KYQ4: Beinn Dronaig

Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor from Beinn Dronaig

Wednesday, 1 September 202

Ascent: 1201 metres (605 metres cycling)
Distance: 34 kilometres (25 kilometres cycling)
Time: 6 hours 12 minutes (3hrs 18mins cycling)

Beinn Dronaig 797m 3 hrs 36 mins (1hr 55mins cycling)

After a restless night in the BnB in Lochcarron, I set out for the short journey to Attadale. The day was absolutely perfect with just a slight breeze, more noticeable when cycling. I was the first visitor of the day and was cycling up the track past the Attadale Gardens before 9am. On the track to some cottages, I met the gamekeeper who asked if I was going up Beinn Dronaig, and if so, could I use the route up just before Loch Calavie as he would be stalking the other part of the hill tomorrow. It was a civil request and although I had intended this route anyway I had hoped to descend westwards along the summit ridge but that would not be possible.

The climb up the rough gravel track was steeper than I remembered. I had once walked this route when climbing Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor with Mark and knew that it was a 3-hour walk at least. I spent the next half hour crossing the river, I had taken the wrong track and then pushed the bike up the steep hill. There is then a section of a kilometre or so that can be pedalled before the track ramps up again and climbs to a col at 350 metres. The long descent from here to the bridge over the Black Water allowed me to save some time despite quite a few stops for photos. I reached the track to Loch Calavie in less than two hours. It was time to dump the bike and walk up the rough path to the high point towards Loch Calavie. I began the steep climb up the lush, lumpy grassy slopes of Beinn Dronaig but not before filling my water bottle from the sparkling burn.

It was a relentless ascent, twisting between the rock bands, following some burns and eventually arriving on the glorious summit bejewelled with small lochans and providing scintillating views to the Torridons and over to the mesmeric peak of Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor, two of the most inaccessible Munros. I took half an hour on the summit, it was one of those days when I felt that the effort expended in getting to the summit had earned me some respite and what a spectacular setting.

I had to decide the route down and chose to take a more direct line further to the east than the way I had climbed the hill, it would save me circling my way through the outcrops. The route worked well although I did have to scramble down a gulley between some rock outcrops at one stage. I was back on the track in 45 minutes and from there it was an easy walk back to the bike. There was a sense that I had done the difficult part of the day although there would be a 2-kilometre climb on the bike in the searing heat to reach the summit of the track to Attadale.

The cycling was easy going to the bridge over the Black Water and after an initial climb up a rough path back to the track, there was another section that could be cycled with ease. Thereafter, it was a long half-hour pushing the bike to the 350-metre col. I could have cycled some of it but the loose stony surface and the incline made it easier to keep walking. The brakes on my bike are not the best and, as I started the descent, I realised that they were not going to stop me on the steeper switchback sections of the descent. Thereafter some long sections of steady descent made for faster progress and I managed to average 22kph on the last 3 kilometres back to the car. It was 4pm and the temperature was 25°C as I began the long drive home. The traffic was light and I was in Fort William well before 6 pm. A chance to buy some beers for when I arrived home. Glencoe was again at its most magnificent in the evening light and I envied the microlight pilot who was skimming over Rannoch Moor.

It had been a hard but successful two days, the weather had been almost perfect, and the cycling had been hard particularly for Beinn Dronaig. The climbs on both Aonach Buidhe and Beinn Dronaig required determination with no paths, full-on summer vegetation, and steep slopes. In the circumstances, I had made better times than expected. I have only two Corbetts to complete the challenge I set myself on retiral: a round of the Munros and Corbetts to keep me fit and out of trouble.

I have kept Beinn Dearg in the Torridons for the final Corbett. It had been included in Irvine Butterfield's marvellous book, the High Mountains of Britain and Ireland covering all the hills of 3000 feet. It was at the time classified as a Munro before the surveyors re-estimated its height to 2999 feet, although the OS still have it as a 914-metre summit. The pictures and description of Beinn Dearg were one of the reasons that I started to climb the Munros in 1989 and its completion would be a fine epitaph for 32 years of walking the Scottish Hills. Then I can relax a little; climb old favourites, walk the lower level passes and maybe finish another round of Wainwright's in the Lake District - so much easier and not requiring long days and overnight camps. Yet it is the very remoteness of the Scottish Mountains combined with the weather that makes them such a perpetual challenge and reward, the agony and ecstasy are so finely paired.