Over The Hill

This was my first visit to Glen Strathfarrar, and I can see why the estate control and restrict the number of vehicles accessing the glen, it is a place of beautiful tranquility and long may it remain so. Opening up the vehicular access may endanger it to the pitfalls of Glen Etive, where the beauty is being spoilt by irresponsible campers and litter; here endeth my rant for this evening!

And so to the hillside; we parked at the start of the stalkers track just beyond the bridge over the Allt Toll a'Mhuic and headed directly up the track as it slowly rises above the gorge through which the river flows, passing on the way a number of minor waterfalls before the main falls at Eas na Muice, which were rather sparse of water, considering the amount of rain we have had over the summer.

Beyond the falls, the track contours below the steep crags of Sgurr na Muice before breaking away as you near the rather small, but beautifully situated Loch Toll a'Mhuic, at which point the broad stalkers track fades to a narrow path winding its way through the heather and towards the steep crags below the minor top of Sgurr na Fearstaig. Making a rising traverse below the crags and towards the bealach, we encountered a section of broken, muddy hillside, the remains of a recent landslide, which spread itself for about 200m across the hillside; once past this obstacle, it was a fairly steady climb, again on the stalkers path, to the 987m bealach.

Our main objective was to our right, however, we turned left for the short distance it required to visit the 1015m top of Sgurr na Fearstaig; and we were not disappointed, as the views from this outer are quite spectacular, especially of Loch Monar and it's surrounding mountains.

A big, broad, grassy ridge leads gently from the outer to the summit of Sgurr Fhuar-thuill, which itself if marked by a large cairn, and, in contrast to the grassy western slopes, it's eastern side drops away dramatically in broken crags as they plunge directly down to Loch an Fhuar-thuill Mhoir, almost 300m below. The weather had been extremely kind to us to this point, a much pleasanter and dryer day than was forecast, but, the wind was picking up, and beginning to blow at quite a strength.

The wind continued to increase as we took to the ridgeline and made our way east towards Creag Ghorm a'Bhealaich, at 1030m a mere Munro top. The descent from Creag Ghorm a'Bhealaich into Bealach Toll Sgaile is steep and rocky, and at times required a hand hold while dropping down a rock or two, not to mention the wind, which was causing us some problems as it grew in strength and maintained a steady blow at quite a high intensity.

Thankfully, as we climbed out of the bealach and headed towards the summit of Sgurr a'Choire Ghlais, the wind started to drop, and eased considerably as we reached the rockier upper levels of the hillside, heralding the approach to the wide flat plateau which boasts two huge cairns and a Trig Point, no chance in missing this top in the mist.

The ridge continues, and takes in two more Munros, which Lawrie and Lindsay had completed on a previous Carn Dearg meet at Cannich, but today, we would drop off this top taking a generally south west line of descent down easy grass and moss slopes, heading for the the base of Gob a'Chairn, the southern ridge of Creag Ghorm a'Bhealaich, around which we skirted before continuing south west to cross the Allt Toll a'Mhuic and regain the stalkers track a kilometre or so south of Loch Toll a'Mhuic, from where is was a gently walk back to our start point.

Another wonderful day on the hills with a beautiful and remote glen to add to the pleasure - And great company too - Thanks