{"id":5414,"date":"2019-06-01T09:39:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T08:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5414"},"modified":"2019-05-26T17:04:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T16:04:39","slug":"looking-down-on-mysteries-of-loch-mullardoch-from-glen-affric-munros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/2019\/06\/01\/looking-down-on-mysteries-of-loch-mullardoch-from-glen-affric-munros\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking down on mysteries of Loch Mullardoch from Glen Affric Munros"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glen Affric is so often described as one of the most beautiful glens in Scotland that it\u2019s becoming something of a clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n

But the thing about clich\u00e9s is that they are often repeated ad nauseum because they are true \u2013 and that\u2019s certainly the case with Affric.<\/p>\n

I just can\u2019t seem to stay away from the place at the minute! This weekend I\u2019ll be back, leading a group from the Inverness Ramblers on this very route, which takes in two of the area\u2019s most easily accessible Munros.<\/p>\n

\"\"
John on his way up Tom a’ Choinich, approaching the narrowing of the ridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most easterly, Toll Creagach, is often dismissed as a \u2018lump\u2019, an unkind description of any hill if you ask me. But it is true to say that as you head west from that point the ridge gets more and more interesting, culminating in the highest point north of the Great Glen at Carn Eige.<\/p>\n

Last time I\u2019d walked into Gleann nam Fiadh from the new car park at Chisholme Bridge, that had been my target. This time the walk wouldn\u2019t be quite so far.<\/p>\n

Peter and I headed up the nice little path through the trees which climbs up to meet a track, which you follow to the right to reach a small hydro scheme. Beyond here you\u2019re back on more familiar territory \u2013 a typically boggy mountain path through the glen, and we followed this as far as the Allt Toll Easa.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Allt Toll Easa is crossed just before the climb to the bealach begins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A good path heads off to the right at a small cairn just the other side of the burn, and we followed this as it climbs to a hidden valley at the base of the ridge to Creag na h-Inghinn, which offers a more direct line to the summit of Tom a\u2019 Choinich.<\/p>\n

But my plan was to continue on the old path to the Bealach Toll Easa, from where you can gain the first Munro via a great little narrow ridge.<\/p>\n

The path itself has always fascinated me too. These hills were among the first I climbed after moving north to Inverness more than 11 years ago, and poring over the map it seemed odd that this well-made path continued over the bealach and down over the shoulder of the hill\u2019s north ridge before diving head-first into the cold waters of Loch Mullardoch.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Loch Mullardoch and Toll Creagach from the base of Tom a’ Choinich’s east ridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The large dam at the eastern end of the loch is the start of the explanation, but there\u2019s a whole hidden history down there, lurking below the surface and just occasionally on the shores.<\/p>\n

Before the 1952 Affric-Cannich hydro scheme was built, the path continued to Benula Lodge (in fact, there were two lodges \u2013 Benula Lodge and Old Benula Lodge) and connected with a track that led west past what was then Loch Lungard (now swallowed up by its neighbour Loch Mullardoch) to Glen Elchaig via Iron Lodge.<\/p>\n

Heading east from Benula Lodge there was a single-track public road along the north side of Loch Mullardoch, where now there is nothing but a reputedly horrible path. Imagine the possibilities if access to upper Glen Cannich was available today! It seems the hydro board wasn\u2019t required to reinstate this road \u2013 as it was in other places in the country \u2013 because there was no community left for it to serve.<\/p>\n

Just the odd ruin \u2013 and a few curious marks on a modern map \u2013 remain to show what was once a glen full of life, as well as possibilities for routes into and through the hills.<\/p>\n

Back at the bealach, we headed west to soon gain the bottom of the east ridge to Tom a\u2019 Choinich. A path winds its way up through the rocks, the ridge narrowing towards the top, though there are no particular difficulties and a bypass path also provides an alternative option.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Peter makes his way towards the snowy summit of Tom a’ Choinich.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cloud had come in and the wind was buffeting us, so our stay at the summit cairn was short-lived and we turned to descend the same ridge back to the bealach. From there we continued east, the ridge climbing a short way before a long plateau that leads to a higher bealach above Coire Odhair.<\/p>\n

Along the way our view down to Loch Mullardoch was unbroken, giving us chance to consider the changed landscape to the north \u2013 as well as contemplate future trips to access the remote Mullardoch Munros, perhaps by boat to save that horrible walk along the shore.<\/p>\n

The final ascent to the \u2018lump\u2019 of Toll Creagach is over an easy grassy and rocky slope, the cairn marking the higher spot on the summit rather than the nearby trig point which is surrounded by a small shelter.<\/p>\n

The descent is less easy on the legs, as it goes steeply south over a series of terraces. We aimed west of Beinn Eun in order to avoid crags on its far side and, moving over towards the burn running out of Coire Odhair nearer the bottom, we were able to pick up some sort of trod that led us back into Gleann nam Fiadh, a short distance from the run-of-river hydro scheme, from where we followed the easy route back.<\/p>\n

This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>

<\/div>\n

Route details<\/h3>\n

Tom a\u2019 Choinich and Toll Creagach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Distance<\/strong> 11.5 miles \/ 18.5km<\/p>\n

Terrain<\/strong> Forest path, track, hill paths, narrow ridge, pathless mountain<\/p>\n

Start\/finish<\/strong> Chisholme Bridge, Glen Affric<\/p>\n

Maps<\/strong> OS Landranger 25; OS Explorer 415<\/p>\n

Path to nowhere tells a fascinating story of what lies below the water<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glen Affric is so often described as one of the most beautiful glens in Scotland that it\u2019s becoming something of a clich\u00e9. But the thing about clich\u00e9s is that they are often repeated ad nauseum because they are true \u2013 and that\u2019s certainly the case with Affric. I just can\u2019t seem to stay away from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Affric-Munros-28.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5M0xs-1pk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5440,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414\/revisions\/5440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bl6.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}