Over The Hill

After yesterdays early rise (see Seana Bhraigh report), today was a leisurely breakfast before setting off along the A835 towards Loch Glascarnoch and the starting point for today's walk. We left one vehicle at the Meteorological Station alongside Torrandhu Bridge, which would be our finishing point, and continued along the road for another 1½Km to the lay-by on the shores of Loch Glascarnoch that was our starting point.

Our route would take us uphill alongside the edge of the forested area and onto the heather clad hillside of the north shoulder of Meall Daimh. The initial few hundred metres from the roadside was wet and boggy, but once on the slopes, the ground was firmer and we were soon on the broad flat plateau of Meall Daimh, the actual summit of which sits some 600m further south across the plateau.

The weather was a considerable improvement on yesterday, with clear skies and excellent visibility , and much to our dismay, we could clearly see the summit of Seana Bhraigh sitting majestically against the skyline 16Km directly to the north of us as we stood on the 533m summit of Meall Daimh.

We departed the plateau and headed towards the summit of Beinn Liath Mhor a'Ghiubhais Li which lies south west of Meal Daimh, across a small bealach and then worked our way up the steep north east slopes towards the summit shelter. As we climbed, we spotted 3 deer on the skyline, which we watched for a few moments until they decided to set off downhill, leaving us to continue on our way uphill.

The OS mapping still shows a Trig Point on the summit of Beinn Liath Mhor a'Ghiubhais Li, but in fact, as with many other Trig Points, this has long since been removed, and all that remains is the 5cm circular disc marking the spot; although, this is now surrounded by a low stone shelter, a very welcome addition considering the windy conditions often found on the summits.

Unusually, there is no cairn accompanying the summit shelter, but there is a very large cairn located 500m to the south east and to which we made a short detour purely out of curiosity, before returning to the summit shelter for a spot of lunch and to take in the views afforded by the clear visibility.

Dave's knowledge of these hills is remarkable, and he knew of a forest track, unmarked on any of the OS maps, which runs through the forested area alongside the Abhainn an Torrain Duibh which we would use to take us back to the Meteorological Station and our waiting vehicles. Firstly though we had to descend the very rocky north west slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor a'Ghuibhais Li and skirt around an area of deeply rutted peak hags before arriving at the forest boundary, and the aforementioned "non-existant" forest track, which in fact is a good, broad track, which, descends from the upper reaches of the slopes of Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich before entering the forest and winding its way back towards the Torrandhu Bridge on the A835.

This was a pleasant walk, with great views and a very relaxing way to end a wonderful weekend - all that remained now was to pick up our vehicles and head for Drumnadr0chit, Loch Ness, Fort William and home. Thanks Alan for volunteering to do the driving - it made the journey home so much easier!