Glencoe - Allt na Muidhe watershed

With a fine mid week forecast and a left-over bank holiday a mid-week bagging trip seemed a good idea. At the north end of Glencoe is the hidden Munro of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. Not content with such a small bag we decided to make a round of the watershed, so 2 Corbetts of Beinn Maol Chaluim and Meall Lighiche together with the Graham of Meall Mor were added to the route.

A small parking space off the A82 near Achnacon just opposite a stile made an ideal start point for the run up Fionn Ghleann to the first hill. It was surprisingly chilly and the first run for a while where I was glad of hat and gloves. We picked up sheep trods high up on the sides of the glen and made rapid progress to the summit. From Beinn Maol Chalium we backtracked and then traversed back south on a fantastic trod to the bealach beneath Creag Dubh. A couple of steeper rock bands interspersed with grass on a ridge led first to the Munro Top and finally to the Munro of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. The route coming off, following the fence in a north-westerly direction, had a sting in the tail when a wet, slabby area required some delicate scrambling before we got back to less steep ground again. Down in the bealach we came across an old gate leading from nowhere to nowhere. Along much of the route we followed old fence lines, marked now with the bare iron stanchions, the wire having long since rusted away. The effort and cost of erecting such a fence must have been huge.

The rest of the route up and over the broad summits of Meall Lighiche and Meall Mor was nicely runnable and even the final drop straight back down to the A82 was pleasant. Although only 10 miles, much of the ground was rough and steep almost completely lacking in paths with fantastic views both of Glencoe and the surrounding hills.

As always the weather was not to last and a very mixed day weather-wise on Sunday lead to the last of my Munros on Skye (Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr nan Eag) bagged. The scrambling on the ridge was easier than anticipated and this time round we made it into the Corrie with ease. Just follow the highest path (not well-cairned despite what the SMC book says) on your left and scramble up left of the left-most of the three streams. Easy really ; o) Only 14 Munros left for my boss who was really happy to have finally got the ridged completed. Rum looked impressive under the leaden skies and despite the heavy showers it was another long, enjoyable day out.