This time I came in on the track from Glencanisp Lodge which is in excellent condition and gives fast and easy walking. As soon as this track is abandoned, just short of Loch na Gainimh, one must flounder through some fairly awful bog to reach Loch a'Choire Ghuibh which lies at the foot of the steep gully to Bealach Mor. There is a zigzag track of sorts but today it ran into patches of old snow and it seemed easier to go straight up the middle. Fortunately the snow patches were easily avoided as they would certainly have put the route out of bounds as a walker's approach. This part of the ascent was not really enjoyable and, being badly eroded, was even less pleasant on the way down. Higher up the zigzags are better preserved however with a choice of right or left fork round a small rocky pinnacle. Both versions emerge on the ridge which startled me by being exceedingly narrow at this point with the southern gully looking even more unpleasant than the northern.
All the books tell of the odd segment of wall which crosses the ridge just above the bealach and of the easy ascent to the west and higher top. Somehow this had made me visualise it as a simple grassy plod and I was pleasantly surprised to find it rocky and in places quite narrow. The top itself is grassy but still has a remarkably airy feel to it. The books cite this summit as a marvellous viewpoint and so it is, although in most directions the landscape looks far flatter than it really is, a plain of bog and lochans. To someone very familiar with this area something was missing, the most striking feature in any Assynt view, the unmistakeable profile of Suilven! By far the most striking prospect was eastwards, along the summit ridge to the east top, seen from an aspect which was certainly not familiar. It was this pointed top which had me clicking away at the camera but I rather chicken heartedly declined to visit it having read of difficult scrambling thereon. In fact I was quite relieved to reach the foot of the gully again as I don't really enjoy such steep and eroded descents. I relaxed by the lochan in complete silence and solitude. I had fully expected that my long record of meeting no other walkers on a Graham since Binnein Shios would be broken on this popular hill but although there were many recent bootmarks I met nobody all day.
I varied the return only by a short diversion to Suileag bothy where I wrote my web address in the bothy book! If anybody finds my website as a result of that entry please mail me and let me know!
It was tempting to continue westwards where another stalker's track is shown descending to Strathconon, however Rowland had that map and had gone for a cycle ride up the glen having climbed this hill before. Hence I felt honour bound to do it as quickly as possible and came down at great speed, rejecting both tracks and taking a line through the heather between them.
The route onto the hill must be one of the most thoroughly waymarked paths in Britain in its lower reaches and is obviously well used. The summit gives an almost full length view of Loch Ness, the slightly lower cairn reached just before the true top being better placed in this respect. This is not quite the best viewpoint for Loch Ness in my opinion however, that accolade belonging to the 555m Marilyn, Beinn a'Bhacaidh, at the south-eastern end of the loch. Beyond these lower eastern hills today we could see the Cairngorms, completely white with fresh snow.
As we ate our lunch another walker came up to the top, the first person met on a Marilyn since Ben Stack. Clearly he was not collecting Grahams since he did not continue to Glas-bheinn Mhor. I continued south down the rather rocky ridge until the western cliffs eased and allowed a descent to the end of Loch nam Breac Dearga. An easy climb past another small loch led up to the trig point on the lower Graham. I then cut back to the ridge of Meall Fuar-mhonaidh to rejoin the path. On the way I had a splendid view of a hunting fox, unaware of being observed, with a strikingly white tipped tail.
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