to the cottage at South Corry, where we picked up tracks back to the van. We were pleased to have got away without any significant rain all day.
Route map; https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2476267
New Year’s Day promised high cloud and we were keen to find some deeper snow so we headed to the highest hill in the area, Sgurr Dhomhnuill. The skies were quite clear as we set off from Ariundle after a very short drive up the valley, and the peak was visible in the distance. The first few miles were up good tracks through the Ariundle woodlands – with lots of attractive moss and ferns on the trees – to the old lead mines at Fee Donald, one of the places where the element strontium was discovered in the ore and named after the village.
We crossed the fairly large stream without much difficulty and were soon on the snowy slopes of Druim Leac a’ Sgiathain, mostly following footprints left by others who had been up on previous days. A heavy shower missed us to the south, followed by dramatic light conditions towards Garbh Bheinn, with shafts of sunshine through the broken cloud swirling around its summit.
Higher up, we opted to take the ridge route over the subsidiary summit of Sgurr na h-Ighinn, leaving behind the footprints that had taken the traverse route to the left. The snow was steep enough to get the ice axe out for security, but not hard enough to want crampons.
We dropped down to the saddle then ascended more steeply up the final cone of Sgurr Dhomhnuill. Here, the recent snow had almost eradicated traces of the previous visitors’ route, but the obvious ramps and ledges led us to the summit without difficulty. The next shower passed us by to the north! We took in the magnificent views for a while on the calm summit, then headed back down to the saddle, following our own footprints. This time we took the traverse path around the side of Sgurr na h-Ighinn, pausing for lunch part way along. It stayed dry for the descent to the mines, then a bit of light rain set in for the final few kilometres through the forest. A great winter’s day on the hill!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2476269
For our final day, we headed west along the Ardnamurchan peninsula. I was dropped in the hamlet of Laga for another Marilyn-bagging walk, while Ruth and Josh drove out to the lighthouse and nearby beaches for a coastal stroll. Ben Laga proved to be an attractive, rocky summit, despite its modest height of just 512m. I ascended on a good track through the 10-year-old Laga Woodlands, then fairly direcly up heather and grass between the crags to the summit, with its two cairns and a small lochan. It was just below the cloud, so I was able to enjoy the views along Loch Sunart towards Ben Hiant, and also towards Beinn Resipol and Loch Shiel.
I followed the ridge north and then dropped down to the end of Loch Laga, before re-ascending on easy grassy slopes to a slightly lower Marilyn, Meall nan Each (490m). This was not as interesting a peak but gave good views towards Moidart. I had lunch in the shelter of a crag, then descended south to pick up the tracks back to the road. As Ruth and Josh had said they would be about another hour, I chose to walk a couple of kilometres east to the next car park at Port nan Gall, to fill the time. It had been another day with fewer showers than forecast, and I was surprised not to have needed my waterproofs!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2477128
We got all the packing done that we could on Tuesday evening, and were able to get away by 8am on Wednesday morning. After crossing the Corran Ferry, we paused for half an hour at the younger Duffers’ cottage in Ballachulish, then continued on our way south. The drive went well, arriving in Natland around 2:30pm. I continued straight away and was home just after 5pm, in time to do most of my unpacking and get some laundry on before heading out for my usual Wednesday evening run with friends in Hartshorne!
In summary, a good varied week in the Highlands. The weather was generally better than forecast, and the waterproofs didn’t get used very extensively at all! I ticked off one new Graham and three other new Marilyns, and revisited two Corbetts, and the day on Sgurr Dhomhnuill felt like a proper winter outing. My full photo album can be viewed on Google Photos here.
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