I always like to take a trip to the Highlands in the autumn – although the weather is often unsettled, the vibrant colours and low sunlight are often beautiful. This year I took a full week’s holiday and based myself in Fort William for four nights then by Loch Ness for three, with a focus on bagging a few Grahams.

I drove up as far as my parents’ house in Kendal on the Friday evening and got an early start from there on Saturday to head to Lanark Moor parkrun. The later 9:30 start in Scotland made this a fairly civilised choice despite the two hour drive. The course was an attractive and unusual one, starting with a loop of a small loch (with beautiful reflections) on flat tarmac, followed by a twisty and undulating loop of a mountain bike course through the woods (surprisingly suitable for road shoes, as the Run Director had advised me beforehand), with another lap of the loch to finish. I ran well but ended up with a time a little over 20 minutes, due to the hilly middle section and the distance being (by my reckoning) well over 5km!

I didn’t hang around long afterwards as I had plans to bag a Graham on my way north. I had picked Creag Mhor in the Trossachs near Balquhidder, as it was not far off my driving route and only required a circular walk of around 8km. I parked at the end of the Glen Buckie road in Ballimore and headed directly up the hill by the grassy southeastern slopes. From the ridge, there were good views over Loch Voil towards the Crianlarich Munros, as well as east towards Loch Earn and Ben Vorlich. I descended into the upper reaches of Fathan Glinne and followed tracks and paths back down the valley to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2791183

Afternoon rain had been forecast but luckily did not arrive before I finished the walk. It was certainly very wet as I drove over Rannoch Moor and down Glen Coe though! Once in Fort William, I picked up some provisions at Morrison’s then headed to the Backpackers hostel, where I had a bed in a fairly spacious four-bed ensuite dormitory. Cooking, eating and route planning filled the rest of the evening.

Sunday was again forecast to start dry but become wet by lunchtime, so I got up promptly. I decided to bag a pair of Grahams on the north side of Loch Arkaig: Sgurr Choinnich and Meall Blair. My route started at the Coire Mhuic nature reserve, where rare butterflies can apparently be seen in the Spring. It did not look like many visitors ever walk the poorly-signed loop through the woods either side of the river, and there were no butterflies to be seen on a grey October morning! Nevertheless, the path gave easy access to a hydro track higher up, which led me easily into the head of Coire Mhuic.

Once off the track, I found a series of helpful deer trods that making a rising traverse across the eastern slopes of Sgurr Choinnich, and I was soon at the foot of its well-defined northeast ridge. There were excellent views northeast over Loch Garry and west to the hills around Loch Cuaich (formerly Quoich).

I only paused briefly at the summit as the wind was cold and fairly strong. It was a welcome surprised that the cloud-base was well above the summit. A line of old fenceposts led west, about half way along the watershed towards my second peak, Meall Blair. The remainder of the broad ridge was unmarked and pathless, but the way was clear, over Meall Lochan nan Dubh Lochan then up rough slopes to the summit trig point. The cloud had dropped by this point, and the top 50m or so was in damp mist – worth putting on the waterproof jacket but not trousers.

I descended southeast then south to reach the Loch Arkaig road pretty easily near Rubha Cheanna Mhuir, enjoying good views both directions along the loch once I got off the plateau onto the steeper lower slopes. That just left a couple of kilometres along the almost traffic-free lane through the beautiful mixed woodland back to the car. Again I was pleased to finish in the dry – as it turned out, rain never really arrived that day. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792079

The forecast for Monday was dry but with very low cloud, and that was pretty accurate! I decided it would be a good day to do two short walks up Grahams that would not be too fiddly to navigate in poor visibility. The first was Stob a’ Ghrianain (a.k.a. Druim Fada) on the south side of Glen Loy. Surprisingly, there’s a dedicated car parking area at the bottom of the forest track near Inverskilavulin, with a signposted route up into Coire an Lightuinn. I suspect extremely few people seek to climb this obscure hill, but perhaps its proximity to Fort William makes it an occasional bad-weather choice among Munro-baggers!

Once out of the trees, a small bridge gave an easy way across the burn and an ATV track led most of the way up the waterlogged east ridge. I must have entered the cloud at around 400m, but visibility was not too bad. Higher up, the ground got much rockier and there were a few crags around the top of Coire Odhar, with a large cairn above them. A short distance beyond that, the actual summit was marked only by a small pile of stones.

I continued around the adjacent lochan then descended beside a small waterfall and burn onto the rough southeast ridge. It was pretty slow going with a few peat groughs on the way to the minor top of Sron Liath, and it was only as I started to descend north back into the corrie that I broke back out of the cloud, still around 400m. That just left a short walk back along the marked forest path to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792946

For my second walk of the day, I returned to the shore of Loch Arkaig, parking near Achnasaul to climb nearby Glas Bheinn. A good hydro track led well up beside the Allt Dubh, turning into a smaller stalkers’ track higher up. I had started in mist almost down to loch level, but broke out into a clear layer between clouds for much of the ascent. I doubled back up the steep northwestern slopes of the hill to reach the ridge half a kilometre north of the summit, which was sadly again in mist. I found the cloud had dropped significantly since I’d ascended, and I had to descend quite a long way on compass bearings, south then west, before eventually getting back into the clear and gaining very murky views along the loch for the final section down the track. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792950

Tuesday’s forecast was again for low cloud so I was pleased to find there were a few sunny breaks when I got up. My targets for the day were a pair of Grahams in Ardgour, up the Callop glen near Glenfinnan. I parked by the bridge and set off briskly up the valley track with an extensive area of blue sky over the Corbett to the west, Sgurr Craobh a’ Chaorainn. Once beyond the forest I crossed easily over the burn and gained the well-defined north ridge of Meall nan Damh. It was clear much of the way up but did have a cap of fairly thick mist over both summits.

Continuing along the ridge, I did drop just below the cloud as I crossed the bealach to Glas Bheinn, and had fleeting views of Loch Eil through sunny breaks as I reascended. It was still mostly misty around the trig point but I was optimistic of getting views and found a sheltered spot for lunch. It did gradually get brighter and by the time I was ready to continue I could see more of Loch Eil and Callop with some very atmospheric light conditions.

The north-western slopes gave an easy descent to pick up a disused (and quite boggy) hydro track back through the forest and regain the main Callop track. Sgurr Craobh a’ Chaorainn was still mostly in sunshine – apparently the gaps in the cloud were created by the terrain rather than passing in the wind! Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2793759

I stayed at Fort William Backpackers for one more night but was moving on towards Loch Ness in the morning, so I bought more groceries and filled with petrol on my way back from the walk. Wednesday looked like the sunniest day of the week so I decided to do what looked like the most scenic of the three walks I had planned in the Invermoriston area. It was about an hour’s drive up the Great Glen to my start point at Alltsigh, actually just across the road from my hostel for the rest of the trip.

The first few kilometres of the walk were up hydro tracks through scattered trees. Once outside the deer fencing I struck off across the moor on an ATV track to gain the ridge of Meall Fuar-mhonaidh, sticking close to the left hand side for the best views along the cliffs to Loch nam Breac Dearga. The guidebook had said that this is quite a popular hill but the standard route is from the north so there were only faint traces of path on my route. The summit area did have several large cairns and well-worn paths between them though. There were excellent views along the full length of Loch Ness – I would guess this is the best vantage point over the loch, explaining its popularity (for a Graham!). I did not actually see any other walkers though.

As it was clear and bright, I included a few minor tops on the way to my second Graham, heading over Nighean a’ Mhill and Mac a’ Mhill to reach Glas-bheinn Bheag, with good views back along the crags and lochan. After some lunch, I continued along the broad ridge to Glas-bheinn Mhor, which was a particularly good viewpoint for many distant Munros, including the ones around Loch Cluanie, Glen Affric, Loch Mullardoch, Loch Monar and Glen Strathfarrar. The wind was chilly though, so I only paused for a few minutes before descending south over easy moorland to reach the end of the hydro track and follow it back to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2794641

The Lochside Hostel is a former SYHA hostel but now privately run. I’d probably have preferred it in its SYHA days as there was unwanted (by me) organised entertainment that took over the common room every evening, catering mainly for the 20-something international backpacker market rather than hillwalkers and families! Nevertheless, the four-bed dorm was comfortable and the kitchen well-equipped, and the location right on the shore of the loch was pretty.

Thursday was another day with a poor forecast that turned out not so bad. With wind and rain expected, I opted for my shortest walk option, up Burach. This is one of the hills only recently promoted to Graham status thanks to the change in minimum height from 2000ft to 600m. The guidebooks and most previous visitor reports described a rough ascent beside Allt na Criche but that wasn’t particularly appealing. I knew that the new high-level variant of the Great Glen Way would get me up from Invermoriston to near Loch a’ Mhuilinn, east of the summit, and it looked like one could easily ascend the ridge from there. This proved a good choice, as the Great Glen Way was a very well-made path with excellent views over Loch Ness, and I picked up a good deer trod all the way across the moor from the lochan to the foot of the ridge, only leaving about a kilometre of pathless ground to cross.

Although it was as windy as expected, it was dry and the summit just about clear to give views over Glen Moriston from the large cairn. I descended the same way, surprised to get back to the car with dry kit again, and had a quick stroll around the Invermoriston Falls before returning to the hostel. In the evening, I avoided the official Halloween party by sitting in the dormitory doing some brass band admin and solving a cryptic crossword! Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2795384

My final walking day was up two more Grahams on the north side of Glen Moriston. The weather was supposed to improve as the day went on, so I started as late as I thought I could while finishing in daylight. I parked on the verge at Bhlaraidh and marched up the massive new wind-farm roads past numerous turbines to reach almost 550m near the far end of Loch a’ Chrathaich. It wasn’t raining hard but the low cloud above about 450m was wet enough to need full waterproofs for the first time this trip. I traversed the ridge from Meall nan Oighreagan to Meall a’ Chrathaich, bagging three extra Simms as well as the Graham, then picked up the end of another branch of the wind farm track network.

I had dropped back out of the cloud by the time I passed Loch Liath and stopped for a bite to eat before setting off across the rough moor via Carn na Caorach to the day’s second Graham, Carn Mhic an Tosich. The summit was in damp cloud again so I didn’t get any views. It did begin to clear out as I began the descent back to Loch Liath, with a layer of wispy cloud sitting on the ridge of Burach to the south. I was finally able to take off my waterproofs for the 6km walk back along the tracks to the car, arriving in hazy sunshine just before sunset. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2796396

I started Saturday with another tourist parkrun, at Torvean on the edge of Inverness. This was a fairly fast course, two and a half laps around a purpose-built compacted gravel path loop that was bent into a U-shape to feel more like five loops! Although there was nearly 50m of ascent, I ran well and equalled my best recent time of 18:49.

That just left the long drive back to Derby. I paused for a comfort break at Perth and lunch at Abington, and took a three-hour break for dinner with my parents in Kendal. That just left the final couple of hours to get home a bit before 10pm ready for a cross-country race the next morning!

In summary, the trip was a good break and a productive one for Graham-bagging (12 in total). Perhaps not a vintage autumn week to remember though, thanks to very grey weather most days. I had not been tempted to venture up larger hills any day and if I had it would generally have meant even cloudier summits. My full photo album can be viewed on Google Photos here.