Maol Chean-dearg

I had a severe time constraint today, our 21st Wedding Anniversary. I was hoping to climb Maol Chean-dearg before driving south but I had to be in Edinburgh to meet Carrie off the plane from Gatwick at 4.30pm! I was awake about 4am, got up about 5, dressed and packed in the common room, had a quick breakfast and drove off down the road, getting started on the walk just after 6. I had no watch with me, and the time on my camera wasn’t set - I later discovered that setting the time starts the clock. Anyway, it looked like it could turn into a nice day as I set off up the excellent path by the Fionn-Abhainn.

I made good time up the glen, over the bridge and past the bothy. I stopped to have a look round, clumped up the narrow wooden staircase, found a sleeping form in one of the rooms and clumped hurriedly down again. This was probably still well before 7am! For the record, the bothy looked like it was in good condition.

A little further on I passed Clach nan Con-fionn, where the legendary Fionn supposedly tethered his dogs. There was sun on Maol Chean-dearg all this time but the glen was still in shadow. Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Tholl to the east were still in cloud.

Then it was up the zigzag path to the Bealach a’ Choire Ghairbh. It looked like there might be a quicker route up by Coire Garbh, with some kind of path, but the map showed very little difference in distance, so I stuck to the recommended route up by the bealach.

From the bealach I found quite a good path winding steeply up the shoulder, which lost itself occasionally once it reached the rocky ridge top. There was an impressive view of An Ruadh-stac, another almost-Munro in the neighbourhood.

Looking back east from the ridge

I continued on along the ridge and up the "bald red head" (the meaning of Maol Chean-dearg) of the sandstone boulders that make the summit dome. Now I was mostly in sunshine with wisps of mist occasionally blowing by. And all the while I was hurrying, not knowing the time and feeling like it was taking a long time to get up. Finally I reached the summit and took a quick piccie of myself with the Torridon mountains which were now visible beyond. If I’d been with the others, and we’d had time, we’d no doubt have loitered a good half hour in the sun.

Beinn na h-Eaglaise with the Torridon hills behind

Beinn Damh and Loch Torridon

Alas, I had to leave rather sooner, though, down a path that skirted to the right of most of the boulders, then haring over and down the shoulder. Psychologically I was now "heading home" (towards Marseille, even), so I was making the most of these last moments among the mountains.

At the bealach I belatedly thought of setting the time on the camera, which I estimated to be 9.30 - in fact it turned out to have been 9.40 - pretty good guessing! Then it was off down the zigzags and stomping back down the long path along the glen.

There was no sign of life at the bothy, where I stopped to wash my hot sweaty face in the river. Nearing the road I met a walker on the way in - the only other one I saw. I got back to the car around 10.30 - I had made good time.

So I changed into clean clothes, drove to Lochcarron to fill up with petrol (which was 7p a litre more than in Edinburgh!) then set off in beautiful sunshine on the long road south. I drove through Glen Shiel, Spean Bridge and Dalwhinnie, passing lots of old Munros that brought memories flooding back! Speaking of floods, torrential rain earlier in the week had caused a landslide on the A9 between Pitlochry and Perth, which we’d heard rumours of up in the wilds of Glen Carron, but I reasoned that the road couldn’t still be blocked or there would be a warning sign at Spean Bridge, which there wasn’t. A radio station with decent reception was impossible to find.

I was making excellent time so on the A9 at Clunes I stopped in a lay-by, walked up a track and washed my hair in a little stream. However soon after setting off again I hit the queues caused by the landslide! I was in the queue for about half an hour around 3 o’clock, then finally got some traffic news on the radio - the block (with half the road closed) was at Dunkeld, which was still miles away, with an estimated two hour delay. Luckily this was just before I passed the Aberfeldy turn-off, so I took this route, via Aberfeldy, Amulree, Gilmerton and Methven, to get back onto the M90 at Perth. I reached the airport at 5.15 - for a landslide and a two hour delay Carrie forgave me! We chatted in the park in Corstorphine then had dinner at Agenda before driving down the M8 to Erskine where we met up with the girls and stayed the night. A strange day in which I felt like I’d been all over Scotland and had so many different experiences. But a beautiful end to the 2004 season!