Return to the Eastern Fannichs

With both the walks I had planned to do over the weekend completed in one go, and my wife up to 100 Munros, all the kids busy, and another day of uninterrupted sunshine forecast, we decided to complete the Fannich hills before heading home to Perth. After two night of dreadful sleep in the tent, we got a decent bed at the Alltguish Inn (nice room, good bed and shower, poor breakfast) before heading to the start point just along the road. The little car park by the metereological station marks the entry point to the Eastern Fannish from the Ullapool Rd, which is accessed by a bulldozed track through a forest just S/E of the bridge over the Abhain an Torrain Duibh. This track, is at once rather pleasant as it winds through open woodland, but equally hellish as it contains brutal swarms of cleggs which dive-bomb any walker who dares bare any skin.

Just before the end of the forest the track dives to the right, into denser forestry and millions of cleggs. On the map there seems to be no further path or track after this point, but in fact the track continues across the glen and almost all the way up Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich via the broad Creag Dhubh Fannaich ridge. It's a long slow climb which was probably just as well as it was extremely hot and I was carrying five litres of fluid!

Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich is a lovely hill, with especially great views of the Beinn Dearg group and An Teallach's distinctive shape to the North. What really grabs the attention however is Sgurr Mor, the next hill in this round - and one of the finest peaks in this range. Last time I climbed this it was only glimpsed intermittently between swirling clouds - but this weekend it shimmered in bright sunshine! What a sight. Also quite a climb!

The long south-westerly ridge took us over Meall nan Peithrean, Meall Gorm and a big pull up to An Coileachan before a big descent Northwards towards Loch Gorm from where we could see the car, the other side of the clegg-ridden Forest of Doom! There are no photos of this part of the walk, we were being eaten alive!

This was a wonderful weekend, which had it all - time together, sun, sea, hills, peaks, wildlife, and views as goos as anywhere in the world! If Scotland had weather like this reliably, the tourist industry would be a goldmine!