Beinn Mheadhoin
Height – 556 metres. Map- OS Landranger 26.
Climbed 14 February 2010. Time taken 2.75 hours.
Distance 10.5 kilometres. Height climbed – 370 metres.
Trip Report Details:
The start of this walk was the B851 Fearn to Fort Augustus Road at the junction with the unclassified road signposted Ruthven and Abersky where there is a red telephone box. (Grid Ref NH6070224504) There is limited parking beside the kiosk and from previous experience there isn’t many spots nearby to leave a vehicle.
I set off west along the B851 and soon came to the entrance to Dunmaglass Estate. I have used this route on a couple of occasions to access the remote Corbett Carn na Saobhaidhe in the Monadhliath range of mountains. I walked along this estate road and near the start came to a couple of impressive entrance pillars with bird statutes on top. Further on, beside the cottages at Achnaloddan, a sign indicated that the area was twinned with Warninglid in England. On checking the internet there isn’t a lot of information about Warninglid so I presume that is where the estate owner originates from.
Beyond the houses at Achnaloddan the route was sinposted and passed through a couple of fields containing sheep with lots of game birds flying around. At the second bridge I crossed the Allt Uisg an t-Sidhein where an animal trap was positioned as was the case on the first bridge. I’m not a fan of these devices.
A deer fence was reached with a gate and stile and once through the gate I continued up the track as the gradient increased. At a junction of tracks I took a left. The right hand track was the route to Carn na Saobhaidhe. There was some hard packed snow as I headed up Glas nan Gamhna and on approaching a slight dip in the track I left it and climbed the heather clad hillside but the walking was relatively easy as there were some animal tracks to follow.
I soon reached the summit cairn with views to the east and south of snow clad hills but with their tops in cloud. I had views of Lochs Ruthven and Conagleann and briefly saw the Loch Ness Grahams, Meall Fuar-mhonaidh and Glas-bheinn Mhor and the Glen Affric mountains.
The return was down the north ridge and over a small knoll. Later I went through a field surrounded by deer fencing before descending through some beech trees where the bark had been eaten by hungry animals. I went over a fence topped with barbed wire and tore my overtrousers which was annoying as I don’t know why barbed wire is used. I then crossed a small stream before passing through another gate and over a footbridge before reaching the track beside Achnaloddan and the walk back to the car.
Photos taken on walk.