Beinn Fhionlaidh and the desolate
upper reaches of Glen Cannich

Today dawned clear and this motivated me to try and catch up on lost time. It was chiefly a cross country walk with an ascent of A’ Ghlas Beinn. It would be terribly tempting to leave out this summit for another day as that would cut two days of my schedule. But no, I decided to do this one for it meant that I would have climbed all the summits in this vast wilderness area and finish up on 200 munros. A fitting end that would be.

Beinn Fhada and A' Ghlas beinn seen from Gleann Gaorsaic

The fantastic corries of Beinn Fhada seen from A'Ghlas Beinn

The going was fairly easy at first on an old track that did too many up and downs for my liking and then it was off to do some grass, bog and heather stomping before landing on another faint and underused path, this was wet and I also lost it so it was back to more tricky route finding round the bogs. The summits of Beinn Fhada and A’ Ghlas Beinn seemed miles away from here but there was a real air of isolation about the glen, Gleann Gaorsaic that I was in, as no paths went up it and the glen itself dropped down into another remote area.

I reached the main Affric path at lunch time and managed to traverse A’ Ghlas Beinn in a round trip of two hours from here. The winds were strong easterlies at the gates of Affric and I wondered how strong they wound be higher up. Thickening haze and high cloud fromt the east suggested bad weather to come. I quickened my pace for I knew that this weather could herald thunder at short notice.

A spur of Beinn Fhada seen from the Himalayan style pass of the 'Gates of Affric'

Beinn Fhada as seen from the east in the afternoon sun

Above the initial steep ascent, the ridge went on with hummock after hummock and seemingly never ending. This I found was quite frustrating but perserverence eventually yielded the summit cairn. This was the western most point of my trek and signified the turning point in the walk for I was now heading back to Cannich. It was also the only point where I could easily drop out to civilisation if I wanted to.

By now my walk had a lot of inertia behind it and I was really getting stuck in. Only a prolonged storm could now curtail my trip. I was now back on a path and had seen the last big stretch of rough ground to cover for this part of the trip. I set up camp at the ever usual time of 4.45pm, I hadn’t had any radio reception at all and so didn’t know as to what was happening in the rest of the world around me. The campsite was comfy but the haze limited the extent of the view.

Mam Sodhail and Carn Eige

I had two choices today, I could either have an easy day of it and camp in the glen just before Mam Sodhail, or I could go for the so called Thorniest Munro of them all - Beinn Fhionnlaidh. The day dawned nice so I opted to try for the whole lot. I knew it would be a demanding day, but I wanted to make progress for if I was to be caught out be bad weather the next day, then this particular summit would be an absolute pain to reach the next time round.

Ciste Dubh from Glen Affric

A fresh breeze blew up Glen Affric and I wandered how windy it would be up there. I remembered yesterday very well and I feared that a gale force easterly wind would result in slow progress. My walk down Glen Affric and up the side glen was very speedy and I grew confident at my chances for success. The winds were light in the side glen – except at the Bealach between An Socath and Mam Sodhail. But the winds stayed light right up to the final summit ridge to Mam Sodhail here they were just chilly. But luckily a wind break up here helped considerably. After that the wind dropped to practically nothing on the traverse from Mam Sodhail to Carn Eige. Why did I dress up warm for this bit?

I was sweltering and very hot. The Glens around here were very snowy and it felt very arctic despite the hot day.

Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan from
near the summit of Mam Sodhail

One of the tops on a spur of Mam Sodhail

Beinn Fhionnlaidh

I met my first people since Monday up here on Carn Eige. That was a long time to be alone and was a good indicator as to how desolate this area was. Beinn Fhionnlaidh was my next summit. It took a round trip of just under two hours to do - just like the guidebook said. I arrived back at my rucksac just before 5.00pm.

Carn Eige and Mam Sodhail
from Beinn Fhionnlaidh

The place felt deserted and the sun was starting to cast long shadows. It was great to be here at this time, I headed off east to the narrow bit on the ridge. I wondered how it would be, but it wasn’t a problem for an easy path skirted round all the pinnacles. All that was left to do was to walk along the borad ridge and drop down to my slightly damp campsite. What an achievement, a late dinner and at long last some radio reception finished the day off. Next day I would treat myself to a lie in until 7am.

Tom a' Choinnich from the start of the narrow ridge east of Carn Eige

The narrow ridge east of Carn Eige

Awakening high above the clouds

I awoke to find myself above the clouds. Before anything else was done, I had to take a photograph. I’ve never had this privilige before. Later some deer came very close to my tent. I got the camera out of my freezer bag but the noise of the bag caught their attention, the deer were off and I didn’t even have a chance to demist the lens!

Me on the last day of
the Glen Cannich Round

Today would see my 200th Munro climbed and the last munro climbed in this vast wilderness. The day stayed nice all morning. I only saw one other person before the final munro - that’s when all the easter weekend people arrived. After the celebratory handshakes I made my way down to Glen Affric with promises of a lift to Cannich if they saw me. It was now a very warm day as I arrived down at the glen.

And I thought crevasses only existed on glaciers!

The big rounded lump of Toll Creagach

I could appreciate how many people call this the finest glen in Scotland. It doesn’t feel like that in the mountains but down here it was magic with the shimmering lake, the Caledonian woodland and the wildlife echoing across the lake. It was a classic tourist location. My lift arrived after half an hour and I was soon back to civilisation.

It was now a matter of finding somewhere to stay the night. Both hostels were full and I ended up staying the night at the Inverness Youth Hostel after wandering around Inverness for two hours trying to find the place. It was an enormous hostel with a swish reception area and hair dryers in the bathroom! All for £12.25 a night (including breakfast), prices have gone up horrifically with the SYHA this year. I appreciated a clean but for that price I would think twice next time. I’ll stay at the cheaper independent hostels next time I need a bed,oh well. After an enormous Safeway coffee shop treat I think it was a nice finish to the day.