First off allow me to apologise for the lack of any blog updates in the last few months. My last trip away was the last week in August and saw me bagging both Munro's in Glen Creran, unfortunately neither of them made the blog after I experienced some gremlins which wouldn't allow me to save my work and then swallowed it up leaving me pulling out my metaphorical hair in frustration.
September saw me enjoying some R&R in Florida with my girlfriend and her family. Meeting Mickey Mouse was fun but nothing compares to a cold autumnal morning heading for a Munro.
I collected Fiona at four o'clock and headed off on the familiar road towards Fort William. This is a road I have travelled on many recent occasions without incident...nothing wrong with spicing things up now and again though. When I left the house I had, what I believed to be, a half tank of diesel in the car. However just after passing Laggan Bridge the fuel light came on and told me I had fifty miles left in the tank. There was no need for panic at that point as I knew we were within at least thirty miles of Fort William. However after driving up the short incline at Loch Laggan the gauge changed dramatically and took five miles off me. Another couple of miles along the road and it changed again to say that I only had thirty five miles in the tank...and at least twenty five miles to drive. Fiona kept trying to assure me that we would make it to Fort William, even on fumes apparently, though I was becoming less sure by the mile. As the clock ticked down on the fuel gauge I started turning off all non essential fuel consuming accoutrements, such as stereo, air conditioning and headlights (okay just the main beam). Thankfully once through Spean Bridge the road is mostly downhill towards Fort William so we did indeed make it to the petrol station before the fuel ran out...but not without my stress levels shooting through the roof panicking about it. I vowed there and then never to undertake any long journeys again without first filling up the car the night before.
We arrived at our destination slightly behind schedule as a result of the fuel stop and pedestrian driving on the way down, but I new I could catch that up on the return journey.
We left the car in the layby and crossed the A82 to the start of the walk in, passing through an open gate and heading along a tarmac road signed for Gleann Leac na Muidhe House. The Munro of Sgor na h-Ulaidh is not visible until a lot further along the track, but there are exceptional views back to the Aonach Eagach Ridge and the Pap of Glencoe all the way along the path.
We continued on the track and crossed a small bridge over the Allt Gleann Leac na Muidhe. We passed one fine looking house and then arrived at a detour which would take us around the outskirts of the other three houses on the route.
Once back on the main route, following our detour, we continued past some livestock sheds and out onto a grassier path and across a wooden stile which led to open land and an opportunity to cross the Allt Gleann Leac na Muidhe towards Creag Bhan. The slopes here felt rather steeper than perhaps we had expected but were nothing in comparison to what lay ahead on Sgor na h-Ulaidh to our left.
It was clear that far too many weeks away from the gym and pounding the streets, along with way too much donuts in Orlando had reduced me to a physical wreck! I was literally breathing through my hoop on the way up a slope that I should have barely even noticed.
Further up the slope there is a large rocky knobble which appears to block the way but heading right takes you around this and leads to a steep grassy incline which in turn brings you onto a grassy plateau. From here Fiona elected to miss out the Corbett part of this trip and sat by the line of fence posts awaiting my return.
I set off west towards the summit of Meall Lighiche, leaving Fiona alone with her thoughts. I arrived at the summit cairn and set about snapping pictures of all the cloud covered tops around me, when suddenly my phone rang. I answered without checking who was calling and got the surprise of my life when Fiona started babbling about the clouds rolling in up the glen and her starting to worry about me not finding my way back to her position...bless her.
After reassuring Fiona that all was well and I would be back with her in a few minutes I thought I better head back, following the fence posts back to where I left her.
From here we set off following the fence posts down to the low bealach between Meall Lighiche and Sgor na h-Ulaidh, then started up possibly the steepest slopes I have done this year. There is no underplaying the strenuous effort required of an overweight slob in dragging over 14 stone of dead weight up the side of one of the steepest sided Munro's in the country. Sweat was literally dripping off my forehead (and other unmentionable places) as I finally pulled up to the top of the slope. Fiona, thankfully, was struggling just as much as myself and could be heard cursing my name rather loudly below me on the slopes.
As we pulled onto the plateau beneath the final summit pull we elected to stop for our lunch break and take stock of our position. The surrounding summits were cloaked in clouds, although this was clearing intermittently, and all we could do was pray for a little bit of luck to be on our side when we made the summit that the views (which we knew would be special) would be clear.
Following lunch we pressed on for the summit and managed to arrive just as the wispy clouds were drifting across the cairn...and as an added bonus the clouds on some of the surrounding Munro's appeared to be dissipating. Sgor na h-Uliadh summit cairn 994m was one of the toughest of the year to bag, but also one of the most satisfying. We spent some time on the summit taking pictures and waiting for the clouds to clear and were eventually rewarded when Bidean nam Bian began to clear and some of the other Glencoe peaks began to appear for us.
The summit top is scarred by a deep gully heading down through the crags on the north-east slopes. Once around this gully the slopes descend in a series of zig-zags to another bealach before climbing up to the summit of Stob an Fhuarain on a far gentler slope than previously. From here we followed the path that continued over the top and descended north to another low bealach on the Aonach Dubh a' Ghlinne ridge. At the lowest point of the bealach we turned sharply west and headed down through some minor scree before turning onto grassy slopes and following a direct line down to the Allt Gleann Leac na Muidhe. From the river we traversed back along the track on the east side until we returned to the point where we had crossed almost seven hours earlier in the day. The track back to the car was duly followed and it allowed us to admire the slopes of the Aonach Eagach Ridge all the way to the car.
Thankfully with a full tank of fuel there was no need for conservative driving on the return journey and I could also switch back on some luxuries like air-conditioning...
