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http://www.crux.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk -> Corbetts ->Section 12->Attadale
Attadale and Achnashellach.
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Section
12 879 Sgumain
Coinntich Section 11 |
 Sgurr na Feartaig from Pollan Buidhe.
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Beinn Tarsuinn from the west. The Bealach Bernais to the left.This is a hill cursed by the Munro baggers. It blocks the way to the remote Lurg Mhor and Bidien a'Choire Sheasgaich, and of course it adds another 200m to the lengthy return trip, if they dont return via the intimidating depths of the the end of Loch Monar. Its a fair bet that this is a hill rarely climbed for itself, and probably in most folks first twenty corbetts. Of course I had to be different .Beinn Tharsuinn was in my final 20 and I devoted a weekend to it.
I walked in to the boggy glen to the hill's west from the small crofting community of Achintee. There are two good paths in from here into the hinterland, and I took the chance of visiting the knolly wee Docherty Creag Dubh Mhor on the way in. The weather being humid and still, lived up to its menace and the night was predictably midgy. Now I take midges badly, very badly, and if it were not for the pressing arrival of my university course, I would have delayed this trip until post stalking October, instead I chose to get in during the summer, ouch.
Having fled the satanic hordes on the very cloudy Sunday morning, I was faced with a very steep ascent to the west top of Beinn Tharsuinn. This looked a wee bit scary from a distance but went well, even with a full pack. This summit was unmarked, but I soon picked up the marked munro trail at the col with the main summit.
Beinn Tarsuinn, the summit. Looking down Loch Monar/Strathmore.
The main summit was well defended, steep on all sides. A small rock step was negotiated, slippery in the wet, but no doubt very easy in the dry, this opened up a plateau with a lochan, and another pech to the small summit, now clear with a view down the length of Loch Monar to the hills around the dam. A very remote spot , shared with two fishermen far below in a boat at the end of the loch. I take it they had an engine. Beinn Tharsuinn turned out to be a fine hill in its own right. Its heavily landslipped giving a sheltered hollow below the top , handy in a gale.
Inevitably the munro squad turned up, heading out on their long day, one had confessed to several similar days, so he was probably a multiple completer. I still believe that the southern route in from Iron Lodge or Bendronaig lodge with a bike is the best way to do that pair, although I know someone who canoed into Lurg Mhor. A route that needs some negotiating given the tiresome restriction on the road up Glen Strathfarrar.
The view down the loch takes in flooded Strata More. This glen was the home of Ian R Thompson, author of Isolation Shepherd, and was abandoned to the rising waters in the late 1950's. The book is a perennial favourite and highly recommended as a glimpse into a recently departed lifestyle when bothies and ruins were homes. A clump of trees and old dykes are all that remain of the croft.
I had abandoned my car at Craig, catching the train down to Achintee, so it was a shorter walk out. A steep descent to what has been described as a triple col, but is in fact two passes, one just above the other. Sgurr Choinnich looked good from here. A good path runs from Bealach Bearnais to the Glenuig Lodge road in the Pollan Buidhe. I remember this as a dirty bog, nothing but a scar in the peat, but sometime in the last 18 years a path repair team had done some work and it is now dry and firm. The Allt a Chonais has a reputation, but folklore has it that there is a bridge tucked away from sight downstream, but I did not look to check. If stuck there was a bridge at NH070481 in August 2004. Crossing the burn I could see a stash of bikes, obviously someone up a Munro somewhere. I met then again later having been scared witless by their high speed silent descent. If you do go in by bike, warn any walkers you pass.
Beinn Tarsuinn, and Bealach Bearnais.
A big change over recent years is that the forest road out of the Pollan Buidhe is that it is no longer a gloomy boring undertree walk. Once passed the spectacular west face of Sgurr na Ceannaichean, the descent is now in the open with Fuar Tholl and neighbours in full view. Scots Pine woods previously hidden are back in the light, and this is now a delightful place to visit. If going in to Tharsuinn this way, its well worth taking a bike, the road is good and the descent is fast.. just be nice to us slow old gits under big packs.
Pollan Buidhe.
Sgurr na Feartaig
Sgurr na Feartaig is one of the few accessible hills in this area, if you can get across the Carron. It forms a seven mile wall to the south of Achnashellach and provides one of the easiest days in the area. There are even paths to the top, and a handy railway station and renowned independent hostel nearby . Achnashellach station, just a short platform hidden amongst luxuriant rhododendron growth, was a private station for Achnashellach Lodge and must be one of the most useful stations of all for the hillgoer. There was once a station for Glen Carron Lodge up the glen, marked on 1:50000 maps until 1998. This has long closed. Achnashellach is famed for the train that crashed into itself. Part of the train became uncoupled and rolled off down the track, the locomotive in hot pursuit. When the grade changed the loose part obeying the law of gravity, stopped and rolled back towards the station with inevitable consequences. Gerry's Hostel (telephone +44 (0)1520-766232) has been at Craig for years and is the obvious place to stay in the area. Don't let the midges in.
Feartaig's long ridge is well seen from the station, to the east there are rolling grassy corries, but nearer on the western side of the hill the going gets rocky and the headwall of Coire Leiridh provides winter climbing. This headwall also carries the path up some very well engineered zigzags on to the summit plateau. This excellent path continues down to the Bearnais glen and Bendronaig Lodge, a branch continuing over the summit to join the track that runs to Glenuaig Lodge through the Pollan Buidhe. The southern slopes are uniform steep, but easy ways up include the afore mentioned path and up from the triple col, of Hamish's Mountain Walk fame, the Bealach Bhearnais. This route allows Feartaig to be tacked on to the Glenuaig/Strathmore Munros.
Struggling over the path from Bearneas, as it crosses west of Sgurr na Feartaig. Half an hour later, the sun was shining.
The name refers to the thrift that commonly grows on the hills in this area. It is surprising that this hill has not fallen foul of the SMC renaming squad as the main top is definitely not a sgurr. Also the 1:25 000 map shows the name to be attached to a 805m top to the west which is sharp when seen from Loch Carron. It seems reasonable to keep the name, as the old names, (most hills having several one from each glen) are mostly lost. The locals probably have some prosaic English name for it now. Hill names were fossilised by the coming of the OS. Fortunately they arrived before the weakening of Gaelic, so we can now have endless arguments over pronounciation to 'enliven' a night in the pub.
Sgurr na Feartaig is one of that select group of hills that I have 'first footed' I picked bad ne'er day to do it. The previous nights partying took place against a background of a terrible storm. Venturing outside was perilous, standing nearly impossible. Further north a bothy and its inhabitants were blown off the island of Unst with fatal consequences. No trace of the building remained. In Wester Ross the wind was merely 100mph. The storm even made the English news.
The next day, after the blow, it rained. By morning the notorious river Carron was just about fordable at waist height, below Lair This was a reckless action, it was too big a river to play with, but it was good practice for Scandinavia.
A word about bridges. The older maps show two bridges south of Achnashellach, these were merely two slack wires, one for the hands, one for the feet. I never had the nerve to use them, attempts always led to an undignified retreat as the wires went their separate ways. They are no longer on the map, and have probably gone now. The bridge east of Craig is reliable as it serves the Forestry Commission roads.
Having crossed the river and finding the path that leads up into Coire Leiridh I only had the weather to worry about. It was snowing now and the steeper part of this spectacular path was feeling exposed. On a previous trip , walking from Attadale to Torridon I suffered an appalling gale here, progress was hard won. At least the weather improved dramaticaly that time, now it was going the other way.
Over the summit the path remained in good condition, only the higher reaches were snow covered. I could just see the summit in what was by now a blizzard of wet manky snow, the worst type of heat stealing slush. I was worried about the descent, what if the bridge marked at 070482 was one of those wires, what if it was not there. It was getting late and I had some hitching to do to get back. On reaching the river the bridge had gone, the burn uncrossable. Before trudging up to the bridge upstream, known then to be OK, but I have no recent information, I had a look downstream. Just round the corner was a new 'Indiana Jones' style suspension bridge. I even got a quick lift at Craig.
Beinn Dronaig from the East.
Deep in the boglands beyond the Ling, between Strathmore, Starth Carron and Glen Elchaig lies this very remote hill. Meet anyone up here and they will be the sort that counts Corbetts. It's a simple hill, no ridges or scalloped corries, just a great upturned hull of hill, clothed in peat and surrounded by some of the toughest bog trotting to be found on the mainland. Just as well there is a network of paths and tracks through here,but if you want to get on the hill you are going to have to get your boots dirty (and wet).
The area is now miles of desolation, given over to sporting estates and Loch Monar, much enlarged by the Hydro-electric board. However up until recent decades shepherds lived here, in scattered settlements, and Pait Lodge is still inhabited to this day. The Monar dam spared this house, just, but sadly Strathmore Lodge across the loch did not fare so well, its ruins lie below the new loch. Strathmore is famed through the autobiography of its last tenant, Iain Thompson, Isolation Shepherd, and as a result the recent history of the area is well documented. This book is highly recommended to all hill goers, especialy those who would venture here, for this area still has some stories to tell.
Sadly in 2001 there were reports of a major change to the area. In a horrid throwback to the 1970s, a road has been buldozed from Bendronaig Lodge to Pait. This has replaced a fine path, crossing the wild pass under Beinn Dronaig and following the banks of the Gead Lochs. I suppose it was inevitable given the remoteness of Pait, but having survived the 20th century and the Hydro, one could be forgiven for thinking that it would endure. Worse was to come, in 2002 the estate were caught bull dozing their way into Bearnais from Ben Dronaig. There is quite a conflict now between the MCoS and the estate.
The road to Bendronaig Lodge. Faochaig and Sgumain Coinntich in the background.
Despite its unexciting appearance on the two photographs here, Beinn Dronaig does have a very steep craggy face above Loch Calavie, and the loch is a very dramatic place in a narrow defile. This slope gives Beinn Dronaig's fine profile when seen from the village of Lochcarron, the only place of common resort which offers any sort of view of the hill. The gap also carries a good path through here from Ben Dronaig Lodge through to Pait. Bendronaig Lodge is at the end of a six mile track from Attadale which is cyclable, and is a fine walk in its own right. This approach is probably the most often used for the hill, and allows Lurg Mhor and Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich to be added to the expedition. The other obvious route in is via a good path from Iron Lodge in Glen Elchaig, but Iron Lodge is a long way from anywhere and the Ling needs to be crossed, not a task to be undertaken lightly. Approaches from the east are complicated by the 'opening hours' of the gate at Struy, you cannot get this far on a day trip, and then there are the bogs. Ben Dronaig is a hill for a journey through the hills rather than a day trip.
This was to be my approach. I was lucky to get a lift into Camas Luinie and spent a wet, its always wet, afternoon walking up Glen Elchaig to spend the night beside the Ling. All thoughts of visiting Aonach Buidhe or Faochaig were quickly dismissed, and I was glad to arrive at Maol Bhuidhe. Ian Thompson and Hamish Brown both mention the last inhabitants of the house here, by the name of Renwick. The family left around 1920, but one lad of twelve children went on to become Moderator of the Church of Scotland. The twelve children shared a teacher with the inhabitants of Pait Lodge.
Beinn Dronaig from Maol Bhuidhe
The main goal of this trip was to walk the ridge of An Socach and An Riabhachan, exiting down Glen Strathfarrar, but this wet April day was not suitable for a long trip. I decided to take an extra day and swim up Ben Dronaig. Now there are several ploys in the literature for getting across the Ling. Around Loch Cruoshie the river flows slow and deep, further west it speeds up and becomes quite a hazard. I have crossed in the loch, no current but a sandy bottom means you can wade quite deeply. This time I chose just below the confluence with the Allt a'Chearchail Mhor, (shown in the photo above). Here the water was deep but the bottom visible. I was careful to note the spot.
Before the river there are the ruins of a very elaborate deer fence. This is still quite an obstacle in places as is an almost identical fence on the Beinn Dronaig side of the river. There is quite a story attached to these fences, quite the most elaborate to be found in the Highlands.
In the mid 19th century the Highlands became enormously popular as a sink for the ill gotten gains of the industrial barons. The shepherds who replaced the cleared clansmen soon followed them into history as vast swathes were parceled off into what were in effect private game reserves, a process that has yet to run its course. The new owners often spent large sums of money improving their sporting heritage and had access to a large pool of labour. This was the era of the pony tracks that we find so useful, the great lodges, bridges and the keeper's bothies. Much of the infrastructure we use in the hills date to this time, and some of the most extravagant works are to be found on the land covered by OS sheet 25. (for example the bridge over the Uisge Dubh, and road to Bendronaig Lodge shown at the top of this page).
In the midst of this fashion an American tried to close off Glen Affric and installed a watcher on the summit of Mam Sodhail to keep the likes of us out. Sir Hugh Munro was reputed to have given advice on avoiding him. To his north another American by the name of Winans rented the sporting rights to Glen Strathfarrar from Lord Lovat. Soon he had added Pait and Killillan to his estate and thus gained the stalking rights to a vast area of Wester Ross. This estate was reputed to have employed 300 men, and one of the jobs he gave them was to build a fence from Loch Monar to Loch Carron. Problem, he needed to get a large tonnage of iron stakes and wire up to Pait Lodge. The solution was to lug a boat up to Bendronaig Lodge, sail it down Loch Calavie and then cart the several tons of shipping over to the string of lochs lining the boggy strath to Pait. Some portage. The boat, having played its part in building the 'great fence of Killilan ' was later to sink in Loch Monar,(in the service of Mr Winnans' successor ).
So Mr Winans' fence was built, but with a cunning twist. The estate utilised the rivers and crags to ensure that deer could cross the fence into the estate, but find it hard to get out. This obviously did not impress the neighbouring Attadale estate, in the hands of Baron Schroder, so a retaliatory fence was built past the string of the Gead Lochs and across Beinn Dronaig a few hundred yards away on a parallel route. That is why you have to climb two high fences. They are still there. The Schroder fence is supposed to be of inferior quality, but I still find it hard going, the Ling having disposed of some of the Winans Fence.
Having dealt with the fences and river the only obstacle to a quick ascent was the bogs. However they are much worse to the east of the hill, beware if travelling south from Loch Calavie. By now the rain had come on strong and was incessant and heavy. The river was rising behind me, cutting off my escape. I must remember where I crossed and have faith in the safe gravelly river bed. Soon I was aware that I had lost my compass. However, bizarrely I had a transistor radio in the pack, useful for weather forecasts on a long trip. I switched it on to AM found the strongest signal from Moray Firth Radio and used this as a loadstone to guide my way down from the trig. I once found my way safely off Glas Maol using this technique in a full whiteout, but it really is essential to take a compass with you on to the hill. My radio nearly took me over the north face, but with a little more care I was able to find the safe south slopes and emerged from the mist in a familiar piece of bog just above the crossing place.
I was hesitant, very hesitant about immersing my self into the flood waters, but I was confident that the streambed was safe. Crossing proved easy but cold. Without prior knowledge from my ascent, I would never have crossed here, the bottom being quite invisible. The rivers here are a major factor, and I have had heavy rain on every visit to this area. Take care.
River crossings were the least of my worries on the walk out past after the infamously remote An Cruachan and up onto the wanted Munros of An Riabhachan. A clear bright day masked a malicious gale above 3000 feet. The crossing of the plateau was a struggle for survival. I was anxious to get to Strathfarrar not escape to the rough sides of Loch Mullardoch, even if that was the only sane option. Several times I was blown over and had to ice axe brake on the flat as the wind tried to turn me to into tumbleweed. At the end of the day I had found that the force of the wind had fractured the plastic of my pack harness, probably by the twisting motion. Although on leaving the summit the conditions improved, I was still very happy to reach the power station in Gleann Innis an Loichiel, I was even more happy when a Range Rover, with local landowner, extended family and labradors stopped and offered me a lift to Struy. So far that day on Riabhachan is the worst wind I have had to deal with on the hill, I hope it stays that way.
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