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 Beinn a'Chuallaich from the South.
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Rannoch.
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Section 5
Beinn Mholach
Stob an Aonach Mhoir
Beinn a'Chuallaich
Meall na Leitrich
Meall an Dobharchain/Sow of Atholl
An DunSection 4
Section 3
Section 2
Section 6
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Beinn a'Chuallaich from the South.
Beinn Mholach 841m 2758' Mholach, Shaggy Map Stob an Aonach Mhoir 855m 2805' Aonach Mhoir, Large Crest Map Beinn a'Chualaich 892m 2925' Herding Hill Map
Despite its unfashionable location and remoteness, I have now been up Beinn Mholach twice, once on an winter weekend from Edinburgh, and in the summer of 2000 when I was allocated the hill , along with the very remote Stob an Aonach Mhoir, as part of an attempt by the Yorkshire Ramblers Club to put someone on every Corbett within a week. They obviously don't like long walk ins.
The first visit was in a period of intense cold, a grey trudge over Meall na Leitreach in the morning, followed by an afternoon on Mholach, a cold night before exiting over Beinn a' Chuallaich.
The only difficulty was the crossing of the Duinish bog, a marshy bowl at the south end of Loch Garry, semi frozen and very wet. This is sheep country, but the collecting pens are on dry ground, high up on Leitreach.
I remember the surprise at the sight of the large cairn at the summit, a fine piece of dry stone work, 4 metres tall. 13 years later it was still in good nick. A bigger surprise was glancing up to get a fine view of a passing eagle, hope it did not end up poisoned as two have recently in West Perthshire. Baits for corvids probably, but hideously indiscriminate. Difficult to prosecute, there is a lot of space between the hill walkers routes, and the hills do not always have eyes.
The summer visit replaced Leitreach with the fearsome Stob an Aonach Mhoir. The approach again from Dalnaspidal (sadly no longer a station), but along the kinder track on the west side of Loch Garry. Being May, the birdlife was spectacular, the Dubhag Marsh, the flats at the lodge and the Lochside were inhabited by many waders. A bonus was the new woodland patches, each green isle with a chaffinch, and a scrubby patch with a singing stonechat, a change from the normal bare hills. Trees can flourish even at 450 metres, providing they are protected from little nibblers. Not just trees, one sandy bank was blue with lupins.
On this summer visit, a track was visible up the hill, making for easy progress almost to the familiar big cairn. Like last time it was bitter cold, the high hills in cloud and a grey glimpse of Loch Rannoch across the interminable moors of Craiganour. As on the last visit, it was now snowing.
The Cairn.
As this was my first big day after a back injury, it was an intimidating step westward into the wast hinterland. The Stob was perhaps two and a half hours distant, and the going looked very unfriendly, a vast morass of dissected peat bog. Significant bog, this, as a few metres lower, and Glas Mheall Mor would be a Corbett. I took no chances and detoured to its cairnless summit. I don't know which top was the highest, but both were high enough to provide a home for the ptarmigan. It was still snowing. The 1:50 000 map shows a lochan between the two rocky tops, it was just a black peat patch. One more metre of drop and it would be the 'missing link' enough drop to get into the relative Hills of Britain list at 150m but still a few feet short of the 500' required of a Corbett. It would be a good one to promote, nice and tough from all directions save the Coire Bhacaidh road over Stob an Aonach Mhoir.
Glas Mheall Mhor.
Historical perspective to be added.
Sooner or later you have to face up to Stob an Aonach Mhoir. In my case I was pushed into doing it. Along with Beinn Mholach it was one of my allocated hills for the Yorkshire Ramblers Club every Corbett in a week bash in 2000. There was no way I was going to walk the dreaded Coire Bhacaidh road, so decided to go for both hills together. A return to Dalnaspidal being possible along the Allt Shallainn to Loch Garry. All I needed was good health and weather for the big day.
Two weeks before the date allocated for my visit, I was officiating at the start of the British Orienteering Championships in the Forest of Dean, when I was felled by a back spasm. For a week I had problems with the stairs. The next week I had a gentle hillwalking trip to Harris and managed to work up to Cliseam before dropping by on the way home to get Stob an Aonach Mhoir, Beinn Mholach and Beinn Pharlagainn.
It rained all day, but I got round.
Leaving Mholach was a scary step, very committing. Realising that a hill on the brink of promotion to the rhb list lay just off route did not help. I did not need anymore distance, but Glas Mheall Mor went easily enough. I will be incredibly smug should it get promoted. Strange that there is this 2m gap between the drop criterion for Corbetts and Marilyns, with nothing in it. Some have argued for a metrication of the Corbetts (750m/150m drop), and that now with no anomalous summits listed, would be a good time to do this. I would rather they were left in silly old feet. But then I am of that strange generation who is happy with both systems or a mixture of the two with no axe to grind either way. If such a missing link were found in a resurvey, Glas Mheall Mor is a likely candidate. The crucial col is very boggy and dissected by groughs. Easy to find a metre or two there.
Another hellbog was waiting between Glas Mheall Mor and the incongruous strip of the Bhacaidh road, some groughs were bridged for all terrain vehicles which helped. Every step in this mire would need to be repeated in order to get home. Lunch at the road and off up the benign slopes of the Stob. Golden Plovers were replaced by laverocks as the bog gave out to grassy pasture. The summit was a more granite like rock than the schisty flags of the rest of the day and the cairn did not look worn, few pass by this way. I felt relieved to be soon heading out of this wet and weary wilderness, only 11 miles to go.
The Summit, the Alder range beyond.
The big shock was the way that the ground fell away as I stood upon the big crest. Five hours of bog trotting in a flattish landscape, and then I was perched above a big drop to Loch Ericht and the towering snows of Ben Alder opposite. The falling snow, and high hills brought back memories of Norway. I was happy to spend a bit of time looking at the hills through binoculars for any sign of the 'Boots across Scotland' mass Munros ascent, but clag covered all summits. I could see a fluorescent party working their way along Loch Ericht, opposite, but that was the sum total of nearby human life. I had seen my last footprint on Mholach, not all hills are popular, even now.
Taking care to look both ways before crossing the road, I was back in the bog. The road, was built as part of the Grampian Hydro Scheme, and services the power station on Loch Ericht. This generates from the height difference between Garry and Ericht. A story I once heard was that during the construction of the scheme in 1937 or 1938, some workers were trapped at Coire Bhachaidh in a snowstorm. The road, at more than 670m, the highest tarred pass in the Highlands, was blocked and in Rannoch a rescue was considered. While anxious relatives watched the falling snow, the workers were sat by the fire at Dalnaspidal. They had simply walked the dry tunnel through to Loch Garry and had only a short struggle through the snow to the safety of railway station and farm. Needless to say the road is well marked by snow stakes.
The Shallainn provided wet but easy going ,passing some attractive waterfalls before eventually meeting the flatlands at the fine Duinish Bridge. The SMC Corbetts guide claims there is no longer a bridge here, but it is built high above the river and in good condition. This can be a bad river to cross.
The rain eased off for a bright easy walk back amongst the waders of Loch Garry, only for the day to end in heavy thundery rain. The traditional race to the finish against the gathering storm. For once, I won.
The Duinish bridge.
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A- 03/12/01
