A Wilderness Walk

T.E. Edwards

A walk through the Fisherfield and Letterewe deer forests from Dundonnell to Poolewe has been described as long and strenuous across an uninhabited and mountainous wilderness.  To combine it with an ascent of five Corbetts seemed to be an appropriate challenge for two members of the YRC.

The middle of May was selected as it appeared to offer the best chance of settled weather, a matter of some importance since there is virtually no shelter and no escape routes in the event of adverse weather or other difficulty.  This time of year also offered relative freedom from midges and from conflict with deer stalking interests in an area hitherto known for its apparent antagonism towards visitors.   Possible campsites were selected beforehand to minimise the carrying of full packs over summits.

Come Hallie, our starting point, is not quite the place it used to be.  Gone is the small shop for purchase of the final things one forgot, and parking is quite a significant problem.  Such appears to be the attraction of A’Mhaighdean and its satellites, but also for Shenevall Bothy.  We actually met two German visitors who assured us that a visit to the bothy was a must in their tourist guide books!

The track to Shenevall is now wide and worn and easy to follow.   Pausing on the tiresome downhill section to the bothy we had a superb view of two of our Corbetts -Bevinn Dearg Mor and the lower Beinn Dearg Bheag – the next day standing majestically across Strath na Sealga with its two potentially problematical river crossings.  The bothy was busy so we moved on to the first river crossing which in the event caused us no problem -our feet were dry.  A way across the second river crossing had to be teased out but eventually a camp stop was made at the Gleann na Muice and Gleann na Muice Bheag junction of the paths.  The isolation of the area was underlined by the plaque commemorating the death of two walkers in an explosion which destroyed the old bothy near Larachantivare.  The open tent flap revealed the majestic An Teallach glowing red in the brilliant evening sun.  The cold clear night was uneventful apart from an hallucinating experience of the deer making off with the bread supply.

Day one proper saw us decamp to haul the rucsacs up to Loch Bheinn Dearg.  Having dumped there, fairly rapid progress up the steep hillside put us on the bealach and after a still steeper scramble over rough ground brought us to the substantial summit cairn of Bhein Dearg Mor magnificent viewpoint and almost a Munro.  This is perhaps fortunate in that it has few visitors despite its splendid appearance.   Standing at the cairn on a magnificent spring morning brought to mind the contrasting experiences of another YRC member who fought for the summit in deep winter snows of a February visit.

At the summit we met the only two people on any of our hills; they appeared to be doing the opposite of our route but with the addition of “a few Munros thrown in for good measure”.  After repeatedly drinking in the astonishingly clear views we descended steeply to the bealach and re-climbed steeply over rocks to the narrow airy summit of Bheinn Dearg Bheag our second Corbett.  Here by contrast with that of its bigger neighbour the cairn consists of approximately four small rocks -not very convincing as a summit in bad weather or a white out.

Reluctantly a descent was made to collect the sacs at the lock and a very steep ascent made on the Carnmore track westwards.  After some huffing and puffing the level section was reached and a camp site chosen for our second night at Lochan Feith Mhic Illean.  With the day still young and the sun shining from a cloudless blue sky easy walking uphill in a strong chilling wind brought us to our third Corbett of the day with its ancient looking cairn hidden amongst the summit rocks.  Beinn a’Chaisgein Mor has a dramatic Jekyll and Hyde character – compare the easy easterly route of our ascent with the precipitous eastern faces of Cammor and Sgurr na Laocainn climbing crags.  It also affords a dramatic view of the coast and the islands together with views of the A’Mhaighdean and our hills climbed earlier in the day.

Day three began with minor excitement, the water reserve inside the tent had frozen.  This perhaps wasn’t surprising as one of the occupants with an inadequate sleeping bag had risen several times during the night to don extra clothes.  Another surprise on opening the tent door was a dramatic view of the 400 metre high crags of Beinn Lair’s north east face.  Somewhere at the top of those cliffs was our summit of later in the day.

The next stage of the walk was pure delight – a downhill section on a well-made Victorian stalkers track which led us down to Carnmore and the causeway crossing between the Fionn Loch and the Dubh Loch.  A curious feature of the causeway was movable spiked railings presumably to keep the deer on Colonel Whitbread’s patch.  They could easily be replaced to keep out today’s visitors.  The pressure exerted by human visitors to a wilderness area was clearly seen at Carnmore with several tents pitched nearby, which was a far cry from the days when visiting climbers tents were vandalised.  The fashion nowadays is said to involve hacksawing of mountain bicycle frames! One hopes that this is not true.  Despite the presence of humans we had an excellent sighting of an otter swimming freely near the shore of the FionnLoch.

We were jolted from our lethargy by the thought of the next objective -the summit cairn of Beinn Lair.  Leaving the sacs again we set off by the initially steep and eroded path over the Bealach Mheimidh, the old supply route from Letterewe on Loch Maree to Carnmore.  Nowadays supplies go in by boat along the Fionn Loch.  From the summit of the path fine views across Loch Maree to Liathach, Ben Eighe and the peaks of the Flawerdale forest unfolded.  We followed the edge of Beinn Lair’s dramatic cliffs over stony ground to the huge plateau-like summit of Beinn Lair with a very fine tall conical cairn topped with gleaming quartzite rock.  What a fine place on a fine day; being on this mountain on a day of gales and storms with rescue at least 20 kilometres away made us reflect on our good fortune.  Putting this thought behind us we descended by the path to our rucksacs and lunch.

After lunch with the sun high overhead and a deteriorating path under our feet, we made slower progress high above the Fionn Lock towards our fifth Corbett -Beinn Airigh Chaff.  Part way along the path the significance of even the smallest of cairns in Scotland was brought home to us -a junction of routes which we wanted to find.  A couple of Mars bars at this point enabled us to admire the profusion of spring flowers and more dramatically the steep side of Martha’s Peak.  Martha was a legendary figure who fell off the Peak while tending a herd of goats.   We decided to give the corrie at the side of the crag a miss and to continue around the north side of the Corbett to our previously identified final camp site.  This was a good site with a stream nearby and a stalkers track for the morrow.  After a very windy night, sleep being at a premium in a flapping tent, the stalkers track was followed in a south easterly direction to a wide bealach, then finally very steeply up a slag-strewn slope to the sharp summit of the hill. Being nearer the coast than the other Corbetts and standing in a more isolated position we expected a grand view, and we got it through 360°.  The view even included ‘The Hebridean Princess’, erstwhile the Caledonian MacBrayne 1 St.  Columba’, at anchor off the National Trust’s splendid Inverewe Gardens.  We reflected on the cost of a weeks cruise on this boat in the high season of £4000 per person.  Our land cruise by comparison seemed to be a very modest affair in keeping with Club tradition.  Before leaving Beinn Airigh Charr we were reminded of the looming fate of ordinance survey triangulation stations i.e.  trig.   points, so reassuring in uncertain circumstances.  A wrecked stone trig point and a cannibalised circular concrete one in bad shape completed the summit furniture.  Satellite surveying may be all very well in the future but the reassurance of the Trip point will be missed, unless one can find a sponsor for the one on Bein Airigh Charr for example!

Filled with the enthusiasm of having collected our five planned Corbetts we set off at a pace to pack up the tent and head for Poolewe.  With the spectacular mountain scenery now behind, we were rewarded on our walk-out with amazingly beautiful and luscious vegetation and the brilliant springtime colours of the rhododendrons and azaleas in the vicinity of the finely situated house of Inveran.

In a couple of miles we were there, Poolewe and the public road.   Though this sounded fine we reminded ourselves that the car was still 26 miles away on a road with no public transport.  However, Tuesday was the day after, just time for liquid refreshment at the oh so convenient hostelry and mutual congratulations, Wullie arrived as usual on Tuesdays in his white transit van.  He travelled the Highlands delivering electrical components and I suspect had several times helped stranded across­wilderness travellers.  After a speedy journey to Carrie Hallie along the spectacular coastline road with a full commentary worthy of a coach tour we were relieved to get to our car.

In summary a magnificent 38 mile walk in dramatic surroundings under what turned out to be brilliant and settled weather.  In fact the walk was so successful we thought a winter traverse might be challenging; then again it might not, when one thought of a climber not found for eight months less than three miles from a main road.

One final thought: nowadays it is not a wilderness, one hopes that the fate of Knoydart in recent times will not befall Fisherfleld and Letterewe.