KYQ4: Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail

Ben Stack and Loch Stack from the summit

Thursday, 28 April 2021

Ascent: 1033 metres
Distance: 16 kilometres
Time: 4 hours 53 minutes

c Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail 801m 2hrs 58mins

Day 3 of the great escape and it was with some reluctance that I decided to climb this niftily named Corbett. The cold northerly winds were still bringing in snow showers on the hills and there would be low clouds for much of the day. The main purpose of the trip north was to climb a few Corbetts so I could not back out. Aileen had decided to walk out to Sandwood Bay and would avoid the worst of the weather that seemed confined to the hills. I was up early and left the AirBnB at 7:30am for the half-hour drive to Kinloch on the A939.

There were showers for much of the journey but they abated as I set off on the 2-kilometre track alongside Loch More to Aultanrynie from where an old stalkers path zig-zags up to the end of the long broad ridge of Meallan Liath Beag. The rains started as I began the ascent and it was time for waterproofs. Several young stags watched my progress, the gradient allowed good progress to the top of the track that had been well constructed and kept in use by a quad bike. The rain had turned into sleet by 300 metres and snow by the time the track petered out at 500 metres.

The hills ahead had been blasted with a veneer of snow but there was an interlude of blue sky, a peek of the sun and a realisation that the day was not as challenging as I anticipated. The long broad ridge undulates as it heads towards Carn Dearg. The final 200 metres of ascent is steeper and cuts through several rock outcrops. The northerly wind made walking more of a problem as I reached the apex of the exposed ridge and immediately began the descent of the rocky ridge to the bealach. The cloud was concealing the slopes ahead but the direction to the summit was obvious and progress was reasonably quick.

The trig point is surrounded by a shelter and it provided my first stop of the walk other than for putting on waterproofs. It coincided with a brief spell with fleeting visibility to the adjacent mountains including Arkle and Foinaven to the northwest was possible. Photographs and a drink gave me chance to gawp at the wilderness in all directions. It is a fine viewpoint but I doubt if I will have the pleasure of seeing it again.

I was slightly ahead of my hoped-for schedule as I began the descent to the south, keeping to the east of the summit and finding a very accommodating line towards the boggy looking ground alongside the Allt an Reinidh. I crossed the rushing burn at 500 metres and descended down a series of peat banks until joining the track at about 300 metres. There was a brief but welcome period of sunshine as I strolled down to the Aultanrynie track and then back to Kinloch. A couple of scarecrows had been erected next to an old stone building by the loch but seemed to have no impact on the group of young stags. I was down before 1:30pm and had to kill some time as Aileen would not be back from Sandwood Bay until 3pm. It gave me chance to visit Oldshoremore Beach before collecting her at Blairmore and to make the best of the day we drove to the end of the road and explored Sheigra beach.

The walk to Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail had always worried me as a tricky walk but it is not as difficult to negotiate as its name. Even in the poor weather, it had been an enjoyable walk with a sense of remoteness and wildness that gives an edge to any adventure.