Headed for Achranich, located to the east of the A884 Srontian to Lochaline Road north of Loch Aline. On arrival obtained permission to park on some waste ground on the north side of the Rannoch River.
Set off east uphill pushing a borrowed mountain bike, in fact there were quite a few hills so there was a lot of pushing. At a junction of tracks, not shown on the map, (NM71534709) briefly continued east uphill until track headed off in the wrong direction. Returned to the track junction and went round a man made lochan and dam (also not on map) with the vehicle track rerouted to the north.
The walk/cycle continued with more uphill sections until just before the bridge across the Rannoch River, beside Loch Tearnait, where left the bike. Walked up to Leacraithnaich Bothy situated on the hillside amongst long vegetation. The bothy was in good condition and appeared to have been recently renovated.
The midges were out so had a coffee break inside the bothy before commencing the walk east. My map showed a path, but it wasn’t obvious. Instead, there were numerous deer tracks through the long tussocky vegetation including some wet and boggy ground. At a shieling gave up on the deer tracks and dropped down to Loch Tearnait where the north shore consisted of sand and rocks, making the walking easier.
On reaching the east end of the loch it was back into the long vegetation, tussocks and deer tracks with wet and boggy sections. Progress was slow but eventually reached the Allt an Doire-Dharaich which was easily crossed. Commenced the ascent of Beinn a’ Chaisil taking a route to the north of a small stream which later ran through a gully.
After a bit of height gain the vegetation was shorter and there were fewer tussocks. High up left the hillside above the stream and climbed onto the summit of Beinn a’ Chaisil as the cloud lowered. Sat at the cairn, marking the highest point of this Marilyn, for a while but the cloud failed to lift.
The descent was slightly to the north of the upward route but lower down there was no way of avoiding the rough underfoot conditions until reaching the sandy north shore of Loch Tearnait, staying on it until shortly before reaching the point where I left my bike. With the downhill sections it was then an easier cycle back to Achranich.
- Time – 6 hours 5 mins. (cycle 1 hour 10 mins)
- Distance – 19.25 kilometres. (cycle 8.5 kilometres)
- Ascent – 665 metres. (cycle 245 metres)