I was parked up in the walker’s car park at the entrance to Attadale Estate, just off the A890 Lochcarron to Kyle of Lochalsh Road, before 6am. By the time I sorted out my gear and got my bike ready it was a few minutes after six when I set off along the tarred road through the estate and to the holiday cottages at Strathan.
Beyond, there was a locked gate with space at either side to lift my bike over boulders placed there. A short cycle along the vehicle track, which now consisted of a hardcore surface, led to the bridge over the River Attadale. Here the gradient increased and I was now pushing my bike more than I cycled. The estate track soon joined a new track coming in from the right which was under construction in connection with a hydro dam to be built on the Uisge Dubh.
This new track replaced the estate track and in places took a different route but it was still quite steep. At the zigzags there were several parked construction vehicles as this section hadn’t been completed.
Once at the top of the pass it was then downhill on a fairly rough track to the bridge over the Uisge Dubh.
A short cycle along the south side of this stream took me to Bendronaig Bothy where a couple of women were sitting outside. I secured my bike here and continued on foot along the estate track to the Allt Coire na Sorna which was easily crossed as the water level was rather low.
My route then took me up the track on the north side of this stream to Loch Calavie.
Here I left the track and headed into Coire Calavie crossing some rough ground and several streams, including the Allt Coire Calavie, to reach the bealach between Bidein a’ Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor.
I then followed a walker’s path onto Lurg Mhor although the path disappeared amongst the boulders. The route then steepened and the path led to the summit cairn. Rocks a few metres before the cairn were possibly higher.
There was a cool breeze here but I sat at the summit of this Munro for a while before returning to the bealach meeting a total of six folks on their ascent.
From this bealach I ascended the Munro, Bidein a’ Choire Sheasgaich where there were good views across to the Torridon Mountains.
I descended Bidein a’ Choire Sheasgaich’s south-west ridge, avoiding some rocks, to reach Sail Riabhach. This was followed by a fairly steep and long descent to the estate track east of the crossing of the Allt Coire na Sorna.
I then returned to Bendronaig Bothy and sat outside eating my lunch. I was later joined by a chap I had met on the descent of Lurg Mhor. He had walked in the previous day, stayed overnight in the bothy, and was walking out later that afternoon.
Afterwards I retrieved my bike and cycled back to Attadale. There were fewer instances of me pushing my bike which meant I was fifteen minutes quicker on the return route compared to the cycle in.
- Time taken – 9.5 hours.
- Distance – 38 kilometres.
- Height climbed – 1740 metres.