It was a fine sunny morning when I parked up on the west side of the bridge over the Allt Airdeasaidh, on the A832 Braemore Junction to Poolewe Road. I re-crossed the bridge and walked up the rough, rocky and at times boggy path on the east side of this stream with views of the numerous waterfalls.
Beyond a narrow gorge the gradient eased as the path continued up the east side of the Allt Airdeasaidh. There had been some erosion since my previous visit with a section of the path washed away.
I crossed the stream, went up a steep banking, then through rough ground consisting of a mixture of vegetation and rocks, to reach the foot of the east face of Sail Mhor.
The gradient then steepened as I climbed a narrowing gully of heather, stones and scree with a number of paths, possibly animal tracks, to choose from. Higher up there was a distinctive smell of what I later discovered was goat and here it became less steep. It was then an easy walk to the cairn marking Sail Mhor’s South-East Top.
A short descent was followed by an easy climb through a mixture of stone and vegetation to reach the shelter on Sail Mhor. The cairn marking the summit of this Corbett was a bit further west. I spent some time up here as the views were superb.
The descent took me through a wide gully between the South-East Top and the summit and here I disturbed a large herd of feral goats.
I then walked below the east side of Sail Mhor before descending through rough vegetation to reach the west side of the Allt Airdeasaidh gorge. There were traces of a path and from this side the views of the gorge and waterfalls were better.
Lower down the path became more obvious but it was also boggy in places with the final section involving some down climbing although there may have been an easier route a bit further west.
- Time taken – 4.5 hours.
- Distance – 7 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 760 metres.