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Meall a' Chrasgaidh Sgurr nan Clach Geala Sgurr nan Each Map On holiday with Trisha for two weeks - this week we were staying in Kilcoy chalets near Dingwall. This was a nice day, some sun, some cloud but the tops were clear. Starting from the bend in the A832 there's a longish but level approach of about 3 miles, the first bit to Loch a' Bhraoin being a cart track which skirts to the right of some conifer woods. Having reached the loch and passed the ruined building there, you cross a little wooden bridge over nothing much and either walk forward across a peaty, boggy, flat meadow or follow the sandy loch shore round - either way you end up on the well-trodden path up alongside the Allt Breabaig.
A couple of miles further on you should cut off left to ascend the first hill, which is Meall a' Chrasgaidh, but naturally I missed the turn and continued for about another mile before setting off up Sgurr nan Clach Geala by mistake. (the lay of the land made it hard to be sure the first rises were really the mountain I was looking for and not just a minor outcrop.) I began climbing what I thought to be Meall a' Chrasgaidh (but which was really Sgurr nan Clach Geala) then about three quarters of the way up I saw a party of 6 sensible climbers slowly plodding up the mountain on my left and with sinking heart realised my mistake. Oh bollocks, I thought. Kind of annoying, eh, but I had no choice but to tack across and fortunately I managed not to lose too much height; finally reached the top of Meall a' Chrasgaidh at 12.25, where one of the climbers kindly took my photo.
I had left the car at 9.50 and had started up the wrong hill at 10.55. Saw some deer on the way up. Leaving the top of Meall a' Chrasgaidh at 12.40 I carried on through a few spots of light rain and followed a fine, narrow shoulder up past the sheer cliffs of the western corrie to the summit of Sgurr nan Clach Geala (13.40). Here I was rewarded with a great view of Sgurr Mor which I'd climbed two years earlier - a fine, distinctive looking peak.
From Sgurr nan Clach Geala it was a straightforward descent south to the bealach between this hill and the next, and an easy ascent up a narrowish ridge took me to the top of Sgurr nan Each (14.35); the rain had stopped by now and there were good views all round. The return was by retracing the path as far as the bealach and then bearing left down the hillside, quite steeply and without much sign of a path, to the col separating these 3 hills on the east, Sgurr Breac rising to the west, the Allt Breabaig valley descending to the north and the Allt Leac a' Bhealaich valley descending to the south - like a little platform with ups and downs on all sides. I followed the Allt Breabaig eventually picking up the path for the long walk back to the car - 17.05.
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