Inver Croft, Achnasheen – 29th-30th October 2021

Members Attending

James D Fraser; Raymond Evenden; John Calder; Jim Aire; Bill Dallas; George Henderson; Susan Henderson; Alyn McNaughton; Mike Partington; Tom Monaghan; Lorn Smith

Guests

Fran Nicol & Louise McCulloch

Apologies

Duncan MacLeod; William MacMillan; Adrian Mowat & Ania Borg

Intro

A lot of water had passed under the boardwalk since the club last graced the Jacobite Mountaineering Club’s Inver Croft at Achnasheen, back in February 2019. The hut is in a great location, albeit pretty unique in having to cross a bridge over the River Gowan and a series of elevated and ramped boardwalks, complete with passing places, through the marshlands to reach it. Headtorches a must in the dark and wheelbarrows are provided to help limit the number of trips between car and hut.

James and Raymond had stolen a march on everyone, by travelling up on Thursday and arriving at the hut to be greeted by a fine evening and sunset, which no doubt set the mood and allowed them to have a ~~romantic~~ cosy evening by the fire. The excitement was clearly too much for them both as they overdid it on the whisky and suffered the consequences on Friday morning.

Those that have had the pleasure of staying will know that it is a very comfortable, well-appointed hut in a stunning location, with a mouth-watering array of hills in the immediate area and also within easy striking distance.

Friday

Jim and Lorn set off early and after a brief pit-stop in Inverness, made for Ben Wyvis. After a good hike up and on to Wyvis, with good views of the Torridon hills; the Fannichs; Fisherfields & An Teallach; they met two local-ish guys who had cycled a 60km route around the base of Wyvis the day before and walked up it today. Not content with just the Ben, our intrepid duo dumped their packs by the plantation just off the track and set off up Little Wyvis, a Corbett. There was a sting in the tail though as Little Wyvis proved to be horrendously wet underfoot (Ben Wyvis had been relatively dry) and, after gaining the summit of the latter, they couldn’t get off this hill quickly enough, soaked to the shins!

John Calder had been holidaying not too far away and, after seeing his better half safely on the road home, was soon at the hut and appeared with a barrow just in time to assist with the wood and coal cargo.

*The troops assembling at Inver (a miserable bunch!) – Lorn Smith*

George, Susan, Mike P, Bill and Louise headed off for some Torridonian fun, by tackling Maol Chean-dearg from the East. This is a terrific hike and offers amazing views in all directions.

*L-R: Mike, Susan, George & Louise on Maol-Chean-dearg – Bill Dallas*

*Looking SW from Maol Chean-dearg to Sgorr Ruadh & out over Loch Carron – Bill Dallas*

Wallace joined Jim and Lorn today, complete with brand new, untried bike, for the ride up the track from Achanshellach Station to do Sgurr Choinnich; Sgurr a’ Chaorachain and Maoile Lunndaidh. The steep start proved pretty adventurous for Jim when the pedal fell off his NOT so brand-new bike, about two-thirds of the way up the track. We were unable to fix it so, removed the pedal and Jim pushed it to the top of the climb up the track, ready for a freewheel return to the car at the end of the day. He then ran the rest of the track to stay ahead of Lorn and Wallace and arrived at the start of the walk ahead of them!

*Jim pushing his pedal-less chariot up the track – Lorn Smith*

Not content with that excitement, Jim launched himself onto the wire bridge over the river and, halfway across, his feet shot out on the wire from under him and he found himself hanging on, parallel to the surface of the water, the gurgling river splashing at his rucksack. It seemed inevitable, to the watching and very concerned pair on the riverbank at least, that Jim would have to land in the river to get out of this one however, defying the laws of physics, gravity and all logic, he performed a manoeuvre that even a seasoned trapeze artist would have been proud of, earning an 11 out of 10 from the gobsmacked (and mildly disappointed) judges!! Sadly, no photographic evidence of this episode was captured.

*All is calm again on the wire bridge – Lorn Smith*

They then carried on over the Munros, Sgurr Choinnich and Sgurr a’ Chaorachain, and the going to the third and final one of the day, Maoile Lunndaidh, was particularly soggy down in the glen, with the trio spreading out and picking their way through it, some with more re-ascent afterwards than others. There are three tops on Maoile Lunndaidh and, after passing over the first one, Carn nam Fiaclan, the lads were drawn towards the stunning beauty of the Fuar-tholl Mor corrie, passed around the middle top, Creag Toll a’ Choin, and across to Maoile Lunndaidh itself. The latter two, both at 1005m, have created some debate as to which is to be regarded the true summit these days. It sparked a lot of debate back at the hut, so much so that Jim sought the advice of Anne Butler, who confirmed ML as the true summit (on some maps at 1007m).

*Jim descending Maoile Lunndaidh – Lorn Smith*

*Fuar-tholl Coire (from Creag Tholl a’ Choin) – Lorn Smith*

Sunday

The Sunday was overcast and windy, but dry.

Most people opted to start the the long drive south as soon as the hut had been tidied and cleaned but
Jim and Lorn had a quick blast up and down Fhionn Bheinn from Achansheen, before hitting the road.

The mid-section of the route was quite damp underfoot as usual, but otherwise fine and the cloud base was above summits so, the views East, North and West were very decent. There was a stiff, cold wind blasting over the tops that they’d been protected from pretty much all the way up so, didn’t hang around for long.