Two Munros and a Corbett

Statistics

Area: Loch Treig to Loch Ericht

Munro’s: Carn Dearg (Corrour), Sgor Gaibhre

Corbetts: Beinn Pharlagain

Date walked: 27/08/2011

Time taken: 6.55 hours

Distance: 25 km

Ascent: 1200m

The Route

Introduction

Having not been out in the hills for three weekends I was looking forward to walking this weekend. I had been watching the weather forecast all week and it was going from bad to worse on an hourly basis hahaha so a Munro walk was just slipping away as the weekend approached. However on Friday at around 1420, Kinley posted that the weather forecast had suddenly changed for the better. So it was an exited Monty that looked at MWIS and the BBC Scottish weather to find the forecast had indeed changed for the better and with a good choice of hill I might even miss the rain. Yee haa.

The Walk

One of our Members from across the water, Stretch, was sitting in St Andrews cursing his luck as due to the weather forecast he had cancelled his walking plans. But now with the weather suddenly turning he had no transport. Well since I drive hundreds of miles daily in the course of my work, a slight detour to St Andrews was not a problem and a plan was hatched to pick Stretch up and head to Rannoch Station to walk Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibhre.

I had a restless night and it seemed to be raining all night long. When I got up at 0400 after about 3 hours sleep it was still pouring down and if I had not arranged to pick Stretch up I probably would have went back to bed hahaha. The drive to St Andrews was in the dark and pouring rain with huge puddles of water on the road which had me thinking this is going to be one bogtastic walk hahaha. I arrived at St Andrews at 0600 just as the rain stopped and picked up the big man. We drove to the parking area at Loch Eigheach arriving there just before 0800 and guess what, it was raining. So on with the waterproofs and boots and We headed up the clearly signposted track. After 5 minutes the rain stopped. So off with the waterproofs and we walked the complete round no rain until the last 5 minutes getting back to the car. Superb.

We follow the good track for 3km to then cross the bridge over the Allt Eigheach. My GPS has this bridge about 50m south of the position on the map but this shouldn’t present any problems unless in thick clag. The track then follows the burn for 0.5km where it splits. We take the left fork heading into the hillside. There is a wooden post here with an arrow pointing to the left. We follow the track for another 0.5km to reach another track with a sign again pointing left heading North West but we now fork right heading along the track in northerly direction. This track follows a rising traverse and eventually joins the Allt Eigheach again but we leave it after only a 100m or so and head directly up the pathless hillside for 2km to the top of Sron Leachd a Chaorainn. It’s hot, Dang hot and the big man is overheating hahaha. There are a few wispy clouds about at a lower level and there are huge rain clouds all around us. There is a bit of clag around Carn Dearg which comes and goes. It’s now a 3km undulating walk to the first summit and we arrive there in good time. There is a huge cairn here but its bit claggy so I didn’t take many photos. We stop for 30 minutes for some refreshments. This is Stretchs 141st Munro. If they demote the Munro at Fisherfield then he will have walked half the Munro’s to date.

We now head off North East for 1.5km to the Bealach at Mam Ban and the steady 200m plod up to the summit of Sgor Gaibhre. It’s not a steep slope and doesn’t take long to arrive at the summit. Again we stop for 30 minutes. The views all around are good with an incredible number of Munro’s on the horizon. There is some cloud around but on a sunny day the views would be exceptional. This is Stretchs 142nd Munro and if the Fisherfield Munro is not downgraded then Stretch will have done more than half the Munros to date. Good achievement for an American carrying all that weight hahaha.

We now descend South for 2km to the Beallach Leathann ready for the 200m ascent to the Corbett Meall na Meoig (Beinn Pharlagain). Again it’s not especially steep but it’s an undulating Knobbly hill. We ascend to the first top and over to the lochans. It’s now a choice of heading West for 200m and then walk South east up the ridgeline to the summit or head directly up the steep North slope walking around the crags. We decide on the direct ascent which was not difficult and in no time we are on the summit. Another break for 15 minutes and we are again on our way.

We now head down to the Bealach below Garbh Mheall Mor and then head East for 1.5km dropping 300m to again cross the Allt Eigheach. There is no bridge here but its an easy crossing with your boots on (No ribbing intended GLW haha). It’s now an easy 6.5km walk following the track all the way back to the car. There are some great rock formations in the burn and some lovely water falls. As we approach the last 1km the rain starts but it is only light and we arrive at the car a short while later.

What an excellent walk we had. The weather was great the company was great and it’s a nice horseshoe style walk from this start point. Superb.