Once again, I spent the long Easter weekend in the Highlands – a total of six days having taken annual leave on Maundy Thursday and with Easter Tuesday being a fixed holiday at Rolls-Royce. To get a head start on the journey north, I went as far as my parents’ house on Tuesday evening and worked remotely there on Wednesday. Then it was less than three hours to my overnight accommodation at Stirling Youth Hostel, with a stop at Sainsbury’s for petrol and a few breakfast and lunch provisions. After checking in, I walked into town for a fast-food dinner.

Snoring room mates meant it was not the best night’s sleep. Unfortunately the best of Thursday’s weather looked like it would be in the morning, and I had a few more hours to drive to reach my destination, so I was up early, and on the road soon after 7 o’clock. I arrived in Strathconon to start walking in hazy sunshine soon after 10. My objective for the day was a Graham, Carn na Coinnich, on the south side of the glen. A good track led me up the first 100m or so, then it was a clamber up rough heather to reach the northwest ridge of Meall Doire Fheara. There was snow above about 400m – patchy at first then complete coverage – and some rocky outcrops to add interest. The high ground gave excellent views across Strathconon to Sgurr a’ Mhuilinn (Corbett).

I continued past Loch an Daimh Ghlais and Loch Gruamach to reach the slightly higher summit of Carn na Coinnich, with a trig point and views of the very snowy Strathfarrar Munros. I dropped down to a good track on the east side of the hill and followed that all the way back down to Milton, and was pleased to be back at the car before any rain arrived.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3271188

Even better, the rain came later than forecast and I was able to get to my campsite in Beauly, pitch camp, pop back out to the Co-op, return to camp and cook and eat dinner in the dry! A bit of rain did fall in the evening and overnight.

Friday started bright again and I decided to head up Glen Affric for two close-together walks up Grahams. First up was Carn a’ Chaochain, south of Cougie. I had not realised that the lane to get there, marked in yellow on my map but not on the latest edition, was only a gravel track beyond Tomich, and slow going with lots of potholes. Just short of Cougie I found a digger working on track maintenance, so I had to park a little further east than intended.

The ascent started up a very waterlogged path through the forest, but got firmer as it got steeper higher up, then crossed some open moorland to reach Bealach Feith na Gamhna. The high Munros on the north side of Glen Affric looked spectacular in the sunshine!

A short, steep ascent got me onto the snow-covered summit ridge, passing a 704m trig point en route to the 706m summit. The views extended to include the Cluanie Munros to the west, and the rounded bulk of Aonach Shasuinn (Corbett) a bit closer. I descended northwest across rough moorland then down clear-felled slopes to reach the valley track back to Cougie. My plan to reach the (apparently more scenic) track on the north side of the river was thwarted by the mapped bridge no longer being there, so I stuck with the southern option!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3272025

On the drive back down the track to Tomich, I paused at the popular Plodda Falls for a quick walk around the waymarked half-mile loop. The falls had an impressive vertical drop into the Deabhag gorge and an unusual cantilevered viewing platform directly above!

I drove the few miles back up the main Glen Affric road and parked at Chisholm Bridge, beside Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin, named after my next peak. I ate my lunch in the car there as a heavy shower passed through, then set out again. The ascent started on a good path through the forest to reach the main Gleann nam Fiadh track, which I followed for a short distance before diverting onto a rather boggy ATV track that led most of the way up to the summit of Beinn a’ Mheadhoin. The view was dominated by Sgurr na Lapaich, Tom a’ Choinnich and Toll Creagach, which came in and out of sight as a few snow showers blew through (but nothing significant fell on my lower hill). The wind was cold, so I didn’t hang around long before retracing my steps back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3272026

After dinner by the tent, I spent the rest of the evening in “Captain Faff’s” campsite bar (only open on Fridays and Saturdays) – a good place to sit in the warm and dry with electric lighting to read by!

The forecast looked daunting for Saturday with Storm Dave expected in the evening and the wind gradually building before that. It was another sunny morning though, and I started my day with a visit to the recently-established Belladrum parkrun (event number 11), just a five minute drive south of Beauly. This was an attractive three-lap course through undulating parkland with sheep grazing and views of distant snowy hills. My legs felt tired after walking through quite a bit of snow the previous two days and I was disappointed with my finish time of 19:41.

After the run, I headed off immediately to get started on the day’s walk, the chosen Graham being Carn Gorm near the bottom of Glen Cannich. I parked near Craskie and walked up the track past the house then steeply up beside the burn on faint trods to a gap in the deer fence (as described in others’ bagging logs). There was a bit of fresh snow almost down to valley level. Then I followed intermittent paths east, aiming for a prominent cairn on a rocky shoulder, which offered good views up the valley to Loch Mullardoch and the high hills that surround it.

A short distance further on, I reached an unnamed 638m top, giving improved views past the Corbett, Sgorr na Diollaid to the Strathfarrar Munros. I dropped down to Loch Coire an Uillt Ghiuthais then reascended about 150m to the fairly flat Graham summit. Cloud was gradually building but there were still glimpses of blue sky so I decided I would make the effort to include the bonus top of Sgorr na Ruadhraich, which was actually rockier and more interesting than its higher neighbour.

A flurry of fine snow was just arriving as I started my descent, so I pressed on down the easy slopes as quickly as I could, re-joining my upward route near the prominent cairn and soon getting back down to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3272879
It was actually dry again by that point, and stayed dry long enough after I got back to camp that I was able to make a cup of tea on the camp stove and get showered and changed before it started to close in for the storm. It was no evening for camp cooking, so I drove into Beauly to get fish and chips then made another visit to Captain Faff’s! The snow was coming down pretty heavily and a couple of inches had settled on the grass and tent by the time I went to bed. I shook most of it off the tent to reduce the load, and a while later noticed that it sounded more like rain hitting the canvas. Thankfully the winds never became particularly strong and my sleep was not really disturbed by the storm.

Most of the snow in the campsite, very near sea level, had melted by morning, but anywhere above 50m had a good covering, and the hills were very white indeed! It seemed that the snow at low levels was wet enough to be easily cleared by vehicle traffic so I gambled that I would be able to drive up Strathconon again for the day’s walk – a good choice as there were pretty clear tyre tracks all the way, with just a bit of slush in places. I parked on the snowy verge at the start of the track to Inverchoran.

My first objective for the day was Beinn Mheadhoin. It was quite hard work heading up the track below the slopes of Creagan a’ Chaorainn with the snow depth quickly increasing with height and and some deep drifts to cross. After that, the stalker’s path on the map could certainly not be traced on the ground and I was walking off-piste the rest of the way up the hill’s heathery and rocky northeastern slopes. The ice axe was definitely required for security in places on the steep, deep snow. Above the first steep section, I was surprised to find that there were several obvious cairns to guide the way.

It was pretty bleak on the summit, my arrival unfortunately coinciding with a squally snow shower. There were indistinct views through the spindrift and falling snow, west to Bac an Eich and south to the Strathfarrar hills. I soon headed back down, the route-finding being aided by those cairns in the temporarily reduced visibility. Further down, it brightened up again, and I was able to follow my own footsteps back to the track and road.

Checking the weather forecast as I reached the car, I saw that a significant band of snow was about to arrive, so I decided to sit in the car for lunch and let it pass before heading back up the other side of the valley to my second peak, Meall na Faochaig. Even after the shower, the wind had increased so it was colder than the morning. The route started up the long zigzag of a stalker’s path to reach the saddle behind Creag Iucharaidh, once again hard work in quite deep snow. Conditions were changing rapidly with moments of blue sky and sunshine alternating with grey clouds and light snow.

Above that, the ascent of the hill’s obvious southern spur was tough, with quite a bit of spindrift and lots of deep drifts to wade through, again making plenty of use of the ice axe. It certainly felt more than a 300m steep ascent to the ridge! There were some good views across Gleann Meinich to the Corbetts of Meallan nan Uan and Sgurr a’ Mhuilinn as I walked the final few hundred metres east to the Graham summit. Moruisg was also visible beyond the head of Strathconon, and Fionn Bheinn to the north. I could see darker grey skies approaching as I started the steep part of the descent, so I dropped down as quickly as I could. There were a few minutes of fairly heavy snowfall as I walked the final section down the stalker’s path. It had not settled at all on the road though, so the drive back to camp was straightforward.
Route map (for both hills): https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3274028

After several productive days, I only had one unbagged Graham left in the area: Beinn na Muice near the Loch Monar dam. That meant a drive up the private Glen Strathfarrar road, so I made sure I was at the gate when it opened for the day at 9am. There were only half a dozen cars waiting so no problem being within the 25 permitted per day. The website suggested that parking for the summer season was only at Mhullie Greens – convenient for the popular Munros. I suspected it was actually possible to drive much closer to my objective, and so it proved, but I decided to stick with the guidance anyway and just enjoy the extra valley walking to make a fuller day.

It took a little over an hour to cover the 7km past Braulen Lodge to the bottom of the Allt Toll a’ Mhuic track. The road and valley bottom were totally snow-free, and it was only above about 500m that I found significant snow as I climbed the east ridge of Beinn na Muice – helpful as the lower slopes required clambering up a very steep grassy and heathery gully that would have been unpleasant with soft snow added! There was much more snow to the north on Sgurr na Muice and the Strathfarrar Munros beyond that were fully white. I felt that the couple of groups setting off to do that traverse were quite ambitious in those conditions, given that there were only 8 hours available before gate closure!

I enjoyed the final section up the gentler, rockier upper ridge, with improving views of the North Mullardoch Munros. From the summit, there was a spectacular vista along Loch Monar towards the Glen Carron hills, particularly Lurg Mhor, Sgurr a’ Chaorachain and Maoile Lunndaidh, and I had quite a few photography stops!

I descended the gentler western slopes, with ice axe in hand initially for the snow and actually used as a walking stick all the way down to Monar Lodge because these were some of the most slippery, waterlogged slopes I’ve walked on! I was pleased to reach the solid, grippy ground of the valley track without falling over! I took a short detour across the dam, which was a great viewpoint back to Beinn na Muice, paused for lunch a little further down, then enjoyed the easy walking back down the road to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3274974

Back in camp, it was a much milder evening. I filled the time with the usual shower, tea and dinner routine, then packed up what I could to aid a quick getaway in the morning, and got an early night. Back up at 6am, I had broken camp and hit the road south by quarter past seven. It took about three hours, via the petrol station in Inverness, to the start point for my morning walk near Amulree in Glen Quaich. I could see that the hill was pretty much snow-free all the way to the summit, so set off without the ice axe this time. A good track led easily up Glen Lochan past Lochan a’ Mhuilinn, then I made a rising traverse up the steep grassy slopes to gain the ridge west of Creag Grianain. It was just a short climb from there up to the day’s Graham summit, Beinn na Gainimh, which offered good views over Glen Almond to Ben Chonzie and beyond. I followed the ridge around the head of Henzie Burn to Meall Mor then enjoyed an easy descent on soft but dry grass back to the track and car. The high Cairngorms in the distance were still very white and reflecting brightly in the sunshine.
Route map; https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3276410

I drove the short distance to Crieff, paused for lunch, then continued south back to my parents’ house, a motorway closure due to an accident north of Penrith unfortunately delaying me by about 30 minutes. Refreshed after dinner and a chat, I did the final 2h15 stint back home and got most of my unpacking and sorting out done before bed.

You never know what you’re going to get in the Highlands at Easter. It can be anything from full winter conditions to totally snow-free, and this year I got the former! Some days there were options to add Munros onto my Graham routes but, with the sheer amount of soft snow at high level, it wasn’t appealing and I was happy that the conditions made simply climbing these 600-700m hills more exciting and challenging than it would otherwise have been! In total, I ticked off eight Grahams over the six day trip, taking me to 146 down, 85 to go. I expect my next visit to the Highlands, with the Gentian Club to Deeside at the end of May, to be much more Munro-focussed!

You can see my full photo album on Google Photos here.

For this year’s New Year trip to the Highlands I had booked myself a private, ensuite room at Glen Nevis Youth Hostel for six nights, hoping to revisit a few of the impressive nearby Munros and tick off a few new Grahams. I set off around 9am from my parents’ house and had a good clear drive up, with a lunch stop in Tyndrum and a supermarket stop in Fort William, arriving around 3pm when check-in opened. After unloading, I took a very short stroll by the river as a prolonged temperature inversion had left the valley trees spectacularly frosted while the hillsides above were warmer and ice-free. I was surprised to be greeted ‘Hi David’ by a passing runner, which turned out to be Alex Stearn, an occasional CUHWC trip attendee now living in Kendal and married to my sister’s friend Alice. They and son Albert were also staying at the hostel for the next three nights and provided me with some welcome company in the evenings!

The forecast looked excellent for the first two days of the trip. On Monday, my walk took in the three westernmost Munros of the Mamores, which I had only visited once before. I drove a few miles up the valley and parked at Achriabhach, starting walking at around 8:40: a little before sunrise but there was plenty of light to walk by. The walk started with a steep and relentless 1000m climb up the northwest ridge of Sgurr a’ Mhaim, which certainly warmed me up despite being in the shade most of the way! I had been gradually gaining on two others ahead and they were still by the summit when I arrived. Mist was swirling around, occasionally dropping a little to give a view over an inversion to Ben Nevis.

There was a chilly breeze so I didn’t hang around for long before setting off along the so-called “Devil’s Ridge”, a name that greatly exaggerates the level of challenge, which has only a couple of easy rocky steps and barely constitutes more than an exposed walk. There were grand views of the twin pyramidal peaks of Am Bodach and Sgurr an Iubhair with inversion behind them. Soon, I was at the summit of the latter, taking in the views south over the inversion, with only the highest Munros protruding above, most obviously Bidean nam Bian and Beinn a’ Bheithir.

I followed the well-defined ridge west to the day’s next Munro, Stob Ban, which gave more inversion views and also a fine panorama of the Nevis Range and Sgurr a’ Mhaim. Another 3km via a subsidiary top brought me to my final peak of the day, Mullach nan Coirean. I passed a few other walkers on this section of ridge, including one other solo walker who was staying at the hostel, and caught up with two more pairs at the summit. We descended more-or-less together down the rather icy northeast ridge, although it did not merit spikes or crampons as the worst patches could be avoided with care.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3190803
I popped back into Fort William for more provisions before returning to the hostel for the night.

Tuesday was an even better day, with lighter winds and clearer skies expected, so I opted for the celebrated hillwalkers’ route up Ben Nevis via Carn Mor Dearg. I arrived at the North Face car park soon after 8:30 and was surprised to find it virtually full already – it seems most people start in the dark rather than going fast as I prefer to! I was able to find room to park on the verge near the entrance and was soon underway.

I followed the main path up beside the Allt a’ Mhuilinn for a couple of kilometres, overtaking a few folk heading for winter gully climbs, then took the smaller left fork up the north ridge of Carn Mor Dearg. There was a thin layer of mist hanging over the surface of Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil to the west.

The hillside was very icy up to about 600m – frozen water rather than compacted snow – but it was always possible to pick a route around rather than having to don crampons. There were lots of groups ahead and I had overtaken more than 20 people by the time I reached the top of Carn Mor Dearg. There was a lot of old snow on the eastern slopes, well seen from the subsidiary peak of Carn Dearg Mheadhonach on the way up. It was also spectacular to see the sun appear from behind the peak of Carn Mor Dearg as I emerged from its shadow!

Several others were putting crampons on at the summit but the first section of the arete could be negotiated entirely on dry rock, so I delayed putting mine on until a couple of hundred metres further on, where the snow did become unavoidable. The ice axe wasn’t required as there were lots of rocks to hold onto, and the old snow was very solid and reassuring to walk on. As the ridge began to swing around more to the west, it became snow-free again, so I took the crampons back off. The final steep climb up to Ben Nevis was straightforward but did involve crossing some fairly steep snow patches – there were excellent footsteps left by those who had climbed when the snow was softer, but I did get the ice axe out this time for security.

Soon I emerged on the flat snow of the summit plateau where there were, of course, plenty of others who’d come up by the tourist path, as well as a few climbers emerging from the north face gullies. I spent a bit of time looking at the views in different directions: over the cliffs, back to CMD and Aonach Mor, and south over many mountain ridges. The very distant peaks of Ben More (Crianlarich) and Ben Cruachan were readily identifiable, as well as lots of nearer hills in the Mamores and around Glen Coe. Ardgour and Glenfinnan were also beautifully sunny to the west.

I decided to put the crampons back on for the descent of the first few zigzags, on continuous firm snow. Although it was mostly fairly grippy in just boots, I was able to walk with more confidence and speed with guaranteed traction! I had a late lunch break by the halfway lochan, which was really warm in the sunshine, then took a direct, off-path route over the moor back to the riverside to rejoin my upward route at a bridge just above the forest. I was back at the car soon after 2pm, so it had only taken about 5 and a half hours to complete the route – definitely no walking in the dark required! It had been a perfect winter day out on Britain’s highest mountain.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3191610

The weather deteriorated markedly by Wednesday morning, with milder temperatures, but lower cloud and drizzly showers. I decided Graham bagging would give the best chance of views, and drove south to Ballachulish to visit the two near there. I parked at the visitor centre and set off initially up the path towards Beinn a’ Bheithir’s ‘Schoolhouse Ridge’, which I had done with Ruth and Josh a couple of years prior. This time, though, I continued up Gleann an Fhiodh and crossed the River Laroch below the mapped cairn, as I had previously done on approach to the Corbett, Fraochaidh. The river crossing was straightforward, the stepping stones not icy, but the steep 150m climb through rough heather to the ridge was just as tough as I remembered!

On the crest of the ridge, I was surprised to find a fairly well-trodden path all the way up to the summit of Sgorr a’ Choise. The peak was in and out of the mist, but did give intermittent views back down to Loch Leven and across the corrie to the second Graham, Meall Mor. Continuing, the ridge was broader and more grassy all the way, with any boggy parts still well frozen despite the rise in air temperatures. The summit gave a bit of a view into Glen Coe but all the higher peaks were in the cloud, as expected.

I followed a rough path down the northwest ridge to the transmitter on a subsidiary peak, then a better path down the edge of the forest and around the rim of the quarry back into Ballachulish.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3192481
Due to the frequent, drizzly showers, I’d only stopped briefly for snacks and photos, so I had my lunch in the car before driving back to Fort William, with another pause at Morrison’s on the way.

Thursday and Friday were forecast to be much more wintry, with stronger summit winds and frequent snow showers blowing in from the north. I struggled to decide what to do, and went to bed with the intention of starting New Year’s Day at Fort William parkrun. But looking again at the forecast when I woke, I felt a little more optimistic and targeted a remote Graham by Loch Arkaig instead. It seemed that the freezing level would remain high enough that the road to the Chia-aig Waterfalls car park would remain clear even if snow showers came at higher level, and so it proved.

I parked at first light and set off along the track towards Invermallie in the dry. Soon the first of many light showers (of rain at low level, but snow above about 300m) blew in, and I switched from soft shell to waterproof jacket for the rest of the day. It felt a long way to the ruined house at Glenmallie, despite the good track, and it was still another 3km on a rougher path to shielings at the bottom of Coire nam Fuaran. The views were initially dominated by Beinn Bhan, then by Meall a’ Phubuill, and finally by the back (relative to the normal ascent route) of Gulvain.

I had been surprised that the guidebook route made the ascent so far up the valley, but it made sense on seeing that the slopes there offered shorter, less tussocky grass than further east. Nevertheless, it was a steep and tiring slog of 500 vertical metres in just 1.3km, which I completed in 50 minutes. A group of deer were sheltering in the back of the corrie, out of the northwesterly wind.

The summit was marked by a small cairn. I was fortunate to arrive just after the end of a sharp snow shower, and at the start of a brighter spell that lasted long enough for me to complete the exposed 4km walk east along the ridge. The wind was quite strong and gusty so it was good to have it mostly on my back. Straying north of the crest from time to time gave the best views over Loch Arkaig to Sgurr Mhurlagain (Corbett) and Meall Blair and Sgurr Choinnich (Grahams). The Munro Gairich, by Loch Quoich, also came into view for a while.

I was looking out for an ATV track that the guidebook said would lead me back down into the valley, and it turned out to be pretty obvious and improved with boards across the boggiest bits, although that was not necessary this time with the terrain being well frozen. The longest and heaviest snow-storm of the day came in as I started the descent, and was just about ending as I arrived back on the valley track, where a shepherd’s shed offered some shelter for my late lunch break.

That just left a 10km march back to Gleann Cia-aig. Sunshine returned and I had some good views of Beinn Bhan and Glas Bheinn with notably more snow on them than there had been in the morning.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3192917

I was back at the car by 3pm and so was able to drive back to the hostel in daylight. Snow began to fall at valley level in the evening, with more overnight, amounting to about 3 inches in total. I didn’t really fancy a long drive or a long solo slog through deep snow so picked a local, lower-level walk for Friday that would still take in a couple of hilltops.

Snow continued falling until about 9am, so I had a leisurely start. The Glen Nevis road is pretty flat so it was not a difficult drive out to the main road to park at the Fort William Leisure Centre. From there, I followed the popular footpaths up onto Cow Hill, already well walked since the snowfall. I visited first the north summit (by the transmitter) and second, after some bushwhacking, the slightly higher south summit (with no footprints and a small cairn). Both were fine viewpoints over Loch Linnhe.

I continued down the main track to the lane above Achintore, followed that south for a few hundred metres, then took the path up to the summit of Druim na h-Earba, a 288m Marilyn. The lower slopes were popular for sledging, it turned out, but the summit was quieter. The cloud base had been gradually rising, with longer sunny spells, and there was a superb view across the loch towards Sgurr Dhomhnuill in Ardgour. Beinn na Gucaig also looked very fine on my side of the water.

I had lunch near the top, then followed the lane back into town, picked up a few last provisions at Morrison’s, and then returned to the hostel.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3193594
A little before sunset, the top of Ben Nevis even cleared for a while. Part of me wished I’d been higher to enjoy the afternoon brightness, but I still didn’t really feel like a long slog through deep powder. After dinner, I re-packed all my kit and got an early night ready for an early start.

I was on the road at 6:30am, heading south in hope of visiting a parkrun in the Glasgow area. Another 3 inches of snow had fallen overnight, so it was a slow trundle to the A82 then more cautious miles beside Loch Linnhe in falling snow with a light dusting on the road. It seemed unlikely I’d make it to Glasgow by parkrun-time, but at Ballachulish the snow stopped and the road became black, and was then fully clear all the rest of the way. The skies cleared too, with the full moon illuminating the peaks of Glen Coe and the Black Mount.

I paused for fuel at Dumbarton and checked the facebook pages of my candidate parkruns: Erskine Waterfront had cancelled due to ice but Victoria was going ahead, so that became my destination. Jo and Dave had run there on Christmas Day, by chance! I found roadside parking right outside the park gates at 9am which gave enough time to take a few dawn photos of the frozen duckpond and do a warm-up before the 9:30 start. It was a flattish and fast course and, despite the very cold air, I managed to run a pleasing time of 18:16, achieving my best ever age grade – first time over 75%!

I didn’t hang around long before continuing my drive south. It went well as far as Penrith, then I got delayed by a couple of hours trying to find the best way around the M6 closure for a railway bridge replacement. With hindsight, I should just have accepted the signed diversion, as all better alternatives had been closed, and I ended up back on the official route anyway. Very tedious, and by the time I reached my parents’ house for a very late lunch I had had enough driving for the day. Luckily I was able to stay the night there and delay my return to Derby until Sunday morning.

Quite a memorable New Year trip to the Highlands overall: two spectacular sunny days on Munros with little snow but lots of ice, then three increasingly snowy days on lower hills (including three new Grahams). While fairly expensive, my private hostel room had provided a convenient and comfortable base and it was an excellent way to fill the time between Christmas and the return to work. You can view my full photo album here.

My autumn break in the Highlands this year was a little less than a full week, as the best option was squeeze the trip in between a Sunday brass band contest one weekend and a Sunday cross-country race the next. I got away from Desford, post-contest, at around 3pm, and paused briefly at home to change, drop off the euphonium and pick up my holiday bags. Unfortunately my journey north was then disrupted by road closures on the M6 sliproad at junction 16 and on the M80 near Cumbernauld, both requiring improvised diversions. I eventually reached my Travelodge in Perth just after 10pm – a long day but still better than the alternative of tackling the drive with Monday-morning traffic!

Rising around 7am on Monday after a good night’s sleep, I was soon back on the road, and it took another couple of hours to reach Rannoch Station, the last 50 minutes being a tedious 30 miles along B-roads from the A9 at Calvine! My first walk of the day was up the nearby Graham, Stob na Cruaiche, on the north side of Rannoch Moor. I expected this to be an excellent viewpoint over the famous moor so I was pleased that it was a sunny morning!

I followed good tracks up through the woods onto the shoulder of Meall Liath na Doire, then the ridge was mostly pathless for the remaining 6km to the summit. The views provided great motivation though, improving as I ascended, both northwest over Blackwater Reservoir to the Mamores and Grey Corries, and southwest over Loch Laidon and Rannoch Moor to the Bridge of Orchy hills, Black Mount and Glen Coe. There was an interesting triple memorial cairn to members of the Pearson family on one of the intermediate tops.

It was a cold wind on the summit, so I only spent a few minutes taking in the views before setting off on the descent. A somewhat improved ATV track led east, dropping gradually off the south side of the ridge to enter the forest alongside the Allt’ a Bhuirich and follow its banks easily down to the main forest track. That just left 3km back to the car. I was surprised to see a man on a mountain bike, exercising his dog, and two others cycling together. I paused for a few minutes on the inland beach at the foot of Loch Laidon, which looked pretty spectacular under the blue skies!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3146922

After a lunch break in the car, I drove a few miles east to Bridge of Gaur where I started my shorter second walk of the day. This went up the 601m Graham, Leagag, now included in the list thanks to the change of minimum height from 2000ft to 600m. A good track led up beside the Allt an Fheadain and Allt a’ Mheanbh-chruidh to gain the west ridge of the hill, which led easily to the summit in little over an hour. I was surprised to pass one other walker descending. The cloud had lifted a little to reveal Ben Alder’s snowy plateau in the view to the north over Loch Rannoch, while Schiehallion and the Glen Lyon hills were prominent to the east. I descended the same way as the alternative route via Loch Finnart looked rather boggy!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3146925

It was another tedious drive back down the B-roads through Kinloch Rannoch and Tummel Bridge to Pitlochry Youth Hostel, my home for the night. I had never previously found beds available there on my visits to the town, having to stay instead at the Backpackers Hostel, and I was pleased that the SYHA hostel had better facilities, a quieter ambience, and a lovely view. An unexpected bonus was that I had the six-bed dormitory to myself for the night!

Tuesday’s forecast was poor, so it was fortuitous that my plan involved just one Graham, with most of the walk being on a good track. Creag a’ Mhadaidh was the chosen hill, my route going up from Aulich near the east end of Loch Rannoch. I used the weather radar to judge a good time to set off in a relatively dry spell – though still in continuous light rain – and found the first 3km up through mixed woodland rather attractive, with lovely autumn colours despite the poor light, and the Allt a’ Chreagain Odhair in spate below.

The next 4km, up to the broad bealach between Gualann Sheileach and Creag a’ Mhadaidh, were rather bleak, but the track at least had good bridges over all streams. I was greeted with a rainbow at the bealach, and a relative lull in the rain for the rough ascent to the summit of Creag a’ Mhadaidh, not very craggy despite the name! You could just about see down to Loch Errochty from the summit, but any higher hills in the view were in cloud.

Heavier rain set in as I began my descent, and continued for most of the walk out. Only the final 15 minutes saw some brightness, illuminating the forest colours nicely and giving my waterproofs a little time to drip and blow dry before reaching the car. A large group – multiple families on holiday together perhaps – were strolling in the forest, which was surprising given the poor weather!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3147769

I ate lunch in the car before driving north over the Drumochter Pass to Aviemore Youth Hostel. This time the six-bed dorm was fully occupied, but the excellent drying room was welcome! Aviemore was just a convenient staging post, as my next objectives were actually quite a bit further east down Speyside. Wednesday’s main walk was from Allanreid in Glen Livet, a few miles upstream of the famous distillery. My objective was Cook’s Cairn, a remote Graham across the valley from the Corbett, Corryhabbie Hill. I set off in sunny spells, following slightly boggy tracks beside the river as far as the abandoned houses at Suie. The paths were all surprisingly well signposted, but the only others I saw were a pair of shepherds on quadbikes.

Above Suie, I took the right fork to keep following the historic ‘Steplar’ route gradually up to the saddle between Carn na Bruar and Cook’s Cairn. Only as I neared the bealach did the wind turbines on the east side of the hills come into view and earshot. A further 1.5km up the ridge on short heather brought me to the summit, which had distant views of the high, snow-capped Cairngorm peaks and much closer views of Corryhabbie Hill and Ben Rinnes. I descended the same way, with the sunny spells eventually giving way to light showers that justified full waterproofs for the final few kilometres.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3148572

It was another 45-minute drive via Dufftown and Cabrach to reach the second walk of the day, up The Buck. My route was a small horseshoe, directly up the boggy northeast ridge to the summit – with an unexpected rock outcrop – then down the heathery eastern ridge over Scad Hill and Clayhooter Hill to reach a track back to the car. There were more showers and a cold, strengthening wind, but also a few brighter moments.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3148573

I drove south to my accommodation for the next three nights, the independent Ballater Hostel. Ruth and I had enjoyed staying there previously when Corbett-bagging in the area, so it was good to return. After checking in, I walked to the Co-op to re-stock on provisions. The handful of other guests had all booked private rooms, so I had two nights with a six-bed dorm to myself, and just one roommate for the final night.

I had four nearby Grahams on my to-do list for the next two days. As the weather forecast was much better for Thursday than Friday, I opted to visit three of them on Thursday! Geallaig Hill was the first. I walked up the good track from Breanaloin to the north, with sunshine low down, but reached the summit in thin mist. I felt that the visibility was likely to improve shortly and, thanks to the lack of wind, it was not cold, so I loitered a few minutes by the trig point. As I hoped, I was rewarded with fairly clear views of Morven and Mount Keen. Lochnagar to the south was visible but capped in a layer of cloud, as were the peaks on the Cairngorm plateau. I made a round walk by descending more tracks west, with more good views over Deeside, then a final 2km down the lane back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3149304

A few minutes’ drive north took me to the start point for my second walk, the summit of the A939 pass into the Don valley. I followed a rough ATV track that unhelpfully soon petered out in deep heather, making for a tiring (but not particularly long) climb up to Scraulac. Continuing east, there were better paths beside a fence over Cairnagour Hill to Mona Gowan, the Graham. I was surprised to find a digger working on the upper slopes of Mona Gowan, building small plugs of earth every hundred metres or so – I assume rudimentary grouse butts. The driver gave a friendly wave as I passed. The Corbett, Morven, to the east, was in and out of cloud, but was the most significant feature of the view. I retraced my steps to the car, except that I found a better path through the rough heather on the final descent!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3149307

My third and final walk was from Invernettie in Glen Nochty. I ascended on good tracks through a pheasant farm and reafforested slopes to quickly reach the heathery summit of Ladylea Hill. The view included the Ladder Hills to the northwest, The Buck to the northeast, and Morven to the south. I returned the same way and drove back to Ballater for the night.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3149308

Friday had been forecast to be wet and windy, but looking again in the morning it seemed it would actually stay dry until early afternoon. I therefore picked the longer (and more interesting) of the route options for my Graham, Pressendye, going up from the northwest. The southern slopes, while closer to the road, are all forested, so I was rewarded with much better views on the northern approach. The tracks via Lazy Well and over Broom Hill all gave easy walking, so I covered the 8km to the summit pretty quickly.

The south wind was certainly strong, even at 600m, but the shelter cairn was very effective so I was able to have a few minutes’ snack break without needing to put on more layers. There were extensive views over Aberdeenshire and Deeside, with some sunlit areas in the valleys but never over my hill! I followed more good tracks down to Culfork, then a final 2.5km on quiet lanes back to the starting point.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3150044

I paused on the drive back to Ballater for a stroll at a signposted local landmark, the Burn o’ Vat. This unusual spherical ‘pothole’ was carved out by glacial meltwaters at the end of the last Ice Age. I followed the short circular route through the Vat then had my lunch on a picnic bench by the visitor centre. The rain arrived soon after I got back to Ballater, so I had another quiet evening in the hostel.

With my cross-country race the next morning, I didn’t want to get home late, so I didn’t try to fit in both a parkrun and a Graham on Saturday as I’d initially thought I might. The parkrun took priority this time. Unhelpfully, a band of rain was forecast to pass over the Central Belt at just the wrong time so it was difficult to choose where I was least likely to get wet! I narrowed my options to Perth, in hope of being before the rain arrived, or Cumbernauld, in hope of being after it. I set off at 6:30am, early enough to keep both options open. Pausing to check the weather radar outside Perth, I gambled that the western option was the better bet.

It was still raining when I arrived at Palacerigg Country Park, and I did my warm-up with my rain jacket on. But it turned out that, by 9:30, the rain had almost stopped, and I actually didn’t get significantly wet doing parkrun without the coat. It was an attractive trail course, through a mixture of woodland and grassy moorland, and fairly challenging with about 70m of climb, much of it on the approach to the finish! Only 40 runners turned out, many put off by the earlier rain no doubt, so there were lots of Halloween snacks to go round!

It was another 2h30 drive to Kendal, where I paused for an extended break at my parents’ house for lunch and a stroll, then a further 2h15 home to Derby, arriving a little after 6pm. Splitting the drive into three manageable chunks with good breaks in between, it hadn’t felt that far really!

So, I bagged a total of nine new Grahams this trip, clearing up most of the ones on the fringes of the Cairngorms (after my Easter bagging foray in Angus) and ending on 135/231. Fewer than 100 to go, and I’m pleased that not so many of them will be heathery eastern ones now! That’ll be it until my New Year trip to Glen Nevis. My full photo album is available here.

I took my usual Easter long weekend in the Highlands, this year a solo trip to Angus, where I chose to camp as I hoped the late Easter would give mild temperatures. To get a head start on the drive up, I worked from my parents’ house in Kendal on the Thursday, and set off from there at around 3:30pm. Traffic was mostly quiet and, after a dinner stop at Stirling services, I arrived at Foresterseat Campsite, just outside Forfar, soon after 8pm. That meant I was able to get my tent set up well before dark and spend some time looking at the maps and guidebooks. It looked like I’d be the only tent that night, but one other arrived as I was going to bed.

Although there was a light ground frost, Friday started sunny. There was a forecast of some light rain by evening so I got away promptly. I chose to head to Glen Isla to bag three Grahams over two walks. The first walk started at the top of the low pass between Glen Isla and Glen Shee. An easy grassy ridge with good ATV tracks led me quickly up to Duchray Hill, which gave good views north towards the Munros of Creag Leacach and Glas Maol, and over Glen Shee to the West Mounth.

Continuing round the horseshoe, the descent to the pass was made a little more awkward by newly planted forestry. Once across the road, it was an easy climb up Mount Blair on a large path through grass and then heather. The summit has a transmitter mast and trig point and, unusually for a Graham, a view-finder indicating all the surrounding peaks that could be seen. The visibility was excellent and I was able to pick out summits including Ben Lawers, Bidean nam Bian, Ben Nevis, Beinn a’ Ghlo, Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui. Those high Munros were mostly capped with snow, but there was none left at lower levels. Again I continued around the horseshoe for an easy descent back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2947331

The second walk of the day started a little further up Glen Isla at Fergus. I followed good grouse-shooting tracks up beside Fergus Burn to the minor summit of Craig Lair, then onward to the Graham, Badandun Hill. The views were not as extensive as from the morning’s hills, but Mayar and Driesh were closer at hand (at least their undramatic southwestern slopes!). Surprisingly, I saw two other pairs of walkers further down the ridge.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2947335

I popped into Tesco for provisions on my way back to camp, and cooked and ate relatively early to be done before any rain. As it turned out, it had still barely drizzled by bedtime, so I needn’t have rushed. The campsite felt busier now, with three more tents arriving and numerous caravans and vans (but I don’t think any of them were occupied by hillwalkers!). A few light showers did come through overnight.

On Saturday morning I was well placed for a visit to Forfar Loch parkrun. This is an attractive, flat and quite fast course, once around the loch with a short extra loop at the western end to make up the distance. I was happy with my pace and was in third place most of the way but the two others who’d been hanging on my heels were able to outsprint me at the end to leave me as fifth finisher.

Afterwards, I drove up to the foot of Glen Lethnot for the day’s chosen Graham, Hill of Wirren. It was dry and clear but there was quite a chilly wind as I walked up more shooting tracks up the ridge then across rough heather to the summit. Mount Keen and Mount Battock were the most identifiable hills in the view. I continued to East Wirren, which gave better views of the Aberdeenshire coast, and descended by another ridge, pausing for a late lunch in the lee of a well-appointed but locked luncheon hut.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2948198

Sunday looked like the brightest day of the trip, so I headed to the most exciting of the hills on my to-do list, Hunt Hill at the head of Glen Esk. This was nearly an hour’s drive from Forfar, the second half of it all on the dead-end road up the glen! The car park was quite busy as it’s also the start point for the southern approach to Mount Keen. I had bagged that one from the north when I did it.

To make the most of the good weather, I took the long and scenic route, a full horseshoe around the Loch Lee skyline. This meant setting off a couple of kilometres down the valley to Glen Effock to begin. Good tracks led from there up onto Cairn Caidloch and Burnt Hill, which gave views of the craggier hills ahead. Then it was harder walking across pathless long grass and short heather all the way to the rocky spur of Craig Maskeldie. This is a fine vantage point over Loch Lee and Hunt Hill, and a good place to pause for first lunch.

It was just a short descent to a good footbridge over the Water of Unich above the impressive Falls of Damff, where I passed two girls who I think were there for the waterfall rather than the hill. A steep climb led along the top of the crags to the summit of Hunt Hill, a very fine viewpoint, particularly looking back towards Craig Maskeldie.

A short but steep descent on soft heather brought me to the Stables of Lee, where I was surprised to find actual stables that looked in recent use. Then I climbed steeply back up to the summit of Wolf Craig, where I sheltered behind one of the numerous cairns for lunch with a view of Mount Keen. It was also a good viewpoint towards Lochnagar and the snowy plateaux of Beinn a’ Bhuird and Ben Avon. There were intermittent ATV tracks and deer trods to ease progress along the flat ridge to the final summit of the day, Monawee. From just below the eastern cairn marked on the map, a newish hydro track gave a quick descent through the forest to Kirkton, followed by a short walk along the lane past Invermark Castle back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2949358

That left just two Angus Grahams for me to tackle on Monday: Cat Law and Corwharn on the west side of Glen Prosen. The cloud was lower than expected to start the day. I parked by the roadside at Easter Lednathie and was soon in the cloud as I walked up the track to Peat Shank and then up small trods to the summit of Cat Law. Once I’d visited the boundary stone, cairn and trig point, I used the compass to identify which of the many trods would lead me off the right way.

At around 550m I broke free of the cloud, which had clearly risen quite a bit since I’d set out, and had a view along the ridge to Cormaud. There was a good shooting track to follow for a while, then rough heather along the ridge of Tarapetmile and down to the top of the pass between Glen Uig and Glen Quharity. More shooting tracks led easily from there up to the summit of Corwharn, by then just about below the cloud.

I decided I’d stop for lunch whenever I found somewhere sheltered, but it turned out that didn’t happen until I’d trudged along the mostly-pathless ridge all the way over Adenaich Hill and Finlet to Broom Hill, almost the end of my walk! I did eventually find a good spot on the final descent, with a view of Long Goat across Glen Uig.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2950268

As on Friday, I had an early dinner to get my cooking done before forecast evening drizzle, and this time it was a good decision. I got an early night as I planned to be up at 6am on Tuesday, with a lot to pack into my day!

The day dawned sunny, so it wasn’t too chilly as I had breakfast and broke camp. I was on the road at quarter past seven, driving around an hour via Coupar Angus and Dunkeld to Glen Cochill, just south of Aberfeldy. I was surprised to find another car parked at the entrance of the Calliacher Wind Farm – it turned out to be a dog-walker rather than a Graham bagger! My route followed the wind farm tracks through Griffin Forest to near Loch Hoil, then shooting tracks most of the way up to the minor summit of Creag an Loch. This gave view over Loch Fender to the Graham, Meall Dearg.

A rough descent and reascent through long heather led me to the summit, with pretty good views of Ben Lawers, Schiehallion and Beinn a’ Ghlo. Then a short descent east got me back onto tracks. The guidebook’s recommended route through the forest back to the wind farm track turned out to have a fairly well-walked path and the full descent to the car took less than an hour.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2952082

Back on the road by 11:30, I stopped in Stirling for petrol, at Abington for lunch, and at Lancaster for a stretch of the legs. The final section back to Derby was delayed a bit by an accident near Warrington. Google re-routed me via the M61 and M62 to avoid the worst of the queue, but inevitably found other rush-hour queues that way. Nevertheless, I was home just after 6pm and a quick turn-around for food and a shower allowed me to head out to band rehearsal in the evening!

Overall, a productive long weekend of bagging, ticking off eight new Grahams and taking me to 126 out of 231 in total. Although the southern Cairngorms don’t have the most spectacular hills in the Highlands, they were a good choice this time as I’d seen that the weather on the west coast had been much wetter. Not long until I’m heading back up the M6, M74 and beyond, for the Gentian trip to Torridon in early May! After a good Graham fix at Easter, I expect I’ll be content mainly to revisit that area’s exciting Munros on that trip!

You can see my full photo album on Google Photos here.

This year, for the first time, my New Year week in the Highlands was a solo one. Ruth and Josh had decided they would instead stay with some of the younger Duffers, and a swarm of Dufflings, in a large holiday cottage in Glenelg on the west coast. But I don’t have sufficient tolerance for living among small children to do so for a full week, nor as close a friendship with that group, and preferred to do my own thing. I found that Aviemore Youth Hostel have a couple of private single rooms, so that was a convenient and inexpensive choice with plenty of walking options nearby to suit all weather conditions.

I drove north from Kendal on Saturday 28th, pausing at Talkin Tarn Country Park, east of Carlisle, for a parkrun on the way. I wasn’t feeling very energetic and finished in a disappointing 20:30 despite the course being a little under distance, not muddy and only slightly undulating. Nevertheless, it’s a scenic course and it was good to get a little exercise before continuing my drive.

The roads were quiet and I made good time to Aviemore, pausing in Perth for lunch, petrol and some groceries. I arrived around 3pm and was able to check in earlier than advertised. The room was basic but fairly spacious and had everything I needed, and I was pleased to find that the kitchen also had plenty of storage and fridge space to share.

Sunday’s forecast was for a moderately windy day with some rain arriving later, so I got a dawn start at Glenmore Lodge for a walk up Bynack More. While walking up to An Lochan Uaine, I passed a couple of pairs of walkers going the other way with overnight kit. We didn’t stop to talk but I assume they’d spent the night at Ryvoan bothy. The track gives easy walking and I was soon at the bridge over the River Nethy, and could see that the summit of Bynack More was clear although there was lower cloud over Cairn Gorm. After a spell of mild weather, there was almost no snow on the hills.

As I continued up the ridge path, I passed two young men descending, who had been to the summit and warned it was extremely windy. They must have started well before first light! The gusts did get extremely strong as I got higher up, but I wasn’t worried about sometimes getting blown a few paces off the path as the ground to the side was not steep. Before long I was at the summit, where I was able to find a bit of shelter behind the tors.

There were good views southeast to Ben Avon, Beinn a’ Bhuird and Beinn a’ Chaorainn, but the higher hills further west were in the cloud. I decided to pop down the ridge to the Barns of Bynack for a different vantage point, somewhat regretting that decision when it was a real battle against the wind to return to the summit! Soon, though, I was heading back down the north ridge, the wind gradually dropping as I lost height, and I was back at the car before any rain arrived.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2837131

Monday was forecast to improve to showers after overnight rain cleared. I opted to head to the Monadhliath hills, where I could bag a new Graham, Creag Liath, with the option of continuing over one or more Munros if conditions and motivation suited. I parked at the head of Glen Banchor a bit before 10am and waited a few minutes for the rain to stop as I could see brighter skies approaching. Sure enough, it did stop and I was able to avoid putting my full waterproofs on. A group of five walkers set off towards A’ Chailleach (Munro) while I waited.

Creag Liath is actually only a short detour from the standard route up the Munro Carn Dearg, so the path most of the way is pretty well-walked and there’s a helpful footbridge over the Allt Fionndrigh – essential as the rivers were in spate after the wet night. The summit gave decent views over flooded Speyside. As I could see Carn Dearg was also just about clear, I decided to continue that way.

Glen Ballach was very boggy so it was good to reach the firmer ground of the final ramp up to the Munro summit. The ridge has attractive crags on its east side. An unusual fogbow briefly appeared as cloud swirled below them.

I sheltered behind the cairn to put on an extra layer, as the wind was cold, and to consult the map. I reckoned if I walked fast I’d be able to visit the other two Munros and get back to the car before dark, so that became the plan. It’s about 8km along the ridge to Carn Sgulain, but it must be some of the easiest terrain between Munros, with no large or steep ascents or descents, and navigation made easy by a faint path and very clear line of old fenceposts the entire way.

Carn Sgulain was in mist and time was short, so I didn’t linger there, setting a compass bearing to cross the upper reaches of the Allt Cuil na Caillich northwest of A’ Chailleach. It was only a ten minute climb from there to the summit, which was just about clear with blue skies to the south of the large cairn.

It was only an hour before sunset, so I pressed on quickly, following the ridge a short distance west then descending the obvious but very boggy ATV track into the valley of Allt a’ Chaorainn. It was clear that the river was not crossable where the main path is marked, so I continued down the west bank to find the footbridge marked further downstream – somewhat hidden out of sight among trees but it’s there if you need it!

That just left 1.5km down a track to the car. I was not expecting to find a runner doing hill sprint repeats in that fairly remote spot, in the twilight ten minutes after sunset! Presumably he’d run up from Newtonmore for his workout as he was running back down the lane that way as I drove out. With the three Munros added, it had ended up being quite a long day (27km) but it was good to have made the most of the dry weather.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838191

Tuesday looked wetter, with warnings of more flooding, so I decided to climb a Graham north of Carrbridge. I parked on the B-road near Auchterteang, and set off when there seemed to be the biggest gap between showers on the rainfall radar! That worked pretty well as I got almost to the summit before the next rain arrived. Most of the ascent was on a good Land Rover track, with just a short trot along the boggy ridge to the trig point. There was a light dusting of fresh snow on the ground, unlike the previous two days, and the temperature was much lower. I got brief views of the high Cairngorms in the brightest moments.

To make a circular route, I continued along the heathery ridge to Creag na h-Iolaire, visiting a few rocky ‘cnaps’ along the way, before descending by another track to reach my outward route a couple of kilometres above Auchterteang. I had need to put on full waterproofs, but the rain had only amounted to a couple of sharp showers.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838964

I didn’t bother to stay up to see the New Year in. There didn’t seem to be any kind of celebration at the hostel as the residents who wanted to party headed into town for the purpose. More snow fell overnight, and the weather was set to improve through New Year’s Day, so I decided to head for another Munro, Meall Chuaich, which has an adjacent Graham I could include on the way up. The A9 was clear of snow so it was an easy drive up to Dalwhinnie to park in a layby around 10am. There were several other cars parked there, with one group of four just setting off – clearly a popular choice for New Year’s Day, thanks to the easy road access after snowfall I suppose.

After a couple of kilometres on the access road beside the Cuaich aqueduct, I diverted off the main Munro-baggers’ route to cross over the small hydro dam and ascend the heathery slopes the other side of the valley. That led me quite quickly to the summit of Creag Ruadh, the Graham. There were some reasonable views over Speyside, Drumochter and the surrounding hills, but all the Munro summits were in cloud.

A short descent took me to the dam of Loch Cuaich, then a short walk along tracks got me back onto the main Munro route from the bridge over the Allt Coire Chuaich. I could see the group of four, now well ahead of course, as well as a couple of solo walkers descending. The ascent was straightforward, with the snow soft and not too slippery. Sadly the summit did not clear by the time I got there, just as the group were setting off back down.

The wind was bitterly cold so I only paused very briefly at the large cairn. It was only when I was back on the track in the valley that the summit actually cleared and some decent blue patches began to appear in the sky. There were some glimpses of Ben Alder along Loch Ericht, and the large corries of Carn na Caim looked good in the snow. I was back at the car by 3pm, so perhaps starting an hour later might have given me better conditions, but 11am seems too late to start on a winter Munro day!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2839678

The Met Office thought there was a good chance of cloud-free summits by afternoon on Thursday (although the MWIS did not agree!). I decided to be optimistic and have a go at climbing Braeriach, as it would be good to visit one of the very high Cairngorm peaks during my trip. My plan was again to start at 10am and move fast to get the best of the day. There had been more fresh snow overnight, but the road up to the Sugarbowl car park was fully clear. I was surprised to find someone gritting the steps on the footpath down to the Allt Mor bridge, soon after I set off!

Initially, I was following several other sets of footprints towards the Chalamain Gap, and I hoped these would continue towards Braeriach. However, after a while I caught up with the family who had made them and it was clear that the high mountains were not their objective for the day, so I had to make my own footsteps thereafter. The boulder-filled groove of the Chalamain Gap was just as awkward in fresh snow as I remembered it from my last winter ascent of Braeriach with a few duffers 17 years earlier (to the day!). Nevertheless, I had soon clambered through without any twisted ankles and was back on the easy path down into the Lairig Ghru.

Soon after starting to ascend the other side, I reached the cloud-base at around 700m. The path was quite distinct to start off, but became invisible under the snow higher up the ridge to Sron na Lairige. From the 1180m cairn, it was pretty much white-out with navigation to the 1184m cairn and across the next bealach entirely by compass bearing and pacing. I was glad to reach the rim of Coire Bhrochain, helpfully not corniced so it was safe to use the steep edge as a navigational handrail to the summit. The right hand side of my jacket and trousers were well frosted up with ice thanks to a snow shower, blowing from the north.

It had taken nearly three-and-a-half hours to reach the top – a bit longer than I’d bargained for with the tricky navigation – so I turned straight around to get as far down as possible before dark. More pacing and bearings got me back across the bealach and Sron na Lairige and onto the right descent ridge. Although less precision was required on the descent, it felt trickier with worse visibility going into the wind!

The cloud had risen a little over the afternoon, and I started getting views over Lochan Odhar, Gleann Eineach and the Lairig Ghru when I reached around 900m (still 400m below the summit of Breariach)! By that point I had found the visible path and my own footprints (not being re-filled by the wind at that level), which sped progress the rest of the way. There was some brightness in the sky over Speyside but not over the Cairngorm hills.

I found that a few other people had walked as far as the Lairig Ghru during the day, adding to my morning footprints. It was after sunset by the time I got back up to the Chalamain Gap, so I expected that I might need my torch for the last bit of my walk. But thanks to the clearing sky and reflective white ground, I was actually able to keep walking without headtorch all the way, reaching the car at 4:30pm, 40 minutes after sunset. I hadn’t had the dramatic corrie views I’d hoped for, but I’d certainly had a large dose of Type 2 Fun and done some very useful practice of my winter navigation skills!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2840625

I fancied something less taxing for my final walking day of the trip, so on Friday I did some more Graham bagging on the Hills of Cromdale, east of Grantown. My preferred route was from Strath Avon, to the east of the hills, but that meant a fairly long drive. This ended up taking nearly an hour as, although all the roads had been ploughed after more overnight snow, they had not yet been driven enough for the grit to have full effect, and it was safest just to roll along at 30mph. I parked by the phone box at Ballcorach, rather than risking getting stuck in the unploughed car park the other side of the river.

The ascent via Knock was on a decent track to start with. This was snow-covered but a set of fresh footprints led up and down – I concluded someone had taken their dog for a walk up and run down. Beyond the end of the vehicle track was undisturbed snow, which was pretty hard work to wade through all the way up to the minor top of Carn Eachie and from there along the ridge to the first Graham summit, Carn a’ Ghille Chearr. I was surprised to pass a group of reindeer! I did not know that part of the tame Cairngorm herd actually live here on the Glenlivet estate!

It was cold in the wind and the summit was just in the mist, so I didn’t hang about before heading back south, diverging from my footprints after a while to stay on the ridge line. It was very hard going across the bealach as the snow was deeper there, generally around a foot, and the ground underneath was unfrozen and boggy. I passed another large group of reindeer here, which were happy for me to take a fairly close-up photo.

Eventually I reached the tall memorial cairn on An Sgoran, where I was surprised to see a pair of walkers coming up from the Cromdale side. They were locals making a regular visit, but only as far as the cairn. We chatted a little as we had some food in the shelter of the cairn.

Then I continued, finding shallower and firmer snow generally, to the second Graham summit, Creagan a’ Chaise, which has an even larger memorial cairn. That just left a gentle descent east through more soft and deep snow to pick up another vehicle track down to Milton, and then a couple of kilometres along the lane back to the car. The roads had cleared fully of snow by that time, knocking 15 minutes off the journey time back to Aviemore.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2841544

My plan had been to break Saturday’s drive back to Kendal with a visit to Perth parkrun, but it was cancelled due to ice. With my knee a bit sore from the snowy walking anyway, I didn’t bother to go to Faskally Forest parkrun, which did go ahead near Pitlochry (I wasn’t so motivated by a repeat location!) and was in Kendal by lunchtime. I decided to spend the afternoon and night there and spend the time with my parents rather than rushing straight home. And despite the widespread amber weather warning for snow, I found the motorways clear on Sunday morning all the way to Hilton.

Overall, a pretty good trip, bagging five new Grahams and revisiting six Munros. That takes me past the half way point on the Grahams list: 118 down, 113 to go. I reached at least one summit every day, despite the usual mixture of wet, windy and snowy Scottish winter weather. Not much sunshine this year, but still a good selection of contrasting walks with views from some of the tops. My full photo album can be found here.

As usual, I took a trip to the Highlands for the long Easter weekend, this year a solo trip staying in hostels. I travelled up as far as Mum and Dad’s house in Kendal on the Wednesday evening, and spent the night there. Then after breakfast on Thursday, I continued north to Lochgoilhead, where my first objective of the trip was the recently-promoted Graham, Cruach nam Miseag (one of the few that are below 2000ft but above 600m and thus meet the new Graham criteria).

I parked by the shore of Loch Goil at Corrow, and set off up good forest tracks, then paths up the valley to Lochan nan Cnaimh. Clouds shrouded Beinn Bheula and Beinn Lochain as a prolonged shower blew through, but the rain had stopped by the time I paused for lunch in the shelter of some crags.

Doubling back on myself to continue up the ridge, it was a sharp climb up on rough grass, soon gaining views of the summit and down to Loch Goil. I passed over a couple of minor tops on the way to the blustery Graham summit, only pausing briefly there to take in the views before seeking the shelter of lower ground. At the start of the walk, I had been in two minds whether to descend directly north or back the way I’d come. It hadn’t looked too tricky to find a way through the forest, so I opted for the direct way, but somewhat regretted it as I did end up picking my way through the brashings and pits of a deforested slope for around 1km on the approach back to the forest track, failing to locate the timber extraction track that I’d seen from below. It was good to get back on easy ground for the final part of the descent.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2565414

I then drove half an hour or so to Inveraray Hostel for the night, where the warden informed me that I was the first guest of the year, that being their first day of opening and me the first arrival. I settled into my private twin room, then walked into town to buy groceries at Co-op, enjoying the sunshine over Loch Fyne on the way back. After cooking and eating dinner, I had a relaxing evening planning for the coming days.

Friday’s weather was supposed to improve as the day went on, so I didn’t rush to get out really early. My twin objectives were the Grahams on either side of Hell’s Glen, the other side of Loch Fyne, which are both easily accessible from the top of the 200m pass. First up was Cruach nam Mult. I followed the main track up Coire No, then a timber extraction track up through a deforested area to reach the open ground northwest of the hill. Then it was a simple climb up grass to the fairly unremarkable summit, the final 100m or so being in mist. It didn’t look like the cloud would break up imminently, so I headed straight back down the way I’d come, only getting fleeting views of Loch Fyne.

Back at the road, I crossed straight over and followed the zigzagging track up the opposite side, then ascended steeply beside the burn almost to the summit of Stob an Eas, the Graham summit. There were a few rocky steps to make the climb more interesting, and the weather was brightening nicely to give views towards both Loch Goil and Loch Fyne.

It was pretty cold and windy at the summit, so I soon continued northeast along the ridge to the subsidiary top of Beinn an t-Seilich. This was a better viewpoint both up Glen Kinglas and towards the Arrochar Alps, Beinn an Lochain dominating the view to the east. I found a sheltered spot for a late lunch in the sunshine, then meandered south along the craggy crest, taking lots of photo stops as The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain came into view, and the views to Loch Goil gradually opened up to the south.

From there, it was an easy descent west down smooth grassy slopes to pick up my ascent track again at the edge of the forest below Stob an Eas.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2566337

It was about an hour’s drive to Oban, where I would stay for the next two nights. Arriving at 4pm, I had an hour to wait before check-in opened at the Backpackers Hostel, but was happy just to sit in the lounge and drink tea. Once I’d checked into the dormitory – which I was fortunate to have to myself that night – I strolled along to Tesco to pick up a couple of extra bits and pieces, then had another lazy evening.

Ganavan Sands parkrun had been on my to-do list for some time, so I was pleased to have created the opportunity to visit it on this trip. I arrived promptly and went for a warm-up jog along the first part of the course, amused by the sign warning of a steep ascent from the off. By 9:30am, 93 runners – their third highest turnout ever – had amassed. Two were very quick, well ahead of me within a few hundred metres and three minutes ahead by the end, but I managed to establish a bit of a gap between myself and fourth place. On a hilly course, I was happy to finish in just a touch over 20 minutes. The views of Mull and Morvern were excellent in the sunny spells.

After parkrun, I took a short drive north to park in Gleann Salach, the other side of Loch Etive, where my objectives were a horseshoe of three Grahams around the River Esragan. First up was Beinn Bhreac, a broad and grassy hill with an ATV track leading about half way, then rough and rather boggy grass. It had been dry so far, but I could see some dark clouds approaching as I continued to the 726m Graham summit, Mam Hael.

Appropriately, a heavy hail storm began as I left the top, and I descended rapidly towards the saddle with Beinn Molurgainn as I could hear some thunder around. Thankfully, the thunder soon stopped and I could see brighter weather approaching, so I decided it was safe to continue back up. The hail had made the ground pretty white, but did turn to rain for a few minutes before petering out. Soon I was on the Graham summit and continuing southeast towards the minor top of Meall Dearg. The various cairns along its ridge proved to be excellent viewpoints over Loch Etive towards the higher, snowy peaks of Ben Starav and Ben Cruachan, and there were a few sunny spells.

Once I’d reached Bealach Carra, it was an easy scramble up the spur to the summit of Beinn Mheadhonach, the final Graham of the day. I overtook another walker, whose footprints I had seen in the hail earlier, on the way up, but didn’t pass closely enough to speak as he had chosen a less rocky line further right. The summit gave good views towards the sea and Mull.

I descended west then northwest down rough, grassy slopes to reach the confluence of the Eas a’ Chrinlet and Eas na Gearr, where the former could be crossed on stepping stones beside an ATV ford, and the latter had a very helpful bridge. Beyond the bridge, an obvious ATV track led quite steeply up onto the opposite hillside then traversed southwest back to my start point. The attractive rocky ground of the second and third Grahams had definitely made up for the boggy first hill and unpleasant hailstorm to give a good day overall!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2567681

I had been told that I would be sharing the dormitory that night, so was surprised when nobody had turned up by the time I went to bed. Sadly, five others did arrive around midnight and disturb my sleep! Nevertheless, I was well rested by morning and decided to head to a couple of Munros, Beinn a’ Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich, which had looked good across Loch Etive the previous day. The forecast was also good, particularly for the morning, with light winds and sunshine.

Once I’d had breakfast and checked out of the hostel, I drove the half hour to Lochawe and parked by the B8077 junction, wrongly assuming that any places further along the lane were already taken. The first few kilometres were on a good hydro track up the valley, with improving views of the Ben Cruachan group to the left.

Then it was a steep and unrelenting climb of nearly 500m up the SE ridge of Beinn a’ Chochuill, significantly aided by the expected Munro-baggers’ path. The climb was essentially snow-free, but a decent cornice remained on the north side of the ridge to make the view more dramatic. I enjoyed more stunning views of Ben Cruachan as I walked west to the summit of Beinn a’ Chochuill, as well as appreciating the row of snowy peaks between Ben Starav and Stob Ghabhar to the north.

Turning back to the east, I followed the good ridge path to the second, higher Munro, Beinn Eunaich, pausing for lunch in a sheltered spot a little below the summit. As it was still quite early, I decided to continue northeast along the ridge to Meall Copagach and the Lairig Dhoireann, rather than following the masses (perhaps 15 other people that day) down the south ridge back into the valley. Although there was a lot of very steep snow on the east face of Beinn Eunaich, the descent on the ridge itself was easily negotiated without ice-axe, and the continuation was snow-free and enjoyable.

As I’d suspected, the mapped path down the valley was faint and intermittent, but it was at least well marked with cairns. Once down in Glen Strae, a few kilometres on the track and road brought me back to the car. I drove another half hour to reach Crianlarich SYHA for the night, where I was able to claim a bottom bunk in an otherwise full dorm.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2568631

My plan for my final day in Scotland had been to visit some of the Grahams above Luss, but the mountain forecasts agreed that the far south of the National Park would probably have low cloud in the morning. Instead, therefore, I decided to walk directly from the hostel up a couple of Munros, Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain.

My ascent route followed forest tracks up Coire Ardrain, escaping the forest by Creag na h-Iolaire and climbing steeply from there to gain the ridge. The views of Ben More to the left and Cruach Ardrain to the right improved as I continued south to the rocky top of Stob Garbh, and the direct route to Cruach Ardrain looked pretty intimidating with a good covering of snow. Luckily I had thought of that and planned instead to contour across the corrie to the bealach with Beinn Tulaichean and climb that hill first, a route that worked well with some large, flat snowfields to cross. I saw one other walker with his dog near the summit, where I paused for a snack.

Turning back north, I followed the ridge up to Cruach Ardrain, finding some deep snow drifts near the top but nothing requiring use of the ice axe. There were good views of An Caisteal and its neighbours to the west, as well as down into Strathfillan. To return to Crianlarich, I descended the easy ridge via Meall Dhamh (where I paused for lunch) and Grey Height, passing two other solo walkers heading up. On reaching the edge of the forest, I headed northeast to pick up the end of a timber extraction track that I could see not far below, rather than going down the very boggy rides described in the guidebook.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2570513

I was back at my car and on the road around 1:30pm and embarked on the drive back to Kendal. Despite some slow traffic through the Trossachs and in Cumbria, I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare before dinner with Mum, Dad, Ruth and Josh. I stayed the night at Mum and Dad’s.

The next morning, Ruth, Mum and I went for a stroll up nearby Farleton Fell to get some fresh air before my final couple of hours’ drive home. It must be quite a few years since my previous visit to this limestone-covered hill, and it was good to refresh my acquaintance.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2570518

My full photo album can be viewed here. Overall, a pretty good Easter trip, with three totally dry days in Scotland and the other two only showery. I had ticked off six new Grahams and revisited four Munros. I now look forward to my next Scottish trip, to Glen Shiel in late May with the Gentian Club.

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. 

As ever, I spent Spring Bank Holiday week in the Highlands. Even after all these years, it doesn’t lose any of its appeal! With Graham-bagging not always seeming the most exciting option on good-weather days, I interspersed a few new ticks with return visits to some of my favourite Munros and Corbetts, and I expect that’s how the pattern will continue through my Graham project.

To help make the Friday-night drive more manageable, I worked from my parents’ new house in Kendal that day, and was able to get away around 3pm for the drive up to Aviemore. Ruth had departed earlier in the campervan with Josh, and had warned of long delays on the M6 and A6 south of Penrith, so I decided the least bad option was to take the scenic route via Windermere and the Kirkstone Pass – not fast roads but I reached Penrith without sitting in any queues, probably more quickly and certainly more pleasantly than the alternatives!

The rest of the drive was straightforward, stopping for dinner in Perth and arriving at Cairngorm Lodge SYHA by 9pm. Once I’d checked in and chosen my bunk, I sought out Ruth and Josh in their van on the adjacent campsite to make plans for the next day. I would have camped myself but the Loch Morlich campsite is so expensive that it was £10 per night cheaper to have a dormitory bed in the hostel!

Saturday dawned overcast and breezy. The three of us headed to Aviemore parkrun, which turned out to be a very enjoyable course along the Speyside Way, with views of the Cairngorms. Until the turn-around point at half way, I shared the lead with one other runner, but he pulled up soon after that – presumably injured – and by the end I had a lead of over 90 seconds to the next runner. It had been more than three years since the last time I was First Finisher at a parkrun! Ruth finished in 6th place overall, surprisingly only 3rd woman!

Afterwards, Ruth and Josh went for a bike ride, while I opted for a high walk in the Cairngorms. I parked by the ski centre at Coire Cas and, once I’d escaped the mess of ski infrastructure, enjoyed my walk up onto the plateau via the Fiacaill ridge. A short climb then led me to the windy summit of Cairn Gorm, which became clear of cloud as I approached.

I then made the long but easy traverse to Ben Macdui, with good views over Coire an t-Sneachda and towards Beinn Mheadhoin, passing quite a few other walkers and crossing a few large snow patches. The summit was in mist, so I didn’t linger long before heading back north on the direct path back to Coire Cas. Breaks in the cloud gave intermittent views over the Lairig Ghru to Cairn Toul and Braeriach.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2266510

Back at the hostel, I showered and had a cup of tea before joining Ruth and Josh in the campervan for dinner. The Farrows and Hobbs-Ballses had also arrived and set up camp, so it was good to catch up with them too.

Sunday was the appointed day for Ruth’s Corbett completion on nearby Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which had been my own first Corbett, way back in January 2005, when a few of us from CUHWC did some winter skills training in the area! The group congregated at the Visitor Centre at 10am, including some from Ruth’s work plus a selection of Old Duffers and bagging friends, and quite a few of their young children. It was good that Amy + girls were able to join us, giving a chance to catch up with her too. My own choice of final Corbett last year, Streap, was a more typical example (i.e. largely pathless) and would not have been so family friendly!

The ascent route was straightforward, along the forest tracks to the Green Lochan and Ryvoan Bothy, then more steeply up the well-walked hill path to the summit. The day grew increasingly sunny, and we enjoyed good views of the main Cairngorm plateau. We had celebratory prosecco and lunch at the summit, very warm with barely a breeze! Then it was just a short walk down to the bealach and directly from there down paths to Glen More.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2269501

In the evening, some of the group reconvened on the beach by Loch Morlich for a relaxing barbecue in the sunshine.

On Monday, I had arranged to meet Ruth and Josh by the east end of Loch Droma – a 90-minute drive further northwest – for a walk up Cona Mheall and Beinn Dearg. When they arrived, we did a quick car faff to drop my car at our finish point, at the other end of the loch and save a little road walking at the end of the day. Then we set off north across the rough hillside to pick up a small path past Loch a’ Gharbhrain and down to the Allt a’ Gharbhrain. We had read that this river can become uncrossable in spate, but after the very dry recent weather it was a trivial crossing with a wide range of flat stepping stones to choose from!

We continued over rougher ground beside Loch Coire Lair then diagonally up the slopes of Leac an Tuadh, crossing a few steep slabs higher up to reach the foot of Coire Granda. From there, the south ridge of Cona Mheall looked a very unlikely walkers’ route but, as the book had described, the steep climb up to its crest did not involve any significant scrambling, with plenty of easy lines between the crags and buttresses. The views over Loch a’ Choire Ghranda were suitably grand as we clambered up and then traversed the narrow arete to the summit of Cona Mheall!

After lunch in the lee of some rocks on the eastern side of the hill, we continued down to the bealach, then up the well-walked path to Beinn Dearg, passing three others as we climbed – the only others we would see that day. The descent via the SSE ridge to Loch nan Eilean gave more fine views over the corrie. After another short drop down to re-cross the Allt a’ Gharbhrain, we were just left with a short crossing of Meall Feith Dhiongaig, on easy ATV tracks, to reach the car at the dam. A great day out in these dramatic hills, by a far superior route to the standard approach up Gleann na Sguaib!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2268302

We then drove the final few miles to the campsite at Ardmair Point, pausing en route through Ullapool to pick up supplies for the next few days.

Ruth and Josh decided to go for another bike ride on Tuesday, so I made it a Graham-bagging day. First on my list was Beinn Ghobhlach, a dramatic-looking hill on the peninsula between Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom. It’s only 4 miles from the campsite as the crow flies, but the drive to its foot at Badrallach required a less convenient 50-minute drive via Braemore Junction! I parked near the end of the road then set off on a rising traverse to reach the small lochans on the west ridge of Cnoc a’ Bhaid-rallaich. These, and the larger Loch na h-Uidhe and Loch na Coireig beyond, gave a great foreground to the views of Beinn Ghobhlach.

First, though, I headed up the very attractive rocky ridge to the Cnoc, which is a sub-2000-foot Marilyn in its own right, and was excited to see a couple of golden eagles flying above the bealach.

After a snack at the summit, I descended easily to Loch a’ Bhealaich before zigzagging west then east up the slopes beyond to reach the summit of Beinn Ghobhlach. The summit itself was clear, and gave sunny views inland, but a low cloud was hanging to the northwest and obscuring views further down the peninsula. This gradually lifted and cleared as I walked around the rim of Coire Dearg, and I could see clearly over the Summer Isles as I began the descent. The pinnacles of An Teallach also put in an appearance, above a layer of cloud to the south! I dropped down all the way to the coast path, then followed that back to Badrallach.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2269492

With plenty of the afternoon remaining, and plenty of energy in the legs, I broke the drive back to Ardmair with a shorter walk up another Graham, Meall Doire Faid, above Braemore Junction. My ascent route followed paths past Home Loch then up to the northern bealach before an easy scramble up the northwest ridge. The summit was unremarkable but a great viewpoint for the Fannaichs, Fisherfield, An Teallach, Beinn Dearg and Coigach. I descended more directly down the southwestern slopes to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2269498

On Wednesday, Ruth and Josh fancied a scramble around the horseshoe of An Teallach. It’s my favourite of all Scottish mountains, so I was very happy to make my third ever visit! We drove back around via Braemore Juntion to park at Corriehallie, with cloud above but an expectation that it would soon burn off. Sure enough, by the time we had walked up the track and lower slopes of Sail Liath, it was breaking up to reveal patches of blue sky. Nearing the summit of that Munro Top, we were above what remained of the cloud layer, giving some dramatic views over the Fisherfield hills, particularly Beinn Dearg Mor.

As we continued along the ridge towards Corrag Bhuidhe, the clouds dispersed altogether, exactly as forecast. The pinnacles, as usual, gave excellent exposed scrambling on grippy rock, and incredible airy views over the corrie up to the two Munro summits. We had the whole ridge to ourselves, only meeting a few others near the summit of Sgurr Fiona – they had all come up by the easier path from Dundonnell.

It didn’t take long to traverse to Bidein a’ Ghlas Thuill, enjoying the views back to the pinnacles as we went. Then we were just left with the quick descent on small paths down Glas Tholl back to the road.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2270892

Thursday was another cycling day for Ruth and Josh, and another Graham day for me. As the morning was rather grey, and expected to brighten from the south, I opted for the easier and less interesting of my two objectives first – Beinn Bhreac, above Inverlael. Good forest tracks then upland 4×4 tracks led me very easily up to 500m on the hillside, just leaving a couple of kilometres over short grass, with the help of an ATV track, to the flat 667m summit with a small lochan. The cloud was gradually rising to give glimpses of Seana Bhraigh and the Beinn Dearg hills, although their summits only came fully into view as I descended (by the same route). It was clearer over the more-distant Fannaichs though. By the time I reached the top of the forest, I could also see An Teallach to the west. Although 14km and nearly 700m ascent, the whole walk only took me 3 hours, thanks to the very easy tracks most of the way!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2272268

My second objective for the day was Beinn an Eoin, a craggy Graham just north of Ben More Coigach. My route started near the eastern end of Loch Lurgainn, where the one parking place was already taken so I had to begin 1km further up the road than planned. The map shows forest on the approach to Cioch Beinn an Eoin, but in reality it’s now just scattered trees. The ground remains very rough though, with various stump-holes evident! I was pleased to reach that eastern top of the ridge and have a late lunch break there in the sunshine.

The ridge up to the main summit of Beinn an Eoin gave superb views over Lochan Tuath to Ben More Coigach to the south, as well as north to all the other famous Assynt hills, most prominently Stac Pollaidh and Cul Beag. A steep descent and reascent led me to Sgorr Tuath, the north top, from where it was a relatively easy descending traverse south and east, around the end of the ascent ridge to reach the road and car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2272270

For Friday’s walk, I was joined by Ruth and Josh on the twin Grahams of Ben More Coigach and Sgurr an Fhidhleir, the former dominating the view north from our campsite and thus an obvious objective for the trip! To enjoy the most logical horseshoe route, we drove all the way around three and a half sides of the hill to end up at the end of the road at Culnacraig, again not far from camp as the crow flies.

An unexpectedly good path led from there up into the corrie, and making easy work of the first 300m ascent. We then traversed across the ravine of Allt nan Coisiche to reach the end of the Garbh Choireachan ridge – another one that looked daunting but just required walking and optional easy scrambling in reality. As we continued along the ridge towards the summit of Ben More Coigach, we passed one of Ruth’s colleagues’ wife and son running the opposite way – small world (although we had seen their van in the car park so it wasn’t a total surprise!).

We took the scenic detour to the viewpoint of Speicein Coinnich before continuing northwest, down and back up to the pointy summit of Sgurr an Fhidhleir, surrounded on three sides by huge cliffs. This gave splendid views of Beinn an Eoin (that I had climbed the previous day) and the other Assynt hills beyond.

Ruth’s knee was getting sore, so she and Josh descended slowly by the direct path while I took the scenic route over Beinn nan Caorach and reached Culnacraig not long after them.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2274247
We broke the drive back to camp with a stroll on the white sandy beach and dunes at Achnahaird Bay. In the evening we popped into Ullapool for fish and chips, although we returned to camp to eat them as the seafront was a construction zone with nowhere to sit!

On Saturday, Ruth and Josh opted for a short walk up Stac Pollaidh and potter around Achmelvich, while I preferred a bigger hill-day and headed further north to the triple Corbett of Quinag. My previous visit had been in showers and poor visibility, so I hoped for better views this time but was disappointed that, even with a late-ish start, the morning mist was not showing much sign of breaking up as I set off from the car park. As I climbed, bright skies above gave the impression that the cloud was not thick, but it was only in the final few metres to the summit of Spidean Coinich that I broke free into the sunshine above an inversion! Banks of cloud drifting around meant there were only fleeting glimpses of the other two Corbetts.

After enjoying the cloudscape and chattign with a few others on the summit for a while, I continued along the narrow ridge down to Bealach a’ Chornaidh, then up the broader ridge to the second Corbett, Sail Ghorm. This was similarly situated just above a sea of cloud, which enjoyed as I ate my lunch in the sunshine.

The cloud finally began to break up more significantly as I made the final traverse to the third and highest summit, Sail Gharbh, giving intermittent views of both the other tops, which continued to improve as I descended to the bealach and corrie. Returning to the car mid-afternoon, it was finally getting properly sunny. Still, I had had a much better experience on Quinag to last time, even without the hoped-for views of Canisp and Suilven.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2274248

Sunday was mostly spent on the 9 hour drive home. I got up quite early and was on the road by 7:45am and parked up just off the A9 at Lynebeg by 9am for a quick walk up the Graham, Carn na h-Easgainn. This must be one of the easiest Grahams as the ascent is only 3km and 300m climb, with a large track all the way. I was surprised to overtake two women near the summit, and not to have the place entirely to myself, particularly as the cloud was low and there were no views to be enjoyed that early in the day. They assured me that the views over Inverness were good! I think it cleared an hour or so later, as it was certainly clear everywhere by the time I was driving past the high Cairngorms. Sadly a later start was not really an option for me with the long drive to do.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2276711

The roads were flowing well and I made it home by about 7:30pm after a lunch stop in Perth and dinner stop at Sandbach services. This week will certainly live long in the memory as one of my best ever summer weeks in the Highlands – sunshine most days and never any significant wind or rain, but enough breeze in camp to keep the midges at bay! That capped with great walks on some of the finest hills in the country made it a brilliant holiday.

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here.

With Ruth and Josh taking a trip to Madeira, my regular Easter break in the Highlands was a solo one this year. Nevertheless, I used her house as a convenient overnight stopping point on the Wednesday night. That left only a two hour drive to the foot of Thursday’s objective, Queensberry, the southernmost of the Lowther Hills.

I parked by the remote farm at Mitchellslack and soon set off up the track beside Capel Burn. Once I reached ‘The Law’, I followed smaller paths and trods up onto High Church and Wee Queensberry, surprisingly topped with a trig point while the main summit is not. A couple more kilometres of steady ascent brought me to Queesnberry itself, my first Graham of the trip. It was pretty windy but the huge cairn gave reasonable shelter as I had a snack break. You could see the Lakeland fells in the distance to the south.

I had decided to pick up a couple of extra Donalds by continuing around the Capel Burn horseshoe. The ridge to Penbreck gave easy grassy walking, followed by a steeper descent and re-ascent to Earncraig Hill. From there, there were decent paths all the way to Gana Hill, a very windy spot. A bigger track made the descent back to Capel Burn quick and easy, with a helpful footbridge to aid the crossing below The Law again.

It was about half an hour’s drive to Moffat, where I had booked in for two nights at the campsite. Despite the wet spring, the grass was not at all waterlogged and was good even for driving and parking next to the tent. I strolled into town to pick up some provisions at the Co-op, then had a pleasant evening making tea, dinner, and more tea in the warm sunshine before sunset.

For Good Friday, I chose to climb the nearest Grahams to Moffat – three hills around the head of the Ettrick valley but more conveniently accessed from Moffat Dale. I parked at Sailfoot, where a convenient parking area has been made for walkers just over the bridge. Capel Fell was my first objective, easily reached by following the zigzagging forest tracks along Sailfoot Law then ATV tracks right up to the summit. There were lovely views north to the Corbetts of Hart Fell and White Coomb, looking good in the sunshine.

I followed the easy undulating ridge over White Shank then dropped down the track to Potburn and passed by the bothy at Over Phawhope – apparently quite busy with a few visitors milling around and a couple of tents set up outside. From there, a good track led me up beside the Entertrona Burn, followed by a rougher climb up steep grass onto the next Graham, Ettrick Pen. Not the most remarkable summit but the views south over the forests to the distant Lake District hills were interesting.

The ridge to Croft Head took me over a selection of Donalds and Donald Tops, turning right at the trig point on Loch Fell to drop down to the Southern Upland Way and climb steeply back up the final hill of the day. Two ladies dressed festively in bunny ears were just leaving the summit of Croft Head as I arrived! I wished them a Happy Easter but they didn’t seem to want to chat – I guess they had just finished their own break. They were to be the only two other walkers I would see on the hill for the entire six day trip!

It was an easy descent back to Selcoth and Sailfoot, marred only by squashing my fingertip quite painfully in a highly-sprung gate latch (badly bruised but not breaking the skin). After the short drive back to Moffat and refuelling stops at Gulf and Co-op, I enjoyed another evening cooking, eating and drinking at the picnic bench in the sunshine!

I got an early start on Saturday, up around 6am to have breakfast and break camp soon after 7am. My next destination was Dunoon, and I had decided to call in at Greenock parkrun on the way. I arrived in Greenock around 8:30, which gave plenty of time to pick up ferry tickets at the Co-op before heading to the esplanade for parkrun (a 9:30 start, as usual in Scotland). It was an attractive course, twice up and down the seafront, with good views over the Firth of Clyde. My improving form continued and my time of 19:22 was my fastest parkrun since January 2020. Still only good enough for 11th place out of 115 though, thanks to a strong contingent from the local running club. I didn’t hang around long after the finish, and managed to drive to Gourock in time to catch the 10:10 ferry with a few minutes to spare.

Making the most of the sunny day, I picked out a pair of Grahams to visit in the afternoon above Glen Lean. Starting at Corrachaive, I followed tracks up through the forest that, as described in the guidebooks, led further than shown on the map and brought me without difficulty to the top edge of the dense conifers. The ridge up to the summit of Cruach nan Capull was quite tussocky, but only a short climb, rewarded by views east over the Firth of Clyde and south over Bute to the Arran hills.

I had a late lunch in the shelter of a small crag, then returned northwest along the ridge to pass over Mid Hill. Once across the very boggy bealach, I and ascended fairly easily beside Cruach Neuran Burn to the hill of that name, recently promoted to be a Graham following the drop in the qualifying height to 600m rather than 2000ft. I descended by the same route, except that I struggled to find the top part of the track through the forest (even though I was certain I had left the open ground at the correct point) and ended up blundering downhill in the right general direction to pick up the path a couple of zigzags lower! It had not seemed so indistinct in ascent!

I drove back to Dunoon and checked into my Airbnb for the next three nights, a fairly luxurious second-floor one-bedroom flat with great views over the loch. I popped down to Morrisons for groceries then had a relaxing evening planning routes for the next few days and watching the ferries go back and forth.

Sunday was another bright day, although not as sunny as the previous three. I opted for the biggest available walk, visiting the Grahams of Beinn Mhor and Beinn Bheag, on the west side of Loch Eck. A few miles’ drive brought me to my starting point at Benmore Botanic Gardens. Good tracks and paths led most of the way from there steeply up onto the minor top of A’ Chruach. Then the gradient was easier for the continuation over the rocky tops of Cruachan Beag and Cruachan Mor, with increasingly impressive views of Clach Bheinn, an eastern spur of the main ridge. I followed the guidebook’s recommendation to include it in my itinerary and was rewarded with great views along the loch, particularly north towards Beinn Bheula (Corbett).

Once I’d returned to the main ridge, it was a long and gentle climb, with a helpful tailwind, all the way to the summit of Beinn Mhor, only 741m but my highest of the trip! Very strong gusts around the summit prevented me from pausing there, but I found good shelter for lunch on the descent of the impressive northeast ridge, which has several large rocky buttresses on the right hand side.

Once across the bealach, it was a fairly steep, mostly pathless climb back up the other side to Beinn Bheag via a couple of minor tops. This was another great viewpoint, particularly over the loch towards Beinn Ruadh, which I had selected as my destination for the following day. I returned to the bealach by roughly the same route (contouring around the tops) then followed rough trods down Bernice Glen to reach the forestry tracks. Once down by the shore of Loch Eck, it was an easy flat walk of about 7km back to the car.

Monday was greyer, with showers forecast, so I had chosen a shorter walk and had a more leisurely start. Still, it was quite sunny when I set off from my parking spot by the lane above Whistlefield, and I got up to the summit of Sligrachan Hill, via its East Top, in sunny spells. It’s clearly a more popular place than I expected, as there were lots of traces of path, and both these tops, and a few minor ones on the way down to the bealach, had cairns. I enjoyed the views ahead to Beinn Ruadh, and back across Loch Eck to the previous day’s hills.

As I made my way along the ridge, a light shower passed over, but the unexpected bonus was a rainbow over the loch. The ridge gave easy walking, mostly on obvious paths, past a small lochan then up to the windy summit. I paused in a sheltered spot on the way back down, and another passing shower created an even better rainbow to enjoy while I ate my lunch.

By the time I was back in the forest, it had been dry for long enough that my waterproofs had dried so I took them off. Typically, another shower passed shortly afterwards, but I managed to wait it out under some dense tree foliage, and avoid getting back to the car with wet gear.

By the late afternoon it had become sunny, so I popped out again for a stroll along the Kirn seafront, past Hafton Castle and up to Lazaretto Point and back.

Tuesday was the last day of the trip. I packed up and checked out by around 8:30am, and headed back to Glen Lean for my morning walk, up another newly-promoted Graham, Sgorach Mor. Again, the guidebooks helped me find the best route up through the forests of the lower slopes onto the open ground of the ridge. Again, my ascent was in the dry, only for a couple of heavy showers to pass over on the descent. The summit itself was the most interesting feature, being a large knoll defended on three sides by crags.

I was up and down in two and a half hours, and drove back to Dunoon to catch the ferry. The first was full though, so I had to wait an extra 20 minutes for the next. Thereafter, the drive back as far as Ruth’s was easy, with quiet roads and dry weather. After dinner, and a good chat about her trip to Madeira, I continued back to Derby, enduring strong winds and heavy rain most of the way but getting there without incident.

Overall, a productive trip, ticking off 10 Grahams, and one with mostly good weather. The Cowal peninsula proved to be a very scenic new area to explore, with good sea views from the hills despite their more modest height. I expect my next Scottish trip, at the end of May, will have more of a mix with larger hills, so it was good to get some efficient bagging done this time!

My full photo album can be viewed here, and maps of my routes at the following links:

• Queensberry
• Ettrick Fells
• Cruach nan Capull
• Beinn Mhor and Beinn Bheag
• Beinn Ruadh
• Sgorach Mor

For this year’s New Year trip to the Highlands, we had booked an Airbnb cottage in Kinlochleven, which would give us good access to the Mamores and the Glen Coe hills. In order that he and Ruth could take their bikes, and to have plenty of room for luggage and provisions in general, Josh drove us up in his van this year. The drive went well, without major delay, pausing for a supermarket shop and lunch at Morrison’s in Dumbarton. The roadsides were pretty snowy through the Highlands, but the road itself was clear.

The cottage was attractively located right at the top of the village, giving views down the loch with the Corbetts of Garbh Bheinn and Mam na Gualainn either side. Soon we had unpacked the shopping, settled into our rooms and prepared dinner for the night. We had read reviews saying the cottage was chilly in winter, but the electric heating actually proved more than capable of keeping the place cosy, with or without the assistance of the woodburning stove.

Wednesday seemed to have the best forecast of the first three days, so we elected to get out at dawn for a walk in the Mamores, fairly similar to one I’d done three years previously when Ruth and I were staying in Glencoe village, but in the opposite direction and following different ridges up and down. We started alongside the Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall before gaining the grassy south ridge of Na Gruagaichean, earning ever-improving views over Loch Leven and towards Am Bodach as we climbed.

At about 900m, we decided the snow was hard enough for crampons to be worthwhile – the long-awaited first use for Josh’s pair that had been carried in vain on numerous previous outings! We were in and out of the mist on the final approach to the summit, but had views enough of the time to get a good impression of the dramatic surroundings.

A fairly steep descent and reascent led us to the NW Top of Na Gruagaichean, perhaps a better viewpoint than the main summit. Then it was much easier walking along the broader, gentler ridge to Stob Coire a’ Chairn, with great views of An Gearanach close-by, and the Nevis range in the distance.

The traverse to Am Bodach was narrower and steeper again, and very enjoyable in the snow. The clouds dropped a bit as we made the final ascent to deprive us of a summit view though. We descended by the SE ridge towards Sgurr an Fhuarain, but dropped off southwest well before that minor top to follow a snowy gully down into the valley – much more pleasant than the rough heather either side. We ran out of snow at around 500m, so took our crampons off there before continuing down to meet the West Highland Way which led us back to Kinlochleven.

The cloud was lower on Thursday, and a few showers were forecast, but it seemed better than Friday at least. We chose to head to a Graham, Druim na Sgriodain, on the far side of the Corran Ferry. Foot passengers go free, so we parked at the east side of the ferry, which drops you right where you need to be for this hill anyway.

The first couple of kilometres were north along the lochside road as far as the burial ground at Cille Mhaodain. From there, it was a steep ascent up fairly easy grassy terrain to gain the ridge of Sgurr na h-Eanchainne. This offered good views into Ardgour and back down to Loch Linnhe.

The peak had been clear as we ascended, but was in cloud by the time we got there, so we didn’t linger long before continuing west and southwest on compass bearings past various lochans to reach the Graham summit, 4 metres higher than the more shapely Sgurr.

Descending the ridge to Meall Breac, we soon dropped back into the clear. A slightly awkward descent down a steep grassy gully brought us safely between the crags into the bottom of Coire Dubh, from where a small path led more easily down beside the waterfall of Maclean’s Towel to a transmitter mast. The sun was coming out, giving attractive views over the loch and towards Beinn a’ Bheithir. Easy tracks led the rest of the way back to the ferry.

On Friday, more persistent rain was forecast. Ruth and Josh were tired and opted for a cycle ride around Loch Leven, while I headed up the nearby Corbett, Garbh Bheinn. On my previous visit, I had taken the standard route up the west ridge, so this time the east ridge would give some variety. The rain was light but persistent as I set off up the hydro tracks into Coire Mhorair, so I soon paused to put on full waterproofs.

Once I’d reached the small reservoir at 160m, I turned more steeply up the grassy slopes to the west, and made steady but tiring progress up through increasingly-deep snow to the East Top. The Mamores to the north were mostly in cloud, but the Aonach Eagach to the south stayed clear, providing dramatic views to my left. After a short pause for a snack and to put on an extra layer, I continued up the broad, snowy ridge to the Corbett summit, which gave closer views of the craggiest parts of the Aonach Eagach, and also down the loch to the Pap of Glencoe.

I returned to Kinlochleven by the same route, the light rain never really stopping or getting heavy enough to give me a soaking, and my footprints (the only ones) making the navigation quick and straightforward! On reaching the cottage, I was surprised to find Ruth and Josh just setting out for a stroll up to a nearby waterfall, having abandoned their cycling plan due to the rain being too heavy. Clearly it had been worse in the valley than on the hill!

Saturday, New Year’s Eve, had the best weather forecast of the trip, with light winds and high cloud predicted. But we were pleasantly surprised when we got up to see that the skies were in fact cloudless! This confirmed our intention to have a go at a circuit of Bidean nam Bian, one of the more challenging peaks in Glen Coe. It was about half an hour’s drive to the start point at the Three Sisters viewpoint, where we set off a bit before sunrise but in good light. The path down to the river and up the other side into Coire Gabhail – the ‘Lost Valley’ – was mostly dry and unexpectedly ice-free, making for easy progress.

Once we’d escaped the narrow gorge, it didn’t take long to cross the flat, rocky bed of the hanging valley above and reach the snowline. After a short detour up the wrong side of the river to realise we were separated from the path by an uncrossable gully, we retraced our steps a short distance to get back on track and continue up through ever-deepening and steepening snow. The crust at lower levels was mostly firm enough to take my weight and Ruth’s, but not so often Josh’s!

There were clearly no rocky obstacles on the route up the snow all the way to the bealach at the head of the corrie, but we could not really tell whether there was a significant cornice to cross there. I led the way, breaking the trail and kicking steps where needed! Ruth put crampons on part-way up, and Josh and I followed suit a bit later. The final section was as steep as I’m comfortable ascending without a rope, but the snow was pleasantly solid and it never felt like the foot or ice-axe placements might give way. The final metre or so turned out to be a softer cornice, but not quite vertical, and solid enough to climb over the top rather than having to cut a route through. It had been tiring work though, and I was relieved to reach the easy flat ground above, particularly when the views in all directions were such a magnificent reward! I took a few photographs and offered what advice I could as Josh and then Ruth followed me up.

Once we’d all gathered our breath and had some refreshments, we continued the walk up the easy (but very snowy) ridge to the first Munro, Stob Coire Sgreamhach. This was a super viewpoint over the two Buachailles to the east, and back over the bealach to Sgurr na h-Ulaidh and Bidean nam Bian itself.

We returned to the bealach then ascended easily the other side to reach the main summit of Bidean, revealing more incredible views over Stob Coire nam Beith to the west. We were amazed that nobody else had come up that day, our footprints being the only blemish in the deep, pristine snow.

The ridge onward to Stob Coire nan Lochan had the deepest snow yet, a little softer where it had accumulated on the north side of the hill, but didn’t provide any real obstacles to progress. Soon we were at that final Top, where we met a climber who had just come up by one of the easier gullies on the north side. It turned out there were quite a few climbers there, although none had made the continuation to Bidean.

It did mean we had plenty of tracks to follow for a quick descent down into Coire nan Lochan to gain the path back down into Glen Coe. An enjoyable end to perhaps the best winter day I’ve had in the Highlands. In the evening, we enjoyed Toad in the Hole and Sticky Toffee Pudding for our Hogmanay dinner, but were tired from a bit day and decided not to stay up to see in the new year.

On New Year’s Day, it looked like the best of the weather would be on the coast, so we picked the two Munros of Beinn a’ Bheithir as our objective. We started in Ballachulish and set off south up Gleann an Fhiodh. Light rain fell to start with, but soon petered out to nothing, and it stayed dry from then on. A well walked path leads up onto the ‘Schoolhouse Ridge’, the NE ridge of Sgorr Bhan.

We gained height steadily in just a thin covering of fairly grippy snow, and after a while reached the scrambly section. The crux step proved to be quite a major obstacle in winter conditions! Josh clambered up with some difficulty in his boots, and recommended that Ruth and I put our crampons on before attempting to follow. Ruth’s regular climbing experience helped her get up too, but I was less confident, chickened out and took an easier line by grassy ledges around the south side instead. From there on, the route was more straightforward, the rocky steps having a better covering of snow on the ledges which thus felt a lot more secure under the crampons!

We had entered the cloud part way up, and didn’t get any unrestricted views as we continued along the ridge, slightly down and back up to the first Munro, Sgorr Dhearg, then more significantly down and back up to the second, Sgorr Dhonuill.

There we met two men whose footsteps we had been following since the summit of Sgorr Bhan, and chatted briefly before they continued. We had lunch on the summit, then returned to the bealach and descended easy snow slopes to the north into the corrie. Ruth found a small, well-built path that avoided the boggy ground and felled forestry on the book route. Then the final few kilometres were an easy march, gently downhill on forest tracks back to the village.

On Tuesday, we sadly had to head home. It was a sunny morning, so we had lots of awesome views to enjoy as we drove back up Glen Coe and over Rannoch Moor to Crianlarich and along Loch Lomond. Conditions got steadily less snowy as we continued south through the Southern Uplands, and there was barely any snow in sight in the English hills of the North Pennines and Lake District. The final drive home from Ruth’s house to Derby wasn’t a good one, with significant bank holiday traffic clogging the M6, but I made it eventually and without incident, with a few hours spare to get the laundry and unpacking sorted before bed and the return to work.

In summary, five excellent, contrasting days on the hill. I revisited seven Munros and a Corbett, and bagged one new Graham. Very atypically of recent New Year trips, the wind was never strong and the rain never heavy! The crampons and ice axe saw more use than they have for years, with quality winter days on the Mamores and Beinn a’ Bheithir, and of course the undoubted highlight of that perfect New Year’s Eve walk up Bidean.

Maps of our routes are available at the following links:
– Na Gruagaichean to Am Bodach
– Druim na Sgriodain
– Garbh Bheinn
– Bidean nam Bian
– Beinn a’ Bheithir

My full photo album can be found here.

As has become my routine, I spent a solo autumn week in the Highlands. As I was coming from Snowdonia at the end of Gentian meet, I didn’t really fancy driving too far north, and settled for an extended stay at SYHA Crianlarich. This gave plenty of options for bagging new Grahams or returning to interesting Munros, according to weather and preference.

Having stayed at Ruth’s house on the Sunday night, it was only about a three-hour drive up on Monday morning. I parked in Glen Douglas to tackle the pair of Grahams on the north side, Tullich Hill and Beinn Bhreac. I had driven through a heavy shower minutes earlier on the shore of Loch Lomond, but started the walk in bright sunshine! Very long and tussocky grass made for hard going on the first ascent, so I was glad when the gradient finally eased near the summit. It was interesting to look back over the glen and see the 56 grass-rooved magazines of the ‘Defence Munitions’ facility, not shown on the OS Map! The reward at the summit was a good view over Loch Long to the Arrochar Alps.

Thankfully the grass on the descent to An t-Sreang and reascent to Ben Reoch was shorter. A few drops of rain fell as I ascended, but the worst of the shower missed me and blew down Glen Douglas. I had lunch in the shelter of the summit rocks, with a view over Loch Lomond, then continued along the gentle ridge to Beinn Bhreac, which had some interesting crags – probably a landslip – near the top. That just left an easy descent on an ATV track down the grass to Invergroin. Then it was only a short drive to Crianlarich, where I checked into the hostel before picking up provisions at the village shop.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2059159

Tuesday was forecast to be a more showery day with persistent cloud at around 700m, so I opted for Graham-bagging again, hoping to stay mostly low enough to have a view. I drove up to Tyndrum then west down Glen Lochy to Corryghoil, where I found plenty of parking space at the start of the track into Succoth Lodge, as well as signs for hydro and electrical works up the valley. I hoped that these would not disrupt my plans.

Although my walk started in the dry, I had had to don my full waterproofs within a few minutes as a heavy shower passed – a repeat pattern for the day. The mixed woodlands around the Eas a’ Ghaill were attractive with the early autumn colours, with easy walking on the tracks to Succoth Lodge, then very boggy walking on the traversing track south. Eventually it became indistinct and I lost it entirely, and was glad shortly afterwards to pop out onto the firebreak that would lead up towards my first objective, Meall nan Gabhar. It turned out that a large new track had recently been built up this firebreak, for maintenance of the electricity pylons that run up it and over the moors above. This made for much quicker and dryer progress than expected! Many of the pylons had men working up them on ropes – clearly a major project given the number of personnel involved and the size of the access track.

Once I was past the main northern buttresses of Meall nan Gabhar, I struck up to the right to make my way steeply up to the ridge, a climb that was, as the guidebook had remarked, easier than it looked! A bit below the ridge, I was into the cloud, so I didn’t hang around for long as I passed over both tops and then Meall nan Tighean. Another shower passed over as I descended west towards the forest. This section unexpectedly gave the best views of the day, with Meall nan Gabhar looking quite impressive from among the trees, and also intermittent views towards Beinn na Sroine to the north, and Beinn Bhuidhe to the south.

It was helpful that I had checked the layout of the forest tracks in advance on plotaroute, as there were quite a few changes since my Landranger map was printed! Once out of the forest, the climb up to Beinn Bhalgairean was straightforward but pretty unmemorable, back in the mist, as was the easy walk out to the road along the forest tracks.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2059797

Wednesday was forecast to start wet but clear to give a bright and calm afternoon, so I got a late start, around 10am, for my biggest walk of the week. My first objective was the Graham, Fiarach, above Dalrigh, where I parked. The walk up was damp but easy, along forest tracks beside the attractive rivers (in spate!) then ATV tracks up the hillside and various trods along the ridge. I was in and out of the mist, so didn’t get many distant views, but the summit itself featured an unusual protruding rock dyke, running several hundred metres across the moor.

The going got increasingly boggy and tussocky as I continued south then northwest to the bealach with Beinn Dubhchraig, so it was actually a relief to reach the short grass of the steep 500m climb back up. A clearer spell had given me decent views as I ascended, but a heavy shower arrived just as I reached the Munro summit and obscured the views ahead. At this point, of course, I met the well-walked Munro-baggers’ path, which at least meant I didn’t have to think too hard about the navigation towards Ben Oss. By the time I was down at the bealach, the shower had passed and it was getting sunny. Beinn Dubhchraig, Loch Oss and Ben Oss looked particularly good, glistening after the rain! A couple passed me going the other way, returning from Ben Oss having bagged it and Beinn Dubhchraig, and we chatted briefly.

Another brief shower brought a drop in the cloud-base as I started to descend from Ben Oss, and I needed to use the compass for a few minutes, but cleared out again a few minutes later. I enjoyed the views down Coire Laoigh, and towards the previous day’s first hill, Meall nan Gabhar, the other side. Ben Cruachan also came into view from the summit of Ben Lui, as did the Crianlarich Munros beyond Ben Oss.

I lingered for a while on the summit taking photos and enjoying the scene, then descended by the well-walked path down the northeast ridge and into Coire Gaothach, then down beside the burn to pick up the track all the way back through Cononish to Dalrigh, finishing around half an hour before dark. It had been a great decision to start late and persevere through the morning mist and heavy showers!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2060686

The next day had the opposite forecast, with a dry morning then rain pushing in, so I started promptly for a walk up the nearby Munro, Beinn Challuim. I found a route on walkhighlands that seemed more attractive than the guidebook route, going up via Gleann a’ Chlachain and the northwest ridge. Starting at Auchtertyre, the first few kilometres were easy walking up the track through the glen, with some low cloud patches enhancing the view back into the valley and towards Fiariach (the previous day’s Graham). A very boggy crossing of the glen followed, up to the nearly-600m Bealach Ghlas-Leathaid, right at the head of Glen Lochay.

Soon after that, I entered the mist, which was broken here and there but never cleared the summit properly. Nevertheless, the ridge was an enjoyable one, with a few dramatic slabs to climb up/around and some sections of easy scrambling on the crest. With glimpses of blue sky above, but no horizontal view, I didn’t linger long on the summit, setting off down the standard route towards Kirkton and bearing right further down, away from the path, to return instead to Auchtertyre. By the time I’d driven back to Crianlarich, the rain had arrived – well timed!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2061559

Showery, windy weather was the theme of the rest of the trip! Friday seemed like it offered two relatively good weather windows, early and late, with a front passing over in the middle of the day. I bagged a Graham in each! The morning choice was Beinn Damhain, above Inveranan. The hydro track into Lairig Arnan made for an easy ascent to 350m or so, with the occasional shaft of sunshine breaking through in the east, but fairly persistent light rain falling. Then the burn up to Lochan Beinn Damhain, followed by the surprisingly rocky northeast ridge, made a pleasant onward route to the summit, just about clear of mist despite the rain. Ben Vorlich was intermittently clear in the view to the south. I returned to the car the same way.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062408

I kept an eye on the rainfall radar through the early afternoon and then set out around 3pm for my second walk, up Meall Odhar, west of Tyndrum. This time the lower slopes were climbed with the help of a zigzagging track through the old lead mines on Sron nan Colan. The views in all directions gradually improved as it got sunnier, and once on the ridge I could see Ben Oss and Ben Lui up the Cononish glen. The ridge to the summit gave pretty easy walking, with a path forming in a few sections – clearly this is one Graham that does get visited fairly regularly thanks to its convenient location. A little light rain unexpectedly returned as I descended the same way back to Tyndrum.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062410

The dryest part of Saturday was the middle of the day. With conditions looking less bad further east, I chose to walk up another Graham, Creag Gharbh, south of Loch Tay. Starting just outside Killin, most of the ascent is very easy, on a tarmac hydro road up to Lochan Breaclaich, then a good gravel track to within half a kilometre and a 100m ascent of the summit.

The views over the expansive, flat moors to the south and east were fairly unremarkable, so the highlight of the day was definitely the summit view along Loch Tay, even though Meall nan Tarmachan and Ben Lawers the other side were not clear at that point. I continued to the eastern top of Meall Odhar, then dropped back down to the track and followed it back to the car. Above the forest, I did briefly get views of the Munros, and could see that there was a little snow above about 1100m! Then rain returned as I made the final descent through the forest.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062998

Sunday would actually have offered a nice, sunny afternoon, but the necessity of driving home meant that I only had the morning available for walking. Still, I did get some sunny spells and only intermittent spots of rain on my short walk from the Glen Ogle pass up to Meall Buidhe. I followed a track up through the forest to a transmitter, then headed across the moor southeast to the summit, which gave good views south over Loch Earn to Ben Vorlich.

Continuing north to Beinn Leabhainn, I was rewarded with views Meall nan Tarmachan and Ben Lawers, with the snow-line now down having dropped to around 800m. Once I’d sat admiring it for a few minutes, sheltering behind the summit cairn from the very strong wind, I made the short descent back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2063903

The drive home went pretty well, pausing for lunch at Abington and only delayed a few minutes by the roadworks south of Lancaster. Not a great week weather-wise, with no entirely dry days, but I feel I made good use of the less wet and windy periods. Nine new Grahams and four revisited Munros seems a reasonable haul, all things considered!

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LtJ68jU27huBUjWN6

With Covid no longer restricting movements and gatherings, it was more-or-less back to normal for Spring Bank Holiday week this year, with a camping trip to the Highlands. What wasn’t normal was that a few friends were joining me for the start of the trip for my long-awaited final Corbett!

One long-term benefit of Covid has been the introduction of the option to work from home (although I rarely choose to do so!). Defining Ruth’s house as home for the day helped get my trip off to a good start by putting me north of the Manchester traffic before the Friday rush hour. Consequently, I had a good drive up to the Highlands, with a pause for dinner at the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum, arriving in Glen Nevis to set up camp at around 8pm. With Alison and Iain not due to arrive until late evening, I headed to the pub for the rest of the evening to read and plan for the week’s walking.

Saturday was quite a bright day. Alison is also bagging Corbetts, and had proposed we walk up two Ardgour hills south of Glenfinnan. Ruth and I had done those two in combination with a third Corbett, so the shorter walk gave the opportunity for a different horseshoe with a totally new descent route for me. We parked by the bridge at Callop and set off south along the track. Soon it was time to turn off the valley path and head up the ridge of Meall na Cuartaige – pathless but fairly easy going with good views south into Ardgour. Once over the minor top, we continued up the ridge to the day’s first Corbett, Sgorr Craobh a’ Chaorainn.

From there, it was a fairly easy traverse along the ridge to Sgurr Ghiubhsachain, with a few steep slabs to negotiate towards the top. The summit gave excellent views over Loch Shiel into Moidart.

We descended the rocky north ridge to the fishing complex at Geusachan, then followed the tracks along the loch shore and through the forest back to Callop.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1922867

Once back in camp in Glen Nevis, and showered and changed, it was not long before my other guests started to arrive: Jeff, Helen and Ashleigh having paused for the night in the Southern Uplands and broken their drives by Loch Lomond and in Glen Coe; Ruth and Josh having done a walk up Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothaidh on the way up; Alan having driven across from Edinburgh after a morning parkrun. Jeff and Helen had offered to host a barbecue by their campervan (formerly Dave and Jo’s!), which gave a good chance for everyone to meet and eat together.

Sunday was Corbett completion day. We decided to be green and travel together in two cars to Gleann Dubh Lighe, starting the walk just after 9am and glad to get moving out of the midges after faffing with boots and gaiters in the sheltered forest car park. The first few kilometres were on large tracks up the valley, with a short pause to look around the bothy before continuing up to the bridge at the head of the mapped track.

From there, it was a fairly steep and unrelenting climb of 600m or so up short grass all the way to the ridge at Meall an Uillt Chaoil. Some found it tougher than others, but we all reconvened on that first top, taking the chance to admire the views south to Loch Shiel and the previous day’s Corbetts, and west over the less-often-seen Loch Beoraid. The ridge ahead to Streap, over the intervening top of Stob Coire na Cearc, was also impressive.

We made our way north along the undulating ridge, pausing for a lunch break on Stob Coire nan Cearc, and before too long were on the final grassy arete approaching the summit. Having had a few spots of rain on-and-off as we climbed, it was great that the sun came out for a few minutes on the summit as we enjoyed champagne in plastic cups and took a few photos.

Once we’d savoured the moment, aware that our dinner was booked for 6pm in Glen Nevis, we pressed on along the easier ridge east to Streap Comhlaidh, which just required a short re-ascent. Then it was a steep grassy descent back into the valley, thankfully quite pleasant underfoot with more short grass and no major tussocks or awkward bog. An ATV track led us back to the bridge and the firmer tracks from there back to the cars, which we reached at around 6pm. We called the Glen Nevis Restaurant to check that they would be happy to hold our booking, and headed straight there. A good hearty and sociable meal to end the day and conclude the celebrations.

Streap had proven to be a great choice of final hill – a fine day’s hillwalking, typical of the best of the Corbetts, with dramatic views in all directions , and not particularly difficult ground – enough to challenge the less experienced of my companions but to be unmanageable for them.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1922876

Most of the others departed on Monday morning: Jeff and Helen back home; Ruth and Josh towards Arisaig for a few days; Alan up to Glen Shiel and Glen Elchaig for a couple of days more Corbett-bagging. Ashleigh wanted a rest day, so I left her with a suggestion to visit the viaduct and memorial at Glenfinnan, and went off myself to bag a couple of Munro Tops northeast of Aonach Mor.

I started my walk at the Nevis Range ski / mountain biking centre, which I had visited for Fort William parkrun at Easter. The first couple of kilometres were zigzagging up the forest tracks. Then, as the gondola had not yet opened for the day and there were not yet any downhill bikers, I walked up the lower part of the black trail to easily escape the forest and get onto the ridge of Meall Breac. From there it was a fairly easy ascent, parallel with the bike route, with some good views over Loch Linnhe and towards Carn Mor Dearg, and on up to the lift station.

From there, I improvised a route traversing east across the ridge of Aonach an Nid and then through the valley to gain the ridge of Tom na Sroine. This gave easier going up to its 918m summit, the first of my Munro Top objectives for the day. The walking was rockier, with dramatic crags on the left hand side, for the continuation up to the second Top, Stob an Chul-Choire. There were impressive views of the Grey Corries to the east, and of the eastern crags of Aonach Mor, with many snow patches remaining, to the west.

Once over the Munro Top, the final bealach gave very dramatic views south towards Aonach Beag, the summit of which was stuck resolutely in cloud all day. I hadn’t been sure what to expect of the final climb up to Aonach Mor. It proved to be straightforward, mostly on short grass, easily avoiding a couple of snow patches and with a little mild scrambling in places, emerging very close to the summit cairn. I continued west a few paces to enjoy lunch overlooking Carn Mor Dearg and the north face of Ben Nevis, watching a shower approach over Glen Spean as I ate!

Soon after I continued walking, the shower arrived, and at 1200m turned out to be of snow rather than rain! It was only light though, and only lasted 10 minutes or so. I followed the ridge down over rough ground, back to Meall Breac and parallel with the bike track (now in light use) back down to the car park. Another good day out, actually more interesting and less awkward tops than I’d expected! I bet very few of the visitors to Aonach Mor make the detour to those ones!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1922883

In the evening, Ashleigh and I cooked in camp then went to the pub for the rest of the evening. The next morning, she was feeling energetic enough for a short walk. I suggested we take a bit of a road-trip west onto the Ardnamurchan peninsula, where I had had my eyes on the short walk up Ben Hiant for some time! We took a scenic drive along the coast to the Corran Ferry, then over to Strontian and along the shore of Loch Sunart, pausing in Salen for photographs.

A few more miles along the minor road brought us to a good viewpoint over the beach at Camas nan Geall to Ben Hiant, which was grassier than I expected of a geologist’s mecca! It was not much further up the road to the highest point of the pass, from where we started our walk. A path gave easy walking all the way up the ridge to the summit. Sadly, although we started in the dry, light but persistent rain soon came over and lasted for an hour or so, until a bit after we’d left the summit. We had better views on the descent when it cleared out again, particularly north towards Rum and Eigg, and Skye in the distance.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1926556

Once back at the car, we continued west to the end of the road and had a look around the lighthouse at the end of the headland – the most westerly point on mainland Britain. The sun was shining by this point, giving great views over the sea to the islands, and we enjoyed an ice cream at the café before starting the drive back to Glen Nevis. We passed through a pretty torrential rainstorm on the way from Acharacle to Lochailort though! In the evening, we didn’t feel like cooking in the rain so went out for a curry in Fort William, then back to the pub for hot chocolates.

Ashleigh departed home on Wednesday morning, and I also packed up camp ready to set off on a one-night backpacking expedition from Glen Elchaig over a few new Grahams and Munro Tops. After a quick stop at Morrison’s to buy provisions, a couple of hours’ drive brought me to my starting point at the head of the road at Camas-luinie to set off walking just before noon.

My first objective was Carnan Cruithneachd, a steep and rocky Graham on the south side of the valley. Rather than follow the track up and then have to ford the wide river, I followed the south bank of the river right up as far as the Allt Ban an Li-ruighe, and was surprised to find a fair path even beyond the house at Coille-righ – a good choice! Once easily across that tributary stream, I struck diagonally uphill to pick up the stalkers’ path making a rising traverse around the west of the hill – clearly very little used but easily visible on the ground and still a good aid to progress. There were good views back down the valley.

The final approach to the summit was pathless but fairly easy over short heather, with attractive crags to weave through. The summit itself gave excellent views in all directions, and I could see most of the ground I would cover on the remainder of my expedition over the Munros of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan and An Socach.

After a late lunch, I continued by dropping southeast over the moorland to reach the path over Bealach na Sroine, which I followed down to the Abhainn Gaorsaic above the Falls of Glomach. Sadly I didn’t get any views of the falls this time, and I didn’t fancy a detour with already a strenuous route planned. It wasn’t tricky to cross the river above its confluence with the Allt Coire-lochain, after which it was a fairly steep and tiring climb up grass onto the ridge of Creag nan Clachan Geala. I followed the ridge all the way up to my next objective, the West Top of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan (a new Munro Top for me), enjoying the views into Kintail.

By the time I’d made the pleasant traverse over to the Munro summit and back, it was around 6pm, and I still had a few miles and undulations to cover to reach my planned camp, but the evening was brightening and of course there were many hours of daylight still available so that didn’t matter.

The ridge north included three more new Munro Tops: Stuc Bheag, Stuc Mor and Stuc Fraoch Choire, offering good views over Coire Lochan and Loch a’ Fhraoich-choire as well as back up to the Munro. A localised shower passed over An Socach but thankfully missed me by some distance! I continued over the lower tops of Creag Ghlas and Sgurr na h-Eide before dropping down fairly steeply to camp near the summit of the pass past Loch an Droma – a very secluded spot where I expected to see nobody all night and was not disappointed! There was some good soft, dry grass for camping, a good stream for obtaining water, and not many midges.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1926558

After a good night’s sleep, I was up fairly early the next day and all packed up by 7:40am. It was only a short climb north to my next objective, the Graham, Carn na Breabaig – not a dramatic hill but a good viewpoint over Glen Elchaig and Loch Mullardoch in particular.

As the weather was sunny and calm, I decided to take the longer option and walk up to An Socach rather than traversing its slopes. Some hints of path made the going easier on the fairly long ascent, and the effort was rewarded by more excellent views in all directions, including of Skye and Torridon in the distance.

A large descent and small re-ascent brought me to my final hill of the expedition, An Cruachan, which must be one of the remotest Grahams. It’s a great wild viewpoint over Loch Monar and the bigger hills beyond, particularly in the sunshine I was enjoying that day.

That just left the long walk back out through the valley, gently uphill initially to Loch Mhoicean in the saddle. As I descended to Iron Lodge, I was surprised that another walker dropped onto the path from the slopes of the Corbett, Aonach Buidhe. He had cycled most of the way in and stashed his bike at the lodge. For me, it was an easy but long-feeling 12km of track walking all the way back to Camas-luinie.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1926564

Back at the car, I drove the short distance down the glen to Ardelve, where I set up camp for the night before heading off to nearby Drumbuie to catch up with Amy for an hour or so, as she hadn’t been able to find childcare to enable her to attend my Corbett completion. I picked up a take-away pizza for dinner on my way back to camp on what became a disappointingly damp evening!

Friday was the final day of my trip. I packed up promptly as I wanted to fit in a short walk as well as the long drive home. The beautiful morning merited a short pause at Morvich to take a photograph over the loch.

About 90 minutes later I was back at Fort William, and a few minutes more brought me to Inchree, just near the Corran Ferry. My objective was the Graham, Beinn na Gucaig, which was an easy walk up and down the gentle southwest ridge, surprisingly featuring a small path most of the way! There were more good sunny views over Loch Linnhe and towards Glen Coe.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1927815

The drive home went smoothly, stopping for a break and dinner at Ruth’s house and reaching Hilton by 9pm. All set for a weekend of brass banding to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee!

In conclusion, a super week in the Highlands with lots of the good weather that I associate with Spring Bank Holiday trips but cannot be relied upon! It was great to reach the end of my Corbett project with a dramatic walk up a fitting final hill with a good group of friends, even if most of my formerly-regular hillwalking companions aren’t available for such things at the moment thanks to having young children to entertain! Looking to the future, ticking off six Munro Tops in the week leaves me with only four left (all scrambles: three on Skye and one on Liathach), and four new Grahams takes me to 60 in total. I guess the Grahams will be my main Scottish project for the next ten years or so!

My full photo album can be enjoyed here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CXbkv6EyRFDwCQzW7

I took a couple of days off work to join Ruth for a six-day long-weekend Easter break in the Highlands, based at the campsite in Roybridge. A prompt finish at work on the Tuesday afternoon and favourable traffic conditions got me into camp at a fairly civilised 10:30pm. I was glad that Ruth had arrived earlier and got the tent set up before it had started raining though!

On Wednesday, the forecast was for a grey start, with the cloud gradually lifting off the higher summits. We decided to start the trip with a walk on the Creag Meagaidh range, the main bagging objective being the far eastern Munro Top, Stob Coire Dubh. We ascended by the main Munro-baggers’ path up Carn Liath, entering the cloud at around 800m, then followed the easy-angled ridge down and back up to the Munro Top, also in the cloud but at least offering some kind of view over its corniced eastern corrie.

We retraced our steps to Carn Liath, crossing a couple of large snowfields, then continued west over various other tops to the second Munro, Stob Poite Coire Ardair. We used our ice axes for security on a couple of the steeper slopes, but did not need crampons on the fairly soft snow. Even down at the bealach known as ‘The Window’, we had not dropped out of the cloud, so we opted to descend via Coire Ardair rather than head up onto Creag Meagaidh itself. A good covering of snow in the head of the corrie made for an enjoyable descent, breaking free of the cloud after a while to reveal impressive views of the celebrated cliffs and gullies to the south. From there, it was easy path walking all the way back to Aberarder.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1877040

We drove to Fort William to pick up supplies for the week at Morrison’s, before returning to camp for the night.

The next day, the forecast cloud level was lower, so we chose a route that would keep us fairly low for much of the day, but still tick off a Munro Top on Beinn Eibhinn. We caught the morning train from Roybridge station in to Corrour, and spent the next couple of hours walking along the south shore of Loch Ossian, with good views over the water to Beinn na Lap, and up the lower parts of Uisge Labhair.

From there it was a fairly steep climb up to the Munro Top, Meall Glas Choire, which was just in the cloud. We continued up the ridge to the summit of Beinn Eibhinn, crossing a few more large snow patches on the way, then retraced our steps and descended via Mullach Coire nan Nead (which I had visited previously). Part way down from there to the minor top of Creagan an Amair, we dropped back out of the cloud, to reveal the best views of the day, over Strath Ossian and Loch Ossian.

Once back at the Lodge, it was just a few miles of easy track walking back along the north side of the loch to the station. We arrived with a little over half an hour to spare before the mid-afternoon northbound train was due, and it turned out to be running about half an hour late anyway. Nevertheless, we were soon back in Roybridge to cook and then head to the pub for an evening drink.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1877046

The weather looked more promising again on Friday, with a 90% chance of cloud free Munros by late morning, so we decided to head up onto the Grey Corries, where I needed to bag another two Munro Tops. Driving up the Lairig Leacach track a mile or so beyond Corriechoille meant the initial track approach wasn’t too long. It seemed a long way up the broad northern slopes to Stob Coire Gaibhre, in the cloud again. From there, the gradient and terrain was much easier up the ridge towards Stob Choire Claurigh. A little short of the summit, we diverted off the main ridge to follow the easterly spur to Stob Coire na Ceannain, the other Top I needed to bag. This ridge offered pleasant easy scrambling and a good feeling of exposure despite the lack of visibility! Luckily there was no snow on the crest to make it tricky.

Having returned to the main ridge, it was only a few minutes’ further climb to the first Munro. Disappointingly, the cloud didn’t show any sign of clearing as we continued west over the various tops to the second Munro, Stob Coire an Laoigh, but the well defined rocky and snowy crest of the ridge made for an enjoyable walk anyway.

The wind was a bit too chilly to linger for a long time in hope of improvement, so we descended north via Beinn na Socaich, intermittently breaking out of the cloud there to give some views over the corniced eastern crags. An easy descent of the northern slopes and a more awkward crossing of the Allt Choimhlidh below the small hydro dam brought us back onto the forestry tracks that led back to the car. Even by then, the cloud hadn’t properly cleared the ridge, with only a couple of the lower saddles appearing below the cloud base. Better luck next time!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1877049

Saturday was another day with a better forecast in the afternoon. That meant there was plenty of time in the morning for me to take the short trip to Nevis Range for a run at Fort William parkrun. This is an attractive course on the forest tracks and trails, mostly downhill in the first half but inevitably mostly uphill to the finish!

Afterwards, we opted to head to nearby Graham, Cnap Cruinn. We had previously walked half way up one very wet and windy early-January day a few years ago, so hoped for more favourable conditions to motivate us to complete the ascent this time! It turned out to be the clearest afternoon of the trip so far, with most of the surrounding Munro summits clearing at least some of the time. The hill was just high enough for the summit ridge to offer easy walking on short heather, so we made the effort to walk along to the northern end and enjoy the views before descending back to Inverlair.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1877052

On Sunday, we had another leisurely morning in the campsite, reading and relaxing as the weather improved. Around 11am, I set off up the valley for walk over the two attractive Grahams south of Loch Laggan, Binnein Shios and Binnein Shuas. Ruth was suffering with a sore knee so opted for a proper rest day. I was surprised to find that the layby at the foot of the track into Corrour was almost full – popular with mountain bikers I think.

I followed the advice in the Graham guidebook and headed for the further peak first, following the forestry tracks around the back of Loch Laggan before making the very rough ascent through tussocky grass onto the ridge of Binnein Shios. As I got above the bealach, the ground improved a little, but it was still quite hard going all the way to the top, with lots of dispiriting false summits! It was worth it for the views over Loch Laggan to Creag Meagaidh though, as well as over Lochan na h-Earba and along the ridge to Binnein Shuas.

I found slightly better trods on the way down to the col, and the re-ascent the other side was on easier grassy ground. Good visibility made it easy to determine the best route up between the large crags onto the upper terraces of the second hill, which had lots of interesting rocky outcrops to appreciate, and good views back to Binnein Shios. It was only a short descent west to rejoin the track to the car, and the full descent took less than an hour.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1879967

On the final morning of the trip, Ruth again chose to rest while I nipped up another nearby Graham, Creag Dhubh. This was a very short walk of only about 2.5km from the small car park by the chapel of Cille Choirill, and quite fast going as the slopes were fairly gentle and mostly short grass. The mist was swirling around most of the surrounding Munros, but broke for long enough to give decent views of the Grey Corries and Aonach Mor, as well as the Loch Treig Munros. Soon I was back at the car to start the drive back to Ruth’s house in Natland.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1879968

Ruth was back at work on the Tuesday, while Rolls-Royce had a day of fixed holiday, so I stayed the Monday night at her house and spent the Tuesday morning tackling a three-hour MapRun score course on the outlying fells around Staveley, set up by Saunders as a training exercise for their main Mountain Marathon later in the year. Very enjoyable in the sunshine, although pretty exhausting as I haven’t done a three hour run or any run this hilly for several months! I was pleased to finish in second place, out of the 51 people who’ve had a go at the course since it was published in January. Clear flowing motorways made for an easy drive back to Derby after lunch at Ruth’s house.

Overall, not a bad week in the Highlands despite the disappointing cloud levels. It was generally dry and the winds were mostly light, and I ticked off four new Munro Tops (only 10 to go now!) and four new Grahams (taking me past a quarter done), as well as revisiting various Munros and Tops.

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Avmj3P6yWLMj4k47

After an enforced break from the standard routine last year, Ruth and I resumed normal service with a Christmas trip to our parents’ house in Minehead, and New Year week in the Highlands. Ruth’s boyfriend Josh joined us for both trips.

We drove down to Somerset after work on Wednesday 22nd, and the next day took a local family walk in the afternoon, starting in Bossington, walking down to the pebble beach of Porlock Bay, up to Hurlstone Point, then back around the slopes of Bossington Hill.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1780128

Christmas Eve was damper, so Mum and I just took a quick stroll down to Minehead seafront before listening to the carol service from King’s in the afternoon. Christmas Day was so wet that we didn’t leave the house at all! And finally, on Boxing Day morning Dad and I went for a trail run over Periton Hill. Then after lunch we tackled the long-ish drive north to Ruth’s house via mine, not meeting any significant traffic or delay.

Our New Year destination was about as close as any in the Highlands could be, as we were staying in Callander for the week. It was less than three hours’ drive from Natland to Stirling, where we paused for a walk up to the castle, lunch in an excellent café nearby, and grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s. A further half hour’s drive brought us to our Airbnb flat close to the centre of Callander – not the prettiest property we’ve stayed in for New Year but very convenient, cosy, well-equipped and quiet.

Tuesday’s forecast was relatively promising with light winds and a good chance of cloud-free summits from mid-morning onwards, so we decided to start with the highest nearby hills, Stob Binnein and Ben More. We tackled them from the south, starting at Inverlochlarig, in order to include the two southern Munro Tops of Stob Binnein. The walk began, just before sunrise, with a steep 600m climb directly up the hillside to Stob Invercarnaig, which we were surprised was well-enough walked to have a clear path that significantly aided progress. From there, the angle eased, although we were walking in the mist as we continued up Na Staidhrichean. Above around 700m, there was a reasonable coverage of fairly crisp snow.

On the Munro Top of Stob Coire an Lochain, the cloud parted for a few moments to give glimpses of the Munros to the west, Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain, but then closed in again. We continued up to Stob Binnein, where we were pleased that the cloud broke up more convincingly to reveal the westerly half of the view, the higher hills looking beautiful with their sunlit snow caps.

We continued north, dropping down around 300m to the bealach between the two Munros, passing at a distance one person going the other way having ascended Ben More from the north. A steep 300m reascent, passing a few other groups going down, brought us to the summit of Ben More, which was in cloud as we arrived but cleared out as we ate our lunch in the shelter of the summit rocks, giving good views towards Ben Lawers in particular, as well as back to Stob Binnein.

We retraced our steps down and back up to Stob Binnein and Stob Coire an Lochain, with more excellent views south and east, then turned east to follow the ridge to the other Munro Top, Meall na Dige. Nobody had been this way since the snow fell, so I broke the trail for the others. Descending southwards, we reached the snowline around an hour before sunset, and got back to the car just before dark. A great winter day in the hills!

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777446

Wednesday was milder, wetter and windier. Josh was working, while Ruth and I opted for an afternoon walk up the popular Trossachs Graham of Ben Venue, hoping that the best of the weather would be late in the day as forecast. We followed the standard route up from Loch Achray via Gleann Riabhach and up the ridge, staying below the cloud except for the final 100m or so, but not really seeing any distant views. The wind seemed to pick up as we approached the twin summits, which were extremely blustery, and was definitely stronger as we headed back down the valley than it had been on the ascent. We passed only one other person, a fellrunner descending.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777448

The wind dropped a little on Thursday, so Ruth and I headed to another Munro, Meall nan Tarmachan. This was Ruth’s choice as she hadn’t previously done the full and much-celebrated ridge. The mild weather meant there was no difficulty driving up to the top of the pass between Ben Lawers and Meall nan Tarmachan to start the walk at around 450m. We went clockwise, starting with the walk west along the traversing tracks below the ridge, in order to have the wind behind us as we returned east along the ridge.

Sadly, once we were up on the ridge, we were persistently in the cloud and couldn’t enjoy any views. Nevertheless, the path was easy to follow with almost all the snow having melted as the summit temperatures were well above freezing. We could still appreciate the pointy summit of Meall Garbh, and the frozen lochan between there and Meall nan Tarmachan. We passed one group of three going the other way along the ridge, and a few others on the lower slopes as we descended by the main path.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777452

New Year’s Eve was a very wet day. Ruth and Josh opted for a quick walk up Ben Ledi, but I wasn’t very motivated by that plan as we’d done it in similar conditions a few years ago. Instead, I walked solo, directly from the flat, heading southwest to the 427m Marilyn summit of Beinn Dearg. Most of the ascent was on good forest tracks, as far as the transmitters on Ben Gullipen. Then the final kilometre or so was on a surprisingly well-walked trod along the ridge. The mist had been right down to the village, so there were again no views to enjoy. I descended past remote Lochan Balloch and along its outflow burn to reach forest tracks above Loch Venachar that led me back to Callander in a loop of around 15km.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777455

New Year’s Day’s forecast in the Trossachs was no better, with storm force winds expected and frequent showers. It looked much better to the south though, so I started the day with a parkrun at Plean Country Park, just south of Stirling, while Ruth and Josh took a stroll around the park. This was a tough, rough and hilly course that made for a good challenge to start my running year! It turned out, in post-finish conversation, that the man who pipped me to 6th place had been the man we passed at a distance on descent from Stob Binnein a few days previously!

Afterwards, we headed a few miles northeast to the Ochil Hills, which we had not previously visited. We parked in Tillicoultry and started by following tracks traversing west to Silver Glen. There we picked up a large track up onto Ben Ever, and a well-trodden path from there up to Ben Cleuch, the highest hill in the range and high enough to be a Graham. For the first time since Tuesday, the cloud was above the summit, and we had good views over the surrounding peaks of the Ochils, and the Forth valley to the south.

We had a bite to eat in the shelter of the summit cairn, then re-emerged into the strong winds to continue along the ridge, after a short detour to The Law, to Andrew Gannel Hill, then down and back up to King’s Seat Hill. A good path led from there back down the ridge to Mill Glen and Tillicoultry.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1778035

The final day of the trip looked a bit more promising on the high hills, with the forecast suggesting passing showers and manageable winds. We decided to tackle Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’ Chroin from the south, starting at Braeleny, just a couple of miles up the lane east of Callander. Although our walk started fairly dry, by the time we’d covered the three kilometres along the track to Arivurichardich the rain had become heavy enough to merit waterproof trousers.

It only got wetter as we ascended gradually north onto the ridge, and by that point Ruth and Josh had decided they only wanted to visit Stuc a’ Chroin (although I would still have been up for the full planned circuit). We did get a few views over Gleann an Dubh Choirein towards Ben Vorlich as we ascended, but the rain never paused, and the summit itself was well in the cloud. We didn’t stop for long at the cairn before returning the way we’d come and heading back to the flat to warm up and dry out over tea and cake.

Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1780096

Overall, a disappointing week of weather, with only the one good day in the Highlands proper, plus one in the Ochils. We did well to stay motivated enough to get out in the hills every day despite the rain, wind and low cloud! I can add a couple of new Grahams and a couple of Munro Tops to my tally at least.

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/w7arSqy3cnuQmySbA

I spent a solo week up in the Highlands and was rewarded as usual with mixed October weather. I drove up as far as Stirling SYHA on the Sunday afternoon, having paced Jeff to a PB around Lichfield Half Marathon that morning. A good night’s sleep in a private room for the bargain price of £21!

Monday’s forecast was for the morning to be better than the afternoon, and for conditions to be less bad well inland, so I got a reasonably prompt start to drive up as far as Bridge of Orchy for a walk up the Graham, Meall Tairbh. I parked by the Inveroran Hotel and started off up the West Highland Way to gain the north ridge of Ben Inverveigh, which led easily all the way to its summit, with some views over Loch Tulla and the Munros to the east, surprisingly almost clear of cloud.

A short descent on grass led to the bealach, with unusual glacial drumlins and a small lochan. Then a short, steep reascent led me up to the Graham summit, Meall Tairbh. A lull in the light rain as I crossed the bealach came to an end as I reached the top, confirming my decision to descend directly to the car rather than take the fair-weather option of continuing all the way around to Beinn Suidhe – which looked much murkier!

A few hours more driving took me, via Morrison’s in Fort William, to Kyleakin, just on the far side of the Skye bridge. I had booked into the Backpackers hostel for five nights, thinking it would be a good base for walks either on the island or the mainland according to weather conditions.

On Tuesday it seemed like the best conditions would again be in the morning, and the worst conditions would be on Skye! I therefore picked a half-day walk up a Graham on the mainland: Creag Dhubh Mhor above Strathcarron. A half-hour drive brought me to Achintee where I was able to park at the bottom of the road. My ascent route started off up the path towards Bearnais bothy, with decent views over Glen Carron. It was spotting with rain for a while but happily this soon petered out to give dry conditions for a couple of hours. An easy grassy gully led up from the path onto the ridge of the hill, and from there it was only a short further ascent to the summit, with very good (if hazy) views east towards the Corbetts and Munros south of Glen Carron.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ridge walk from Creag Dhubh Mhor to its subsidiary neighbour, Carn Geuradainn, was very attractively rocky, with several small lochans improving the views. Once I’d made the twisting and undulating traverse between the two, the west ridge gave an easy descent to pick up the path (from Bendronaig Lodge bothy) back to Achintee.

Rain and lower cloud came back in as I descended, and I finished the walk pretty damp. I ate lunch in the car before driving a couple of miles down the road to Attadale Gardens, which kept me occupied for an hour or so with only intermittent drizzle. The autumn colours were beautiful, and there were various sculptures to find around the woods and gardens too.

Wednesday’s forecast was a bit better, especially in the morning, so I arranged to meet up with Amy Ottway to bag a Corbett with her (a repeat Corbett for me). She lives nearby in Drumbuie but can’t often get out hillwalking due to full-time parenting duties. Fortunately her parents were currently visiting and offered to look after the girls, enabling her to come out for the day! We chose An Ruadh-stac, a very impressive rocky Corbett above Glen Carron, next to the more popular but less dramatic Munro, Maol Chean-dearg. I picked Amy up as I passed en route to Coulags, where we started our walk.

The first few kilometres of the walk are up an easy track into Coire Fionnaraich, to the bothy and a little beyond, before turning left on a steeper path up to the bealach between the Corbett and Munro. We had been sheltered from the northwesterly wind until this point, but were severely buffeted as we crossed the bealach to reach the more-sheltered rocky ridge up An Ruadh-stac! Grippy quartzite slabs make for an enjoyable climb for the final 300 vertical metres to the summit, and this section also coincided with a sunny spell that gave excellent views of all the surrounding peaks.

It was clouding over again by the time we reached the summit, so we only lingered long enough for a snack before starting the descent. The wind had abated quite a bit by the time we reached the exposed section, so progress was pretty quick and easy all the way down to the valley. A couple of rain showers passed over, so we paused in the bothy for a lunch break before continuing the final few kilometres to the car. It was great to spend a few hours catching up with Amy and to walk together again. I stopped at her house for a cup of tea before returning to the hostel.

Advanced weather forecasts for Thursday had looked very showery, but by the last minute it had improved a lot to predict sunny spells on the coast. I therefore chose to stay on Skye for the day’s walk, bagging the two Grahams (and one former Graham) close to the hostel. A short drive took me to the top of the pass over to Kylerhea, which is the easiest access point for these hills. I was surprised to find an intermittent but very useful trod leading up the heathery slopes of the first hill, Sgurr na Coinnich. This made progress relatively easy up to the summit, which gave very good views over the sea to the mainland hills, capped with snow (whereas there was only a very light dusting on the high ground on Skye). Beinn Sgritheall and the Knoydart hills looked particularly fine with shafts of light shining between the clouds.

More traces of path made the descent and reascent to Beinn na Caillich pretty quick and easy, with more great views over Loch Alsh and the Sound of Sleat. I returned to the pass by almost the same route, just contouring around the summit of Sgurr na Coinnich, surprisingly passing a walker and a runner ascending as I descended. Explains why a path is forming!

As the weather was staying pretty fair, I continued straight up the other side of the pass onto Ben Aslak, until recently also a Graham but surveyed and found to be slightly below 2000ft. This was a less dramatic hill, but still gave good views over the sea, and also clearer views towards the Cuillin hills to the west.

Friday, my final walking day, had the best weather of the week. I again walked on Skye, heading a few miles west to the pair of Grahams just beyond Broadford, the easternmost peaks of the Red Cuillin. I parked near the chambered cairn to the east, and followed the track to Coire-chat-achan. From there the ascent soon became very steep, initially over short heather and grass, then boulders, then more grass on the upper slopes. It reminded me of the climb up Glamaig from Sligachan.

Reaching the summit of Beinn na Caillich (same name as one of yesterday’s peaks!) revealed excellent views west towards the rest of the Cuillin hills, Black and Red, as well as south to Rum and north to Raasay. A good path led across the bealach to the second Graham, Beinn Dearg Mhor, which gave slightly close and better views. Bla Bheinn and Belig looked particularly good in the foreground in the sunshine.

A steep scree descent led me down to the bealach with Beinn Dearg Bheag (just a HuMP), where I had lunch before descending the easy east ridge back to Coire-chat-achan and the car. Amy had invited me back around to go to their local beach, so I spent the rest of the afternoon there before returning to the hostel for dinner and an early night ready for the long Saturday drive back to Derby.

No really big walks this time, thanks to poor weather at the start of the week, and the Skye hills not being very far from the road on Thursday and Friday! Nevertheless, a good relaxing break, ticking off six new Grahams and revisiting the Corbett with Amy. That takes my Graham tally neatly to 50 at the end of the trip.

Maps of my walks are available at the following links:
Meall Tairbh: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1725049
Creag Dhubh Mhor: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1726075
An Ruadh-stac: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1726695
Sgurr na Coinnich: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1727366
Beinn na Caillich: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1728487

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ozVTi6G51MV3iANVA