Mam Sodhail (left) and Carn Eige seen from the East
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Travel
Scottish Citylink operate once every two hour daytime services from Inverness to Fort William. These stop at Drumnadrochit where it is possible to hitchhike the twelve miles to Cannich.
Another bus service operates four times a day on week days direct from Inverness to Cannich via Drumnadrochit. Details are not known about this one.
Accommodation
- Glen Affric backpackers, Cannich, Tel:- 01456 415263:- £10 per person per night (2007 prices)
- The common room is comfy and has an open fire that's lit in the afternoon making the common room nice and warm, though it tends to be dead in the morning, leaving the room cold. There is, however, a resident cat that likes to sit on your lap - some compensation if you're feeling cold! They have an extensive archive of hiking and mountaineering magazines in the common room for those rainy days. The kitchen is roomy and well equipped. Your're in heated rooms with two single beds that give more personal space.
The minus points of the place are that it's very cold in the hostel outside the common room (though that was on a night of hard frost) and there's no drying room. The warden, however, did say to me that I was welcome to dry damp items in the warm common room. There's no laundry either, though there is one available in the nearby campsite.
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Even more remote hills seen northwest of the Loch Mullardoch Hills
Introduction
Cannich is ideally situated as a base to explore the vast wilderness to the west. The two big glens of Affric and Cannich meet here and stretch out westwards for many miles while further north the glens of Strathfarrar and to a lesser extent Strath Conon hold more hillwalking potential. All these glens lie roughly parallel to each other and provide opportunities for some visits to some of the most remote summits in the UK.
The Ordnance Survey Landranger map - sheet 25 must surely qualify for having the largest space of land without any roads going through it. Walking through this remote country can take two winter days - longer if your're inventive enough and that doesn't even mention that there can be some fierce burns to cross without the aid of a bridge. Only occasionally are there some welcome bothies to take shelter from the storm.
Loch Mullardoch dam
Glen Affric is generally more touristy and popular with its Caledonian forest around Loch Mheadhoin and Affric. Glen Cannich is quieter with nothing at the end of it except a big ugly grey dam and some superb ridge walks on Loch Mullardoch's northern side. Access along Loch Mullardoch is not easy, with only a boggy path along its northern shore and very deep heather along its southern shore. Strathfarrar is the longest glen and very empty it is too. There are some remains of a big forest down its glen. It has a road, but there is a locked gate at the start of it that's only open from 9am till 5pm and only by prior arrangement.
Overall, this range of mountains offers some of the finest long distance ridge walking in the country.
The upper reaches of Glen Cannich
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