May Weekend to the Strathcarron area

Six members joined the weekend outing to Strathcarron, with Elena, Heidi and Hamish staying in the Lochcarron Hotel and Bob, Willie and Cornel sharing a nearby Airbnb with great views across Loch Carron. The weather over the weekend was very good and various ascents and walks were completed.

Thursday:

Cornel: Travel from Glasgow and climbed A'Ghlas-bheinn (918m) from Morvich with the descent route via the A'Mhuc ridge to meet the track from the Falls of Glomach at the edge of the forest.

Willie: Travel from Glasgow.

Friday:

Elena, Hamish, Heidi: Travel from Glasgow and did the Lochcarron Coffin Road Circuit. Elena also did the circular Commando Memorial and High Bridge Walk en-route to Lochcarron.

Willie: On Friday, Willie climbed Carn Mor (515m) behind Strathcarron station. From the station he climbed to the spot height at 413m then along the ridge to the summit at 515m then continued NE to a faint path to descend steeply to the ruins at Arineckaig. From there he followed the track, then the minor road back to the station.

Bob: Set out to climb Beinn a'Chuirn (603m) from Mam Ratagan but turned back as he was running short of water and his phone had run out of charge.

Cornel: Climbed Beinn Liath Mhor (926m) and Sgorr Ruadh (962m) from Achnashellach in bright sunshine and with great views in all directions.

Saturday:

On Saturday, the whole group set off to climb Moruisg (926m) from the layby on the A890, just to the west of Loch Sgamhain. The lower reaches of the hill are normally very boggy, but the dry weather meant that the walking there was pretty good. The ascent was entirely in the clag, providing nice cool conditions after the heat of the previous days. We emerged above the cloud when we reached the summit ridge at around 900m, with great views to the Torridon hills sticking out of the cloud blanket. We lazed around at the summit for quite a long time, with a smaller party setting off to take a closer look into Coire Toll nam Bian and across to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean (once a Munro, now demoted to Corbett). The descent was back along the upward route, with the mist mostly clearing as we made our way down. We finished off the day with a few drinks sitting outside the Lochcarron Hotel in the sunshine.

Sunday:

Bob, Cornel: Travel home.

Willie: On Sunday, Willie had a moorland walk near Achnasheen ascending Carn na Feith-rabhain (442m) along the way. It was overcast in the morning with sun in the afternoon .. the normally boggy areas were mainly walkable and he returned to the car with dry boots.

Elena, Heidi, Hamish: Ardaneaskan circuit near Lochcarron followed by a visit to the ruins of Strome Castle. Elena also did a coastal walk west of Lochcarron.

Everybody agreed that Lochcarron made a good base for our walks and although the hotel was quite busy and a bit understaffed, the food was excellent. Another great weekend, with good company, good weather and good walks!

Cornel Brozio

May Weekday Walk to Barony Hill

I picked up Diane and we drove down to Dailly, parking in the square. We left the square and walked up the road to Balcarnie Farm then on to Whitehill Farm. The track from the farm was covered in old plastic football pitch material which made for easy walking.

At the end of the track, it started to rain so we got the overtrousers on. We followed the wall, and crossing a stile were on the hillside. Following marker posts we eventually found the track to the summit of Barony Hill. As we neared the trig point, the sun made a brief appearance. We had nice views to the East but to the West as the nearby hills were covered in cloud, so we didn’t get the view of Ailsa Craig.

After taking photos, we headed down to Glenlee Wood and found the well defined path. It was a good path but several fallen trees had to be ducked under or climbed over. We found a spot with some stones to sit on and stopped for some food.

We continued on the path coming out on a minor road before crossing the B741 to find the path to the Water of Girvan. In places there was no path, but it was a nice walk beside the river. Eventually we came to a footbridge and crossed over next to the old Dalquharran Castle. There was a good path, and after a short distance we crossed back on a modern bridge and then back to the square in Dailly.

Bob MacDonald