WESTER ROSS Wester Ross Ross Wester 212 © Lonelyplanet Walk Tooneofscotland’Sfinestcorries, Coire Mhicfhearchair
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© Lonely Planet 212 Wester Ross Wester Ross is heaven for hillwalkers: a remote and starkly beautiful part of the High- lands with lonely glens and lochs, an intricate coastline of rocky headlands and white-sand beaches, and some of the finest mountains in Scotland. If you are lucky with the weather, the clear air will provide rich colours and great views from the ridges and summits. In poor conditions the remoteness of the area makes walking a much more serious proposition. Whatever the weather, the walking can be difficult, so this is no place to begin learning mountain techniques. But if you are fit and well equipped, Wester Ross will be immensely rewarding – and addictive. The walks described here offer a tantalising taste of the area’s delights and challenges. An Teallach’s pinnacle-encrusted ridge is one of Scotland’s finest ridge walks, spiced with some scrambling. Proving that there’s much more to walking in Scotland than merely jumping out of the car (or bus) and charging up the nearest mountain, Beinn Dearg Mhór, in the heart of the Great Wilderness, makes an ideal weekend outing. This Great Wilderness – great by Scottish standards at least – is big enough to guarantee peace, even solitude, during a superb two-day traverse through glens cradling beautiful lochs. Slioch, a magnificent peak overlooking Loch Maree, offers a comparatively straightforward, immensely scenic ascent. In the renowned Torridon area, Beinn Alligin provides an exciting introduction to its consider- WESTER ROSS able challenges, epitomised in the awesome traverse of Liathach, a match for An Teallach in every way. And to recover from this expenditure of adrenaline, we recommend the gentle walk to one of Scotland’s finest corries, Coire Mhic Fhearchair. HIGHLIGHTS Revelling in the scrambling along the lofty ridges of An Teallach ( p214 ) and Liathach ( p229 ) Losing track of time in the remote and spectacular Great Wilderness ( p218 ) Looking for hobbits in the Caledonian woodland of the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve ( p225 ) Being knocked sideways by the views of Scotland’s west coast from atop the Horns of Alligin ( p228 ) www.visithighlands.com www.lonelyplanet.com WESTER ROSS •• Information 213 0 10 km Wester Ross 0 6 miles To Lochinver T H E Beinn A835 M I N C H Ghobhlach (635m) L Ullapool i tt Gruinard le Loch Bay L o c Badcaul h B room 1 Broom Isle Dundonnell of Ewe Melvaig L o c h Bidean a' Ghlas Thuill E w e (1062m) Loch na e a t Beinn Dearg G r Sealga Beinn (1081m) Dearg Mhór S Fionn tra Poolewe (910m) th Loch n a e r n e s s S d e l a i l Ruadh g A832 Loch Gairloch W a Stac Mór Gairloch L o c h Á Mhaighdean Loch (918m) Loch (967m) Sgurr Mór Glascarnoch 2 Mullach Coire Droma To Mhic Fhearchair (1110m) A835 Inverness (1019m) A832 M a r e e 3 The Fannic hs Redpoint Slioch (980m) Loch Fannich W e s t e r R o s s To L o c h T o r r i d o n Inverness Ruadh-stac Fionn Bheinn Mór (934m) WESTER ROSS Sgurr Mhór 5 Kinlochewe (1010m) e (986m) 4 h Mullach an ig A832 Rathain n E (1023m) Bein A896 Achnasheen Sgurr Torridon L Inveralligin House i a t hach a' Mhuilinn Torridon (879m) Upper Loch idon Torr Torridon len G Beinn Liath Mhór A890 Beinn Damh (926m) (902m) Carn Gorm Achnashellach (875m) Maol Chean–dearg G l e n C a r r o n (933m) Wester Ross – Maps 1 An Teallach & Beinn Dearg Mhór p215 A896 2 The Great Wilderness Traverse pp220–1 3 Slioch & Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail p224 Strathcarron 4 Beinn Alligin p228 A890 To Kyle 5 Torridon East p230 Lochcarron of Lochalsh INFORMATION demic. Straightforward walking guides in- Maps & Books clude Skye & the North West Highlands by OS Travel – Road 1:250,000 map No 3 John Brooks and Neil Wilson, which de- Western Scotland provides an excellent scribes a range of low-level and easy routes topographic overview of the region. in the area. The Scottish Mountaineering Club’s Hillwalkers’ Guide North-West Highlands Information Sources by Dave Broadhead, Alec Keith and Ted VisitScotland (%0845 225 5121; www.visithighlands Maden is exhaustive (but not exhausting!) .com) is the main resource for accommoda- and the best source of comprehensive back- tion information and reservations in the ground information. For more specialised area. enlightenment about the landscape you Traveline Scotland (%0870 608 2608; www.travel can’t do better than Northwest Highlands, inescotland.com) provides full timetable details. A Landscape Fashioned by Geology, pub- Alternatively, the Highland Council (%01463 lished by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) 702660; [email protected]) Wester and the British Geological Survey. It’s well Ross & Lochalsh public transport timetable illustrated and anything but dry and aca- is a handy reference..