Just after dawn I arrived in the car park at the end of the public road in Glen Affric, accessed from the A831 at Cannich. The midges were out and I paid the £2 parking charge twice as on the first occasion no ticket appeared, not a good start to the day.
I set off on my bike down a slight slope to the bridge over the River Affric, then through a gate, and along the vehicle track on the south side of Loch Affric.
This track was quite stony meaning a bone shaking ride with only a few stops as the midges were still around. Beyond the west end of the loch I crossed the bridge over the river and pushed by bike up the slight incline passed Strawberry Cottage.
The track was narrower and rougher and there were several sections where the boulders were too large to cycle across. I stopped briefly to speak to a chap headed in the opposite direction who had stayed overnight at Alltbeithe Youth Hostel.
On reaching the new bridge over the Allt Coire Ghaidheil I left my bike and walked up the path on the east side of a deer fence and the stream.
Initially the path, which in parts had been used by quad vehicles, was in reasonable nick but higher up sections were waterlogged and boggy.
However I made good progress and was soon at the Bealach Coire Ghaidheil where I stopped for breakfast spotting a couple ascending An Socach’s North Top.
Afterwards I ascended this Corbett Top meeting the couple on their return from An Socach. They had camped overnight in the Coire and were headed for Mam Sodhail.
A short drop then climb took me to the summit of An Socach, marked by a cairn.
There was a cool breeze so after taking in the views I descended its south-east ridge with occasional traces of a path.
Lower down there was no evidence of the path amongst the fairly long vegetation. This took me back to the bridge over the Allt Coire Ghaidheil where I collected my bike and made the return cycle passing a few folks on the track above the loch.
I was advised by Forest Enterprise that they were aware of a problem with the ticket machines but thought it had been fixed. They said they would check again.
- Time taken – 5.75 hours.
- Distance – 29.25 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 1190 metres..