[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 29th July 2007   Gleouraich Spidean Mialach Map After breaking our fast at Marigold's it was back to Loch Quoich again, this time continuing 3.1 miles beyond the dam and parking in a small layby. There was a camper van parked there already but otherwise all was quiet and as remote and isolated as ever. Then just moments later a whopping great cavalcade of about 6 cars drew up, all trying to fit in there at the same time - they couldn't, of course, and some ended up having to try further up the road. It proved to be a bunch of happy hikers from a walking club. The happy hikers messed about rather a lot getting ready, however, and consequently we set off before them (9.50), close on the heels of the camper van mob (a man, 2 women and a dog) who were taking the same route as us. It was good to get away from the layby as a fair few midges were dancing around in the air there. It had been raining as we drove in but it was ok now - remained very changeable throughout the day. Whenever the cloud drifted in it was pretty cold and the brief showers that fell were bordering on sleet. Still at least it always passed on, we got some decent views and we could generally see where we were going. Looking West over Loch Quoich There is an excellent path up Gleouraich, zigzagging up the grassy hillside at a very easily maintainable angle. It felt like you could just keep going on that path for ages without the need for any rest pauses. Then, once up on the main shoulder, the path continued along the western edge of the mountain with steep drops on the left-hand side and a grand view of the northern inlet of Loch Quoich, along which we'd walked yesterday. Andrew overlooking the northern inlet The final stretch up Gleouraich On reaching the northern end of the massif the path turned right and steepened for the final pull up to the summit, which we reached at 11.40. The camper van mob were there, sitting by the cairn and munching their butties, and they kindly agreed to to take our summit photo. They left before us and when we ourselves were getting ready to leave I caught sight of the first of the happy hikers plodding up about ¼ mile below us. As it happened we were to see no more of them after that - they must have returned after doing the single peak. Gleouraich summit Summit cairn and South Shiel ridge Our way forward now was east along a fine ridge towards the second Munro of the day, Spidean Mialach. The weather came and went but wasn't too bad as we made our way over an interim 'top', taking in the impressive, rock-strewn corries on the northern side. Then, shedding quite a bit of height, we dropped down to the 740 metre level before commencing the final climb up Spidean Mialach. Stone-littered slopes with steepish drops falling away on the left. We arrived at the top at 13.30 at the same time as a spell of cloud and sleet; all very cold so we didn't hang about. Spidean Mialach Spidean Mialach summit We set off down a distinct, easy to follow path and headed towards the right-hand side of a large, high-level lochan called Loch Fearna. It was a straightforward descent and the path took us all the way back to the road leaving us just a few hundred yards to walk back to the car. Saw one frog. On the way down We drove south to Moffat and stayed at Rockhill (£27.50), a B&B which I realised I'd stayed in before (August 2003 before Beinn Dubhchraig - it was £25 then). In the evening we managed to get a meal of stuffed jalapeno peppers and chips (£6.25) in the Balmoral Hotel and Restaurant (ie a pub). Pretty exotic, eh. Was ok. We then ventured into the public bar of the Star Hotel whose clientele tend to be on the extremely loud side - fucking was the favourite adjective. There was an old bloke sitting at the end of the bar wearing milk-bottle thickness glasses, two tarty lasses and a few overweight, overloud young blokes. Andrew and I started a game of dominoes but it was difficult to concentrate amidst the noise so we eventually decamped to a totally different type of place - the Buccleuch Arms. All very quiet and sedate here - shortly after we arrived we became the only ones there - and we continued the dominoes game to a satisfactory conclusion. The barman there was a Zimbabwean who had come back to his ancestral home (Scotland) because of the virtual collapse of Zimbabwe. He was cheerful enough about it though.