I was staying with a couple of Graham Bagging friends, one of whom climbed Druim Fada with me back in June 2013. The other, with the weather reasonable for the time of year, was planning its ascent so I decided to join him.
We headed for the end of the public road at Corran on the north shore of Loch Hourn, reached from the A87 at Shiel Bridge, over the Bealach Ratagan and through the hamlets of Glenelg and Arnisdale. There is car park there for those visiting Corran and the Community Centre.
A short road walk north took us to the vehicle track leading to the house at Glenfield then along the north side of the River Arnisdale, through a stock gate and to a bridge over the river before continuing east along its south side.
Further on the track steepened considerably before descending to the Dubh-Lochan.
Just after the start of this descent we crossed the Eigin Allt and headed up its east side.
We later left this stream, which headed into a narrow gully, and climbed through grass onto the north-west ridge of Druim Fada, following traces of a path. Once onto the ridge there were good views back to Loch Hourn and across to the Isle of Skye.
After a break here it was a long slow climb of the north-west ridge, avoiding rocks and crags where possible, with one easy short scramble.
Eventually we reached the west ridge where it was windy with some drizzle. We headed up this ridge, avoiding the crags, onto the summit of the Graham, Druim Fada, marked by a rock just WNW of the cairn.
We found some shelter from the wind for lunch before returning to Glen Arnisdale by the upward route.
At the bridge over the River Arnisdale, we followed the path along the south side of the river which meandered a bit with some height gain. The last few metres difficult to spot as darkness fell but it took us into Corran close to the car park on the opposite side of the river.
- Time taken – 7 hours 30 minutes.
- Distance – 13 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 815 metres.