On the drive up Glen Lyon, accessed from the B846 at Coshieville, I encountered heavy rain with the road flooded in places so I wasn’t very enthusiastic or confident that I would make it to the summit of Cam Chreag. The starting point at Innerwick was closed off for timber operations but I planned to ascend this Corbett from Loch an Daimh. I parked on the verge just after the gate in the deer fence on the road leading to the loch and west of the property at Croch na Keys. (GR NN521459)
In a rain shower I set off up the estate/hydro track that zigzagged north then headed north-west later crossing the stream coming down from the Lairig Meachdainn.
Beyond this burn an ATV track headed north into Coire Beithe but it was wet and boggy for the majority of the route.
Once to the west of Carn Lairig Meachdain and its col I left this track, crossed some rough and wet vegetation, to reach the many peat hags in the vicinity of the col.
I then climbed onto Cam Chreag’s south-west ridge, which had a light covering of snow, passing some old fence posts that ran north to south then went round the 840 knoll before making the short walk to the cairn marking the summit of Cam Chreag.
I found some shelter from the wind which was nowhere near as strong as forecasted. While lunching there it snowed fairly heavily for around ten minutes swirling into my sheltered spot with the views quickly disappearing. Once the snow eased I returned to the old fence posts then followed them south across a mixture of vegetation before climbing Creagan nan Gobhar. From there I descended south-west, still with the fence posts close by, and this led to the zigzag track and my car.
- Time taken – 3.75 hours.
- Distance – 10 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 565 metres.