[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 26th May 2002   A' Chailleach Carn Sgulain Carn Dearg Map I left the car at 9.30 and set off along the path which skirted the trees on the right and continued north. There's a very small cairn - well a few stones - by the side of the cart-track to show where you turn off left, and having done that you find a small bridge over the Allt a' Chaorainn which is invisible from the path. Over you go and plod up the peaty, heathery hillside, following the track which is faint at times, but the way is obvious with the mountain right there before you. Very humid through the lower approach and I sweated a lot. I passed a bothy halfway up and carried on up to the rounded summit of A' Chailleach (11.30), the final ascent being over firmer ground. My notes said: 'long damp soggy slog. Steepish & boggy up to shoulder of mountain, then boggy and gentle slope then final slog up to top.' I passed an eagle's skull - think it was an eagle's, very big for a bird anyway. Maybe I should have brought it back… but not very hygienic, eh. Looking back at the bothy Summit of A' Chailleach Between A' Chailleach and Carn Sgulain runs the valley of the Allt Cuill na Caillich. A path leads towards this from the A' Chailleach summit but it disappeared, then a cart track led on but ended up curving further and further away to the left. After a while I gave up on it and decided to make straight for Carn Sgulain. It was a bit of a slog then, through bog and peat down to the bottom of the valley and then up the other side to the top, where I met a chap from Nantwich. I got him to take my picture by the cairn (12.20) as the rain began to fall - it didn't rain very much though. Summit of Carn Sgulain He set off while I had a sandwich but I caught up with him a bit further along, got to talking and ended up doing the rest of the route together. He was about 28, average build, red beard, red anorak, and had done about 168 Munros, many of the same ones as I had done. He'd been to Hatfield Poly/University of Herts. From Carn Sgulain there's a long, easy ridge walk of about 4 miles, mostly following a line of old fence posts. Not so boggy at that height and the path was generally much drier with a few rocks scattered about. At a Top called Carn Ban we turned SSE and climbed up a short, moderately steep slope to reach the top of Carn Dearg (2.30). The summit of Carn Dearg Carn Dearg seen from the descent The descent is by retracing your steps a bit and taking the initially rocky path down into Gleann Ballach, then angling eastwards through peat and heather, mostly losing the path, to cross over into the next valley via the col between Meall na Ceardaich and Creag Liath. The path was nowhere to be seen by then but you just head down to the valley bottom, ford the stream, the Allt Fionndrigh, and follow the cart track which runs along it. This took us all the way back to the car, ambling through grassy meadows in the final stages. Back at the car 16.40. Red picked up by his parents who were on holiday up there - he was up there on work and had to be in Aberdeen the next day.