KYQ4: Monadh Liath Northern Corbetts

Carn na Saobhaidhe, Monadh Liath

Carn na Saobhaidhe

Ascent: 704 metres

Distance: 25 kilometres

Time: 4 hours 42 Mins

Carn na Saobhaidhe 811m 2 hrs 42mins (cycle 58mins, walk 1hr 43mins)

Descent 1 hr 59 mins (walk 1hr 31mins, cycle 29mins)

Friday 3 August 2018

With the fifth round of munros almost in the bag, I thought it about time I went after the twenty odd remaining Corbetts. They are all more than 3 hours drive away and the nearest was a couple of singletons between Inverness and Fort Augustus located to the north of the massive Monadh Liath plateau. In recent years they have both been the location for significant wind farm developments and in the case of Carn Chuilinn, a huge hydro-electric scheme was opened in 1999 and then again in 2009 after a tunnel collapse. The upside is that hill tracks have been constructed that allow a bicycle to be used for the initial part of the long walk-ins. The downside is the ugly scars seared into the hillside with deep peat banks created.

The weather had broken after the summer of sun and there had been some much-needed rain. Friday promised reasonable conditions with some showers expected. I collected my mountain bike from the shipping container next to the new house and drove up to Aviemore on Thursday evening to stay with my niece. She is currently working as a Reindeer herder in the Cairngorms and recently bought a house with her boyfriend. They already had one friend staying with them but have erected a tepee in the garden to cope with passing visitors. We had a good evening and I was able to leave at 7:30am the next day. The heavy rain soaked me as I walked from the house to the car. It was about a 50-minute drive up the A9 and then along the single track B851 road towards Errogie.

I parked in the large entrance splay at the start of the road to Dunmaglass Lodge. It took 10 minutes or so to assemble the bike, which I had carried in the load area, stuff some food and what I thought may be appropriate clothing in my small rucksack. It had already rained and the grey skies were promising more of the same. I had allowed 5 to 6 hours for the trip but the first couple of miles were easy cycling and I began to think this was not as bad a hill as my friend Mark claimed when I suggested climbing it a few years ago. "Count me out" he said, "I have no intention of ever repeating that hill."

I made dozens of pheasants scatter as I cycled along the banks of the river before crossing it below the Lodge. I watched two red kites circling above Beinn Mheadhoin and just as I began to think that this is a doddle, the roads began to steepen and a sign indicated 3 miles at a gradient of 17%. It was enough to make me get out of the saddle and walk on the steepest sections as the sweat began to pour off me in the warm humid conditions. A road to the left went to a windfarm with 33 turbines, I kept right and cycled to an altitude of over 500 metres before I decided to abandon the bike just before a ford and a rickety bridge for land rovers.

There remained a 5-kilometre walk along a reasonable but meandering gravel track. After about 3 kilometres I attempted a shortcut to the summit by taking a more direct route over rough heather covered ground rather than following the track that involved a long switchback, it was a mistake and probably added 15 minutes. I was not helped by the need to don waterproofs for the first of several showers during the walk. The summit is a very flat plateau with a small cairn at the east end matched by a radio mast to the west. According to my altimeter, they are at exactly the same height. Just below the summit, a wind turbine was spinning with a metronomic rhythm as the clouds gathered for another shower.

I wisely decided to take the track down, what's an extra kilometre when you can avoid the bog and heathers. A recently built and incongruous grouse shooters shelter with double glazing was located at about 700 metres and empty cartridges were widely spread near the shooting butts. There were four burn crossings to make on the descent but with my feet already soaked I managed to skip over all of them without any mishap, wet feet always eliminate the fear of slipping.

Arriving back where I had dumped the bike, I took off waterproofs for the ride to the car. After a couple of uphill sections and stops for photos, I began a long and fast descent, the brakes kept my speed to about 30mph but only by a heavy squeeze on the levers. The Tesco delivery man stopped his van to let me through at a passing place, it is unlikely I could have stopped otherwise. Perhaps disc brakes would be a good investment. I took the wheel off the bike to load it into the car, changed out of my soaking shoes and top, ate some food and checked the map. It was just before 2 pm as I set off for the drive to Carn Chuilinn, the next hill of the day.

Dunmaglass private road

Dunmaglass Lodge from the ascent road

Pine roots on Aberchalder Burn

Track along the Aberchalder Burn

Grouse eggs

Summit Mast

Summit Cairn, same height as the mast

Grouse shooters shelter below Carn na Saobhaidhe

Dunmaglass wind farm - 33 turbines

Looking north to Dunmaglass Lodge on the descent

Carn Chuilinn

Ascent: 704 metres

Distance: 16 kilometres

Time: 3 hours 48 minutes

Carn Chuilinn 816m 2 hrs 20 mins (cycle 45mins, walk 1hr 35mins)

Descent 1 hr 28 min (walk 1hr 11mins, cycle 17 mins)

The drive from Carn a' Saobhaidhe to Glendoe at the start of the Carn Chuilinn walk is a pleasant 30 minutes along scenic roads past Errogie and Loch Tarf, the latter of which was hoaching with tourists. The massive construction depot at the foot of the Glendoe road forbids any parking so it is a half mile west down a steepish hill before parking is possible. It means an immediate steep climb on the bike and although there is a recently constructed bike trail parallel to the road, its gradient is too steep for riding. I had to push the bike for much of the way until I reached the private construction road to the Glendoe hydroelectric dam. It is a wide highway with a smooth surface from all the heavy vehicles involved in the hydroelectric traffic.

The second hill of the day is always a bit of a shock but the second cycle ride of the day even more so. The cadence was not fast up the Glendoe highway but I kept a steady pace until reaching a bridge where the road veered left with another 6 kilometres to the dam. I stashed my bike in the heather and followed a stalker's rough path along the burn to the right. The recent rains had not made conditions easy for walking and several more burns had to be crossed and the path occasionally disappeared in the heather.

Carn Chuilinn was not visible with the cloud level down to 600 metres. When the path eventually ran out I continued to head south climbing ever steepening slopes with the gurgling of underground burns amplified in the still damp air. Any visibility had gone so I relied on a downloaded map on my phone and ended up clambering up a chimney through some crags about 200 metres west of the summit. It was after 5pm when I spotted the large cairn above one of many small lochans. The cloud had turned to rain and, for the second time of the day, I was dripping wet with rain and perspiration. I soon cooled down at the summit as I refuelled with fruit and water.

My phone was out of juice so I took a compass bearing and headed northeast along the ridge for half a kilometre before dropping down the grass and heather slopes to the burn that I had ascended alongside. As I emerged from the cloud, a convoy of over twenty vehicles was returning along the construction highway from the dam. I reached the bridge by taking a direct route down the heather covered hillside rather than trying to follow the unreliable path by the burn. I collected my bike for what was a very rapid descent to the B862. I didn't bother using the hilly cycle path parallel to the road to get back to the car park, I doubt my brakes would have held me on the steep gradient. Instead I swept up to the checkpoint at the construction site and was waved through, it was a Friday evening. I reached the public road and descended the last half mile to the car park. I had loaded the bike and changed by 7pm.

All my clothes were thoroughly soaked, including both pairs of shoes. Gavin, an American friend, was to complete his Munros on Carn Mor Dearg tomorrow and I had asked if it was possible to go along since I had discussed his munro progress with him on many occasions since his arrival from Seattle. Then I weighed up the options: wet clothes, wet shoes, sore feet, an hour's drive to find a campsite within striking distance of Fort William. I had my tent with me but there would be nowhere to dry my gear. Then a wet day tomorrow with an 8am start for the ascent of Carn Mor Dearg from Achintee and then the arete to Ben Nevis. I have already been up Ben Nevis three times during this round and did not relish another slog down the tourist path. The rest of the compleation party had walked with Gavin for over twenty years and I had never walked with him although I knew what an achievement it would be. There again I could drive home in three hours. I was about to phone and give my apologies when Gavin's friend, Bob called. They were in a bunkhouse and about to go for a meal, would I manage along? I gave my apologies and said that I was on my way home.