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Ciste Dhubh Aonach Meadhoin Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg Saileag Map The North Shiel Ridge. I set off from just East of the Cluanie Inn at the point where the Allt a Chaorainn Bhig meets the A87. It was a beautiful day and I was soon sweating as I walked up the long, somewhat boggy glen, An Caorann Beag, with the sun on my back. At the head of the glen there was a short climb to reach the bealach (Bealach a Choinich) where you find yourself facing the slopes of the outlying hill, An Cnapach. The path across the bealach was rather indistinct - it's a bit boggy there too - but the thing to do is to aim just to the right of the large crag on the left of the hillside.
A steep but easy climb took me to the crest of this hillside where the gradient lessened as the path continued towards the summit of An Cnapach. Before reaching this summit, however, the path splits and a narrow, slightly exposed track cutting across the steep hillside allowed me to bypass the peak. I carried on along some similar exposed paths to reach the summit of Ciste Dhubh at 10.42.
I left the top at 11.00 and made my way back to the Bealach a Choinich where I passed 2 blokes on their way up. Prior to that I'd also passed a rather terse middle-aged woman with a dog - they were ahead of me and making their way down as I was on my way up. The dog had playfully jumped up and landed its paws directly on my privates. Ouch. From the bealach I couldn't see any sign of a path up the next hill, Aonach Meadhoin, so I just set off straight up the hillside - it was steepish but not difficult. Grassy mostly, with a few more rocks near the top. I got up to a ridge where there was a trace of a path which I followed to the Eastern top, Sgurr an Fhuarail. From there I dropped down a bit before climbing along a narrow ridge to the summit of Aonach Meadhoin (12.55).
The ridge then continued in an entertainingly windy, up and down way, grassy and narrow in places but not at all taxing - all the hard work had been done on the first 2 peaks. A fine ridge walk with the odd bit of scrambling took me all the way to the next peak, Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg which I reached at 2.05. There's a very impressive and well-constructed cairn at the summit, perched right on the top of a rocky pinnacle; it's at the end of a short, rather pointless dry stone wall.
After that it was a further nice ridge walk, again narrow in places, to the final Munro, Saileag (3.12). An easy ascent with not much height to gain when coming from this direction.
After a brief pause to admire the view I continued along the ridge, descending easily to the col which lies at the start of the Five Sisters. From there I turned south and followed a path steeply down the hillside to the road (4.32) where I sat on a rock and waited for Trisha to pick me up. (5.05) | |||||||||
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