Creag Meagaidh - Journey to the Light Side

Dates: 22-24 August 2021

OK, so of all the 'wrong' ways we've managed to do our Munros, this one has to wrank rongest. What other way is there to climb the three Munros that horseshoe Coire Ardair but from the Meagaidh car park? Except that Coire Ardair, however dramatic it might be, is a pretty dark place. I'd never visited the wide-open country to the north, and I fancied a visit to the light side.

So we headed up Glen Roy, and late in the day headed up the track past Braeroy Lodge. The forecast was an improving one, and you can see the light stuff getting itself organised…

…out to the west. About a mile before Luib-chonnal there is a flatish meadow by the river Roy, and we pitched…

…here for the night. Nice. Warm, overcast… but for some reason Mervyn and Melissa Midge left us alone. They discovered us the following morning though, so breakfast was an under-the-midge-hood affair. A messy, meshy do.

So, up and away, and out past…

…Luib-chonnal, and over the watershed. Just beyond Loch Spey we crossed the glen and started uphill. As forecast, the cloud lifted and the sun shone. A cat-track leads all the way up to Beannain Beaga. A long slog with a full pack. Just before Meall an t-Snaim we pitched the tent, partly to dry out, and partly for that sneaky siesta we enjoy. A cracking spot looking back…

…to Loch Spey, and beyond to an ever-widening vista north and west. So we went lightweight out to…

…Carn Liath (or 'Laith' as it's spelt on the OS Explorer sheet). In all this sun…

…Coire Ardair really did look like the Dark Side.

Once we'd picked up the tent, we trogged on past Stob Poite Coire Ardair, down to The Window, and up onto Meagaidh. A little peap …

…over the cliffs and out to the east, before wending round to…

… Meagaidh's summit. And from here on came the best part of the trip. First, a high camp…

…on the western end of the Meagaidh plateau. Plenty to catch the eye…

…nearby, and in the middle distance down…

…Loch Trieg, and in the distance. Up to the north, to the left of Wyvis, we could just make out…

…this. So come on, is it Klibreck on the horizon, or what? Anyway, let's just say about the view that there was plenty of it, from the Crianlarich hills in the south, to whatever that was in the north. It's always the West that the eye is drawn to, though, and here is a squint of our beloved…

…Arkaig, and our recent hills from Gulvain right round to a distant Ladhar Bheinn (I think). With this…

…odd two-sun effect, the auguries for a classic sunset were good. Actually, the sun petered out into the clouds, so we ducked into the tent to read the next chapter of Moominsummer Madness. Why do we like Tove Jansson's books so much in the tent? Difficult to put a finger on it. It's almost an escape from the escapism of the high camp: think of it as cream poured on a profiterole.

The following morning…

…the sun was out, and after breakfast we started down towards the Burn of Agie. One great view which the cloud picked out for us was of the east ridge of…

…Beinn a Chaorainn. Shinty, the novice, was looking down the…

…easy angled slopes to the west. I, the experienced one, managed to lead us straight to the nose of Carn Dearg Beag - the only crag on this side of the hill. Anyway, we got down to the burn…

…where a stalkers path exists… at least on the map. Occasionally we found it on the ground, but you know you're in a remote spot when the only prints on a stalkers path are those of deer. Slow going… and that knee brace gives a clue as to why this whole trip was done at a snail's pace. Half way down the burn, past the footbridge, we set up our customary…

…siesta camp. There's nothing like a bit of breeze and the sound of gurgling water to induce a good zzzzz.

Eventually we carried on…

…to where the path heads up round a shoulder, and down towards…

…Annat, and the track back along…

…the Roy. We didn't make it much beyond Braeroy that day. After a quick dowse in the river, we set up camp…

…at the top of the glen. Bliss.

Not unalloyed bliss, though. It looks as if I have got a major problem with my knee, and I suspect that surgical intervention is on the cards. So, with 6 Munros to go before our joint round is complete, a hiatus looms! For any who have followed our round in my reports, you will hear in this the clang of cast irony. After all, it's Caroline who has done this round with a replacement hip and chronic osteo-arthritis. And yet, at the very end, it's my body that looks like holding things up. (I say I'm happy to carry on this autumn, but Caroline says the noise of my wincing is a real turn-off. I can understand that. What wouldn't I, a male wuss, give for her pain threshold?) Anyway, there's always next year.