Ardgour: Glen Scaddle.

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Section 10a Beinn Odhar Bheag Rois-Bheinn Sgurr na Ba Glaise An Stac Beinn Mhic Cedidh Sgurr Dhomhnuill Garbh Bheinn Sgurr Ghiubhsachain Beinn Resipol Carn na Nathrach Sgorr Craobh a'Chaorainn Stob Coire a'Chearcaill Druim Tarsuinn Beinn na h-Uamha Creach Bheinn Fuar Bheinn Section 17 Section 3 Section 4 Section 10b Return to Corbett index Return Home.

Beinn na-h-Uamha, from the east ridge..  Carn na Nathrach  845m 2579'  Nathrach, Serpent, adder. Sgurr Dhomhnuill  888m 2914'  Donald's Peak  Beinn n-h-Uamha 762m * Uamh Cave Map

Carn na Nathrach 786m

Carn na Nathrach from Beinn na h-Uamha.

Ardgour is the ultimate neglected area. I have scoured my library and have found very little on this wonderful land of long glens and convoluted ridges, what little there is centres on The incomparable Garbh Bheinn. The remaining land is very fine also, a scattering of 3000' peaks and a visit by the Prince in the heather and it would be better known. Happily the ferry deters many visits and being no Munro baggers, a great 'last frontier' is left for the hill goer.

Almost an island, you will probably take to a ferry to reach the rough bounds of Ardgour. Corran runs a shuttle throughout the day, and bikes go free. No bridge here, although there were plans for one in the 1960's. This project saw the building of the Moidart road through Glenuig. Foot passengers can get across from Fort William to Camusnagaul and there are roads through Morvern from a ferry from Mull. The long way round involves a drive to the head of Loch Eil and a tortuous , highland cattle dodging drive back down Loch Linnhe. As a result of this isolation, Ardgour has a sense of being an island, quiet and a little behind the times of the A82 hustle and bustle across the loch. All but a pair of low lying isthmus either end of Loch Sheil, stop Ardgour, Morvern , Sunart and Ardnamurchan becoming a large weird shaped island.

The main geographical feature of Ardgour are the great east-west running glens, Gour, Scaddle, and Cona. These are a result of ancient drainage from the early tertiary. Great rivers rose in high mountains, some the volcanos of Ardnamurchan and the Small Isles, and flowed towards the east. The Tay once flowed here, and up! Glen Coe,before the Great Glen was dug by the glaciers and its course divided by the inrushing sea.

Glen Scaddle and the Cona Glen meet just before Loch Linnhe. At the head of either glen is a cluster of fine hills. The Scaddle hills crowd round a sort of Concordia, each thrusting a toe into the wide glen. This place would be a fine base, but the long haul up Glen Scaddle is a deterrent, and most approach from other directions. Glen Scaddle has a road up it now, and some forestry, not shown on most maps. There was a keep out NO-tice on the forest gate. This should be ignored, as the suggested route, along the old right of way beside the river has been ploughed up and is a nightmare made peat. Just shut the gates, and don't molest the trees. A bike would be useful for this approach , just as long as you have cultivated the required selective dyslexia, needed nowadays to use bikes on estate roads. Hopefully these signs are now just quaint museum pieces, they have no legal standing. Oh one other thing, if you are planning to carry on to Glen Hurich(on foot), be aware that there is a lot of new forestry across the Mam Beathaig, from Lochan Dubh westward. The glen is still a wonderful place for all that, and from 'Concordia', you can just pick your Corbett and a fine ridge will take you there.

The westernmost hill is Beinn Mheadhoin, and its summit is named as Carn na Nathrach. This is ideal adder country so I expect its well named. The hill is a simple ridge, rough and knobbly, pure rough bounds pegmatite. Knoydart fans will be at home here, (as anywhere in Ardgour, its that good.) The western end is lost in the Hurich Forests and finding a way up here is a matter of reconnaissance and good luck. You will have some fences and spiky trees to deal with. The east is far more civilised being the ridge down to Scaddle. Side assaults are brutal, but common, if taking in more than one hill or simply tree dodging.

I had already traversed Scaddle-Hurich in an attempt to walk from Rannoch Moor to Ardnamurchan, foiled by weather, you get a lot of weather for your money in Ardgour. The burn crossings were terrifying and the new forests irksome, we had the sense to ignore the "please do not tarnish our road with your horrid boots, pleb" notice in Glen Scaddle, thus avoiding the western front along the river. You have been warned.

Finaly the hill was visited from Glen Huirich in appalling weather one Easter. Memories of this day feature a horrendous assault course involving tree bashing, serious burn crossing and crossing the forestry fences by crawling through wet ditches using the 'cat flaps' often found under the fence. My wife found this all very amusing. The only thing missing was the 50lb pack and the assault rifle.

Once the man made obstacles were dealt with , a very muddy couple were faced with a steep flank of Nathrach. We followed a shallow gully through tussocks, alongside yet another fence. Once on the ridge, another fence was in the way, fortunately it was snow damaged and all that remained was a touch of garnet spotting on the usual knobbly rough bounds ridge. It rained.

I still would like to try the Scaddle ridge. The map shows thinned out forestry defences on the west ridge, but you will encounter fences. Either way,end to end is probably the least painful way to climb this hill.

 

 

Sgurr Dhomhnuill 888m

Sgurr Dhomhnuill and Sgurr na-h-Ighinn

Sgurr Dhomhnuill lords it over Ardgour, just, but ads everyone knows Garbh Bheinn to be its superior, it languishes in comparative obscurity. It is a hill that is often seen from afar, a regular high cone, in an area where high hills are rare, but I expect few can identify it.

This is Strontian's hill, the cirque with Druim Garbh, demoted from the original list, but still worthwhile and Sgurr na-h-Ighinn forms a fine backdrop to the crofting community up the Strontian River. Given the length of the Scaddle approaches, most approach the hill from this direction. Its still a long way, but there is a special bonus in the Ariundle Woods.

Ariundle

The Ariundle National Nature reserve is a remnant of the old Argyll oak woods, the trees are regenerating and growing amongst mossy boulders. Further up the glen there are many old pines eventualy giving way to thick birch woods. It is a shock to pass from this sheltered green world back to the familiar degraded hill country, even more so when you come across the old lead mines. Is it not strange that it's the industrial areas that have retained their forests, Strontian, Etive and Loch Maree are all quoted as devastated by smelting activities, but they are still well wooded to this day. I expect the smelters knew that they depended on the trees and jolly well looked after them. Where the trees had no value, they soon went.

Strontian was a major lead mining area, mines were found on Resipol, around Bellsgrove Lodge and up under Dhomhnuill at the head of the Strontian River. Famed as a source of the mineral Strontinite, from which Sir Humphry Davey isolated a new element, Strontium, the area is now better known as a source of the kindred metal Barium. Barytes mined at Belsgrove has a market in the oil industry, and the old spoil heaps are being remined. The high mine on the Dhomhnuill walk in is untouched and an interesting site.Here you can find a useful bridge to set you up for the pull up Ighinn.

The mines.

Sgurr na -Ighinn can be easily bypassed by a rake, an eroded dyke, on its northern side. This will buy time on a winter's day, but it is better to take in this fine top. There is no escaping the slog up the final cone of the parent peak. The cone of rough pegmatite stands comparison with Sgurr na Ciche, but its quieter here. About halfway up you will probably pause at a small top, separated by another eroded dyke from Mull or Ardnamurchan. Here you will look down Scaddle to the distant Ben, it looks different from here. The dyke here is a good way down, a diagonal rake across the steep west face. Highly recommended, as the north east descent of the hill is dangerously steep. Time for the last pech up to the tiny summit with a welcome shelter cairn. To continue to Druim Garbh, carefuly descend the steeps to the north east, better to climb up this by doing Druim Garbh first, else return to the corrie by the rake . The view is very good, not as good as Resipol, but a little closer to the big hills of the 'mainland' . This is the centre of a very rough area indeed. Ill frequented ridges abound in all directions. If you are not already an Ardgour fan, you will be after a clear view from here.

The Summit

This was the route I took on a Sunday after a good days climbing in Glencoe. My companions had done a hard route on the Ben the day previously, I was asked to suggest an easy hillwalk, It was an easy day, but there were complaints that it was a little long and although I could not keep up on the way up, I was much the fresher on the boggy walkback to the mine, probably because I spent the Saturday on Dorsal Arete rather than Orion Direct. Curiosity as to what lay over the water was a motive in choosing the hill. I knew, but for my companions it was a new experience. With Ariundle and the rough ridges of Sgurr Dhomhnuill, they were quite impressed.

Other routes that are used include submitting to the temptation of starting from the road above Belsgrove. The way is long and rough, with as much height lost as gained by driving up the road, and no Ariundle. For a long summer day's journey, the traverse of Uamha , Chaoruinn and Dhomhnuill has much to commend itself. Start at Loch Linnhe and finish through the trees at Strontian. One of the best ridge walks never to grace the 'glossys'?

The Strontian Glen from Ariundle. From Left to right: Druim Garbh, Sgurr Dhomhnuill, Sgurr na-h-Ighinn, Sgurr a Chaoruinn and Sgurr na Cnamh

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Beinn na-h-Uamha 762m

Glen Gour and Beinn na-h-Uamha

Another remote Corbett rising above the Scaddle Concordia, Beinn na h-Uamha, currently the lowest Corbett, is one of two summits of almost identical height. Its twin Sgurr a Chaoruinn is the highest Graham. This of course is subject to the whims of the OS and is almost bound to change. The traverse of the two hills does not need to be recommended, its irresistable. This is a hill for the big traverse. Ardgour to Strontian, a highway above boggy Glen Gour, a grandstand for admiring the glories of Garbh Bheinn. Of course, once I finally got up here I did not traverse, taking a single ticket only, more of which below.

Beinn na h-Uamha differs from the hills further west as it is made partly of gneiss, textured rough like gabbro. This is the stuff of Garbh Bheinn and fortunately its not restricted to that hill.. It may be a wee hill but it is rough and wild, and I Hav found it a tough place, failing once and taking forever to get up on a follow up visit.

Glen Gour track end.

The commonest approaches are from the east, as always there is a long Scaddle alternative, now complicated by the new forestry fences. Remember not to be conned by notices into following the river. That is a bad path to take, and time will be at a premium here. I expect the best ascent would be left until after the forestry, there being a fine north ridge overlooking a craggy face.
Beinn na-h-Uamha, N orth ridge

To the south the shorter and easier approach is from Glen Gour, parking at Sallachan. This route follows a rough track past Loch nan Gabhair, a sad ruin and after a potentially troublesome river crossing , you may leave the bogs behind and follow the long east ridge over innumerable gabbro knobbles to the steep summit cone. I tried this route once, and was defeated by deep snow. I had to walk from the Corran ferry, and simply ran out of time amongst waist deep drifts. The last ferry was calling and the avalanche risk terrifying. I legged it from about 450m,I was most impressed however and eagerly await round 2.

Foot of the East ridge of Beinn na-h-Uamha.

Round 2 came around and this time the hill was not snow covered, the snow being in the burns making for some interesting river crossings. There must have been as much water on the track as well, my feet were already wet by the time I reached the place to leave for the hill, opposite the confluence of the Allt an t-Sluichd and the main river.

In January 2005 a violent storm struck the West Highlands, more evidence was visible on this walk. There was seaweed washed up on the track high above Loch nan Gabhar, evidence of the tidal surge which damaged the road from the ferry. A lot of trees were down too, including a pine snapped in two. Fortunately much of the woodland in Glen Gour is regenerating strongly now, every burn has a strand of pines and oaks survive in places too.

After the river crossing I took a more direct line than before, but still up the very rocky Stob an Uilt Daraich ridge. This is not a route for those in a hurry but a fun way up dodging crags, scrambling would be good if the rock was dry and its worth taking a rope if you want to seek out some easy rock climbs. Harder stuff is available on the slabs of Beinn Bheag across the glen and Scotlands answer to Kilnsey lurks undetected nearby.

Steeper ground meant a rest from the unrelenting wetness, but it took a long time to get up the hill. About 300 metres below the summit, the ground took a more familiar Ardgour form, the gneiss being replaced by mica schist, fewer crags now. The summit gets into the Corbett list by being a sharp rocky peak on the edge of a small plateau and gave some shelter as I was careless enough to time my visit to coincide with the day's worst shower, a blizzard of soft hail in a wind trying to knock me off the hill. Very fine views down Glen Scaddle and Gour from here, but the 'mainland' was hidden beneath shower clouds.

above: Beinn na-h-Uamha's summit. right: looking down the east ridge and Glen Gour.

The strength of the wind made the continuation to Sgurr a'Chaoruinn unatractive and I made an easy descent down the north ridge, through the storm until I was able to drop into the northern corrie and follow the gorge out below Loch na Beinne Baine. The corrie is a typical rough bounds job, lots of rock, but nothing continuous. A noticeable cleft in the headwall may be the cave that gives the hill its name.

The gorge out was heavy going , but with crags, waterfalls and above all natural forest rather enjoyable. This has a very complex topography reminiscent of some of the convoluted rock scenery found in the Loch Maree area, a very special place, worth visiting if on the hill. I had not the puff to add A' Bheinn Bhan - and excuse for another visit.

 

The gorge draining Loch na Beinne Baine.

If combining with Chaoruinn, Strontian is the place to start, taking the lower track in Ariundle rather than the mine track to Dhomhnuill and climbing steeply up the southwest slopes. As Ardgour is so good for long ridges and glens, combine both routes for a fine traverse, backpacking or possibly using the bus from Strontian to Corran. The ridge on the south of the glen looks good as well. There is climbing in here, and this glen may soon see some development by the webfooted cragrats.

 

Beinn na-h-Uamha,the northern side.

Once there was a plan for a road through Glen Gour, now there is just a rough track as far as NM925646 and then, bogs. The loch was once enlarged with a concrete dam, you will notice the ruined boathouse high above the track, there is the remains of a vitrified fort on the northern shore. The loch is a good birdwatching spot, and a popular winter haunt for whooper swans.

 

 

Loch nan Gabhar.

 

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