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| Loch Creran with Beinn Fhionnlaidh(cloud cap) & Beinn Sgulaird |
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| Beinn Fhionnlaidh from Glenure |
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| Summit in cloud |
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| Beinn Sgulaird |
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| Fraochaidh |
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| Beinn Beithir from lochan on Beinn Fhionnlaidh |
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| Deer on descent |
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| Beinn Fhionnlaidh |
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| Sunset on Blogger |
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| Sunset on Loch Linnhe |
Time: 4hrs 55mins
Ascent: 975m
Distance: 16km
Beinn Fhionnlaidh 959m 2hr 38mins
November is probably my least favourite month to be on the hills: short days, poor weather, still no snow and usually wet and treacherous ground conditions. Today was potentially an exception as the sun was forecast for the west coast and that is where Gregor and I headed, Loch Creran to be precise.
There are two Munros at the head of the loch: Beinn Sgulaird and Beinn Fhionnlaidh and I have usually combined them together but they would take about 7 hours at this time of the year. It was almost 11am by the time we started walking so there would be no time for both of them. Instead, I had a notion to combine Beinn Fhionnlaidh with Sgurr na Ulaidh to the north and separated by a bealach at 500 metres. They appear on the corners of separate OS sheets 41 and 50 and maybe, for this reason, they are seldom climbed together. I had combined them once from the Glencoe side and we were rewarded with some wonderfully rough remote walking in territory that few people ever visit between the two hills.
We started from the car park at Eliric in the weak morning sun and as usual, there were few other walkers to be found here. The walk to the farm at Glenure gave good views of Beinn Fhionnlaidh and the more immediate looming presence of Beinn Sgulaird. We turned north at the farm, entered the forest and took the second exit on the right which led us up to the start of the path. I had only ever descended by this route and we trusted the path but it climbed only slowly and eventually, we had to abandon it, turn into the steep slope and climb a hundred metres or so where we happened upon another path. This path did the same so it was another slog upwards through the very wet grassy slopes and eventually a stony ramp to the broad ridge. We emerged just below the two lochans at 650m and beyond them, everything was in the cloud. All the glorious early morning views had evaporated and it became one of those typical November outings where the prize was the cheese and tomato roll and coffee, not the views or the walk.
At the summit, we were joined by a lone raven that circled around the cairn as we were debating if there was sufficient time to make the walk over to Sgurr na Ulaidh. It would be after 3pm before we made the summit and the long walk out would be in the dark and through a forest and we had only one headtorch between us. These are not excuses that are usually seized upon but we had promised to return by 6:30pm and we did not fancy another climb of almost 500 metres. So we started the descent still feeling the chill from the break and realising just how wet and greasy the ground and rocks were as we slithered down the path which is fitful in places.
The bonus arrived as we reached the lochans and emerged from the cloud as the sun made a timely reappearance and lit up the surrounding hills and the seascapes glinted in the west. The tussock grasses were a rich orange and contrasted with the watery blue/grey skies. Our route down was a by trial rather than any visible trail and involved dodging round rock outcrops, crossing several burns and treading water on excessively boggy ground. We were relieved to finally make the track through the forest and the last 15 minutes back to the car just before 4pm. We took the scenic route home via Loch Linnhe and Glencoe and were rewarded with some wonderful sunset moments. As the moon acted as a spotlight on the ridge of Bidean nam Bian, we both agreed that this was our favourite mountain in the Western Highlands.
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