Corbett - Carn Chuinneag, Glen Calvie
The starting point for this walk was the end of the public road on the
north side of the Alladale River. Access to this area was gained from
Ardgay, near Bonar Bridge and the single track road up Strathcarron.
We crossed the Alladale River by the road bridge and headed towards the
entrance to Glencalvie Lodge, which gives the impression that if you
continue on this route you are intruding. However from past
experience I knew the route and once through the main gates there is a
small sign indicating the way through the grounds avoiding the main
lodge, but only just. The buildings and grounds are very well laid
out and maintained and for those who have a few thousand pounds to
spare try you could rent the house for your next holiday.
Once beyond the Lodge it was a pleasant walk up Glen Calvie in the sun,
albeit there was also a cold wind. On approaching Diebidale Lodge,
another expensive holiday retreat, we saw lots of deer, and we later
learned from a member of the Estate staff, that this was one of their
feeding grounds.
Just beyond the vehicle track to Diebidale Lodge we headed up the
stalker's path that zig zagged its way up the north ridge of Carn
Chuinneag. The path was in fairly good condition but higher up it was
very exposed to the strong wind.
At the junction of paths we avoided the one going round the north face
of the hills as there was lots of snow fields and the path would have
been concealed and impossible to follow. We elected to continue in
the same direction until the path started to descend. Here we left it
and commenced the climb to the west top of Carn Chuinneag. This route
was awkward as it was through soft snow and large boulders but any
better route was concealed by the snow.
The weather was deteriorating and we could see that a storm was on its
way and it soon struck us with heavy snow blowing in the wind and
reducing visibility. We were walking below the west top and headed
for the bealach between the two tops, which we had seen earlier.
The blizzard probably lasted for around ten minutes and began to clear
just as we reached the summit trig point of Carn Chuinneag. We were
therefore fortunate to get some views and photos from the summit but
didn't stay there for long due to the biting cold wind.
We returned to the bealach and rather than face the wind, the soft snow
and the boulders we opted to drop down and descend through the
snowfields on the north side of the hill and across a few boulder
fields to the path we used on the upward route. We encountered a few
snow and sleet showers but nothing as bad as on the summit.
The stalker's path returned us to the vehicle track near Diebidale
Lodge and the walk back down the Glen to the start. En-route we
watched several newts in the drainage ditch at the side if the road.
Photos from the walk can be found here:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/galleries/glen_calvie_apr06/index.htm
Statistics from the walk here:
http://caledoniahilltreks.blogspot.com
Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com