Beinn na Muice
29 October 2007
It was another sunny morning in Inverness with a light covering of
snow on the top of Ben Wyvis. I was en-route to Glen Strathfarrar to
climb the Graham, Beinn na Muice. Access to Glen Strathfarrar is from
the A831 Beauly to Cannich Road at Struy Bridge. A locked gate
prevents access to the Glen but a gatekeeper, who resides in the
adjoining cottage at Inchmore, is employed between April and the end
of October to permit access during certain days and times.
Once I had received my permit and accessed the Glen I headed west with
views of snow topped mountains. I parked just off the Glen road where
it crossed the Allt Toll a'Mhuic and walked up the vehicle track on
the west side of this stream. After around a kilometre I left the
track and commenced the ascent of Beinn na Muice. The going was fairly
steep over a mixture of grasses and heather avoiding some rocky
outcrops with views over to the snow capped Sgurr na Lapaich and Carn
nan Gobhar. During this ascent I disturbed a couple of deer. Higher
up, I had views to the north of Carn an Daimh Bhain and Sgurr na
Muice,
During this ascent route I was sheltered from the westerly wind and
this continued as I headed along the east ridge of Beinn na Muice as
there was a gully on the north side running parallel to the ridge. I
later climbed onto the rocky ridge and followed it to the small summit
cairn with views west to Loch Monar, Lurg Mhor, Bidean an Eoin Deirg
and the snow covered Maoile Lunndaidh.
Quoted message said:From the summit of Beinn na Muice I continued west along its fine west
ridge with improving views of Loch Monar although shower clouds were
drifting across its west end. At the end of the ridge, with views
down to Monar Lodge, I commenced the descent towards the road east of
Monar Dam. This descent was fairly steep and quite tricky as the
vegetation was rather wet and slippery with lots of rocky outcrops to
avoid. A couple of stags, who were now friends again after the rut,
spotted me and ran off.
It took me a while to get down onto the Glen Road which was followed
by an easy and pleasant walk of around 1.5 kilometres east to my
starting point and the end of a short day on a fine wee hill.
Time taken - 3 hours.
Distance - 6.5 kilometres.
Height climbed - 580 metres.
Photographs taken on walk can be seen here:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/gallery07/beinn_na_muice_oct07/index.htm
Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com