Munro Journal: The Monar Hills

There are five fairly remote Munros at the head of Loch Monar in the North West highlands. These are (from west to east) Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich, Lurg Mhor, Sgur Choinnich, Sgurr Chaorachain and Maoile Lunde. The last three were to be my targets on this particular outing.

Moriusg, by James McComas

The Approach - a mountain bike and iron lungs required!

The easiest point of access by road is just east of Achnashellach on the A890. The only other real alternative is via a long walk or row in from the start of Loch Monar in Glen Strathfarrar. However, car-borne visitors to this glen are required to be out by 6pm which could make this a difficult option.

There is a sign-posted car park in the forest close to the Glencarron Hostel. From here I needed to cross the road and then negotiate a level crossing of the train track. From here, a wide path runs south past the rocky west face of Sgurr nan Ceanaichean, and then curves round to the east into Glenuig. It is a long way up this track and Cameron McNeish advises the use of a mountain bike. Good advice I’m sure, but I hadn’t counted on how steep it would be. I’m afraid I found myself pushing my machine uphill for a good part of my outward journey – not wanting to completely exhaust myself before I’d even started (it’s worth bearing in mind too that the path had many potholes and large loose stones, so having reasonable tyres was a necessity).

A view from Sgurr nan Ceanaichean

On route, I found myself looking back to admire the view of the mountains immediately across Glen Carron. A high Corbett, Fuar Tholl, was immediately apparent with the morning sun shining on its prominent southern corrie. As I climbed higher, two Munros appeared behind – Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor. A little further west, another mountain – Maol Chean-Dearg (“bald red head”) - soon added itself to the vista. This latter Munro I still had good memories of struggling up on a snowy April day several years previously, back when my Munro tally still languished in single figures.

Eventually I reached a large padlocked gate (which I had to lift my bike over), after which the gradient began to ease. Indeed, underneath the beetling crags of Sgurr nan Ceanaichean the path became fairly flat, so my journey gathered some momentum again. I had climbed the Sgurr only a few days previously, so seeing it from this angle was an interesting experience. I never cease to find interest in how mountains can look almost unrecognizable when viewed from different directions.

From Sgurr nan Ceanaichean to Bealach Bhearnais - dubious bridges and detours!

Once past Sgurr nan Ceanaichean I soon found a wire bridge across the Allt a Chonais, which I had so far followed all the way. A notice by the bridge advised that I used it at my own risk so I hoped that it would bear my weight – fortunately it did! I later found that I could also have taken a track leading off from the main path a little further up and crossed the river there, where it was considerably narrower.

A steep corrie (Coire Choinnich) was obvious in front of me, the top of which marked the coll between the first two of days' Munros – Sgurr Choinnich and Sgurr a Chaorachain. It would have been simple to make straight for the corrie, but I chose instead to follow guidebook advice and bear south east along the tributary Allt Leathad an Tobair towards the Bealach Bhearnais. Although this was a pleasant enough walk I couldn’t help thinking afterwards that the steeper, more direct route up Coire Choinnich might have shaved a good hour or so of the length of the day. Certainly, if I ever repeat this expedition then I will try doing it that way.

Sgurr a Chaorachain - the day's high point

The pass of Bealach Bhearnais separates Sgurr Choinnich from the Corbett Beinn Tharsuinn (863m) and two further Munros that lie beyond it at the head of Loch Monar – Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich (945m) and Lurg Mhor (986m). A good climb over rock terraces up the western shoulder of Sgurr Choinnich (999m – “mossy hill”) eventually brought me to its rocky summit.

A tiny cairn marked the spot and I was rewarded with particularly excellent views of the finely pointed summit of Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich to the south-west and furthest tip of Loch Monar. I continued onto a small subsidiary peak where I descended down to the coll and then began the assent of Sgurr a Chaorachain (“hill of the field of the rowan berries”), the highest point of the day at 1053 metres. This second mountain forms a long and impressive ridge with three separate summits. The first is the highest and is marked by a largish cairn surrounding the remains of a trig point. Considerable views now surrounded me including northerly near neighbours Sgurr nan Ceanaichean and Moruisg, the Achnashallach group, and the quartzite capped peaks of the Torridon mountains beyond.

Moruisg, by James McComas

Carn nam Fiaclan and its antlered inhabitants

My McNeish suggested that I should descend via a broad shoulder from the summit down to the banks of the Lochan Gaineamhach, thereby avoiding the remainder of the summit ridge. I chose however to continue east on the high ground and include a visit to the finely pointed last peak, Bidean an Eoin Deirg (1046m), which I had so admired on my previous visit to the area. This accomplished, I descended steep rocky slopes to the bealach Drochaid Mhuilich, which marks a sharp divide between the narrow Chaorachain ridge and the bulky shoulders of Maoile Lunde – the last Munro of the day.

I had walked a quite a long way by this time and I found the steep descent and re-ascent hard work. The slopes of Maoile Lunde brought me over a couple of boulder strewn ribs before settling into a gentle but interminable upward struggle. I eventually made it to the subsidiary top of Carn nam Fiaclan, separated from the true summit dome by the impressively precipitous corrie of Fuar-tholl Mor. Another 15 minutes or so of brisk walking found me finally at my journey’s destination; resting briefly on the rocks to accompaniment of stags’ autumnal bellowing from the slopes below.

The character of this mountain is very different to Sgurr Chaorachain, having a much more eastern flavour with broad slopes and a wider, rounder more plateau-like summit. Maoile Lunde (1007m) means something like “wet mossy place” and it certainly provides a good place for deer to graze.

The descent

I descended by the summit’s southern shoulder, on the eastern edge of Fuar-tholl Mor. On the lower slopes I was rewarded with the view of several tumbling waterfalls formed by the outflow of the two small lochans in the corrie. Once down in the glen I met up with a rough bulldozed track which led to Glenuig house. This property has its own hydro-electric generator and there was a notice on the door offer shelter to walkers in one of the outbuildings. From here the proper track starts which passes underneath the northern faces of Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceanaichean, and eventually led to my awaiting bike by the wire bridge I had used that morning.

Fortunately none of the cycling problems I had encountered in Glen Tilt presented themselves on this return leg, and I free-wheeled down the steep stony path in dangerously quick time, arriving at my car in time to be thoroughly drenched by an evening downpour. It had been a long but satisfying day far from civilization, in a wild beautiful area of the highlands. Not perhaps a classic group of hills, but one certainly full of variety and interest.