KYQ4: Sgurr Coire Choinnichean and Inverie

Sgurr Coire na Choinnichean from Loch Nevis

Friday, 22 April 2016

Ascent: 892 metres

Distance: 12 kilometres

Time: 3 hours 25 minutes

Sugar Coire na Choinnichean 798m 2hrs 2mins

We awoke to another glorious sunny morning in Knoydart and only with one nearby corbett to climb, it would be an easy morning walk. We had decided to leave on the 4:15pm ferry rather than starting to walk by 7am, which would have been necessary to catch the 11am ferry. The beach campsite was simple bliss, the sun was warm, the midges had yet to arrive and the wind was in abeyance. Only two others campers were on the site: a Californian who had spent the night under his tarp and a potter from Nethy Bridge who lent us his stove to make a brew of tea when our gas ran out. There are benches at each of the flat pitches and they proved useful for drying out sleeping bags and packing rucksacks before we set out. A lone female runner jogged past with a collie dog at her heels, there was not a ripple on the seawater 30 metres away until a boat arrived at Inverie pier a mile away, several minutes later there was the gentle lapping of its wash on the beach.

We walked the mile into Inverie and seeing the Californian sitting outside the Tea Room in the morning sun tucking into his hearty breakfast we decided to return here for lunch. We took our time strolling through Inverie and read about the Knoydart Foundation that has carried forward the work from the Community buyout in1999. The track that leads north from Inverie along the Allt a' Mhuilinn provided an easy walk to where we dropped our rucksacks at the end of the forest and headed up the west flank of the hill. There were 350 metres of mindless ascent through the faded yellow grasses still yet to green into life, they were dotted with bright yellow primroses. Arriving on the plateau of Coire Choinnichean the impressive crags that guide a burn down to Inverie House provided a fine mountain view. I wondered whether there might have been a more direct route up but too late now. We walked around the end of the crags and then headed for the knife-like ridge that leads to the summit of the hill.

It is a wonderful climb of about 250 metres, a path that snakes through the crags and gives a bird's eye view of Loch Nevis. There is a false summit at about 770 metres before a final 400 metres across a dip and rise to the actual summit at 796 metres. I tidied up the cairn before eating my last 'marathon' bar and scrounging some water from John, I had left my bottle in the rucksack. We retraced our route on the descent, the spectacular views making it the perfect end to our 48-hour epic trip into Knoydart. The only regret was that I could not find the clumps of primroses for a photo on the descent but we now had our thoughts on the cafe and some real food. The cafe is run by three local women, the soup was thick enough for the spoon to stand and tasty enough to eradicate the diet of dehydrated food, oatcakes, nuts and energy bars that had sustained us over the last couple of days. We ordered a teapot of tea for four and we were happily reunited with civilisation.

Our Irish acquaintance from yesterday walked in having climbed Ladhar Bheinn and we spent an hour telling yarns about hills, equipment, people and places. By mid-afternoon, we sauntered along to the pier and I spent another 45 minutes in conversation with the Nethy Bridge potter, the others joined us and the banter was four age advantaged mountain obsessed men waiting for a boat. Inverie and Knoydart had provided near-perfect weather for an arduous and unforgettable two days collecting six rough, tough mountains.

On the ferry, the wind had blown up so I went below deck and chatted to one of the boat owners about the recent changes to the ferry service. The competing sea bridge operation had ceased at the start of the season and their fleet of 4 boats had been taken over by the Western Isles ferry service They were going to sell these boats that were fast but noisy and fuel-hungry and buy a more sustainable catamaran to augment the 75-year-old 'Western Isles', the sturdy boat that had been built as a supply vessel and was now the mainstay of the Knoydart ferry service. We arrived in Mallaig shortly after 5pm and resisted a fish supper on the day that the fishing boats had come in. The drive home was on quiet roads and took less than 3 hours mainly because driving through Glencoe and over Rannoch Moor was unimpeded by slow traffic or motorbikes. It is amazing how speed creeps up when you are hungry.