Carn a'Chaochaig, Carn Mhic an Toisich & Meall a'Chrathaich ∞
Over the past couple of weekends, I have climbed these three Grahams on the rough plateau to the west of Loch Ness and north of Glen Moriston. They inhabit a barren landscape, strewn with lochans, bog and peat hags, with some rough rocky tops poking through.
On Easter sunday, I headed up Glen Affric, past Tomich and Plodda Falls, and parked at Cougie Farm. I started the walk in the warm sunshine, after realising I would not be needing my heavy winter fleece, by following a forestry track west for about 600m. The ascent started when I turned south onto an Argocat track, following a steep path beside a burn to Bealach Fèith na Gamhna. Once onto ridge, an easy walk SW to a trig point, before crossing a rocky/peaty plateau to the true summit about 300m to the south. The air felt properly warm for the first time on the hills this year, and it was nice to be able to sit about and take in the view while eating lunch.
The descent was by a slightly more direct route cutting through a felled forestry plantation (which was not such a quick route as it looked due to the presence of hidden branches forming formidable trip hazards!). After returning to the farm, I decided to also climb the small hill to the west, Meall Dubh, hoping for even better views of the snow capped Glen Affric Munros. Dense forestry plantation seemed to block the ascent, so I ended up walking along the track for about 2km to a gap, where there was a very steep ascent to summit. While closer to Glen Affric, it is also a lower hill, so while the views were stunning, they weren’t any better. Again, I decided to chance a more direct route of descent, bashing through the forestry plantation, which was quite hard work.
The following weekend, Malcolm and I went up the two hills to the east. We parked just west of Invermoriston, at Blàraidh, and cycled up the rather steep track to Loch Liath, where we left the bikes. On foot, we followed the rough ridge west to the top of Carn Mhic an Toisich over quite rough ground with no sign of a path, then returned by the same route.
Back on the bikes, we cycled through a ford swollen with meltwater, and further up the track to Loch ma Stac. Walking east then northeast over easier terrain, we contoured round a small top then ascended a rocky ridge to the summit of Meall a’Chrathaich. Moments after we reached the summit, a (very light) flurry of snow started falling. Quite a change from the previous week! We hastily returned to bikes, and went down the track, back to car rather faster than we came up.
Total time taken: 4 and 4½ hours; Distance: 12km and 27km (16km by bike); Height Climbed 690m and 880m; Photos Taken: 83 and 76.