An Teallach – 200th Munro
An Teallach lived up to the expectation and more for my 200th Munro!! This is my 2nd proper grade 2 scramble route. The first one was last summer when I reached the 100th Munro on Aonach Eagach. That day was just as amazing!! An Teallach is arguably Scotland’s most beautiful mountain so wasn’t a hard decision to keep this one for a very special hike!! It’s difficult to fully comprehend how amazing the mountains are and this is a day I’ll remember forever!!!
Monday was forecast for the best and warmest day for An Teallach. Drove up to Dundonnell on the Sunday for a 2 night camping trip. Couldn’t resist stopping at Aviemore for a fish and chips. By the time I reached Wester Ross, it was becoming dark. Although did manage to catch a spectacular sunset at Loch Glascarnoch!! Pitched my tent about 5 miles away with views of the whole mountain range!! There isn’t a Munro called An Teallach, the mountain comprises of a group of peaks with 2 Munros and 7 Munro Tops.
The hike started with some hazy views but was expecting it to be sunny in the afternoon. I met Iain and Keith near the start and they were kind enough to let me join them. Both of them are nearly finished their round and received tips on how to navigate with maps and entertained me with their rock climbing adventures.
When reaching Bidein a Ghlas Thuill, which has the most famous viewpoint on the hike (1st picture). We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the views!!! It wasn’t just the pinnacles; it was also the backdrop of distant mountains in the haze!!! The pictures really do not do it justice!!
Then on the 2nd Munro Sgùrr Fiona, we seen absolutely amazing views of the Fisherfield Forest!!! I’ve heard lots of stories about the Fisherfield Forest but I just did not expect the views to be this good!! The mountain that stood out more than anything else, was actually a Corbett. Beinn Dearg Mòr is not just one of the finest Corbett’s but also rank amongst the most beautiful mountains in Scotland!! The Fisherfield 6 will be my next target when visiting the Great Wilderness again.
This was only the half way point of my hike as I still had the main ridge to walk. I was on my own now so slowly hiked along the ridge taking in the fantastic views and unexpectedly treated to cloud inversions around the coires!!
I reached a path on the Lord Berkeley’s Seat pinnacle. To the right was the airiest path I’ve seen in my life. A very narrow flat path leading to a nerve-racking scramble. The path was easy to walk along but I knew, without even looking down, there was a 500m drop just right next to the path. I was thinking about walking along the path to check out how difficult the scramble was. But for all I knew it could’ve been a hard grade 2/grade 3 scramble. The Walk Highlands GPX route follows the lower bypass path that omits the hardest part of ridge. Therefore, I had no route for the crest on my phone so returned to the upper bypass path as I did not feel confident enough. In retrospect, if I headed left, I would’ve reached the summit.
Continued to walk along the path and got slightly confused as this path passes along the ridge but does not stick to the crest of the ridge. Then turned around and disappointingly realised I passed Lord Berkeley’s Seat and missed the summit. By reaching the summit, perhaps I would’ve been more confident with the exposed scrambling on the pinnacle, as I would know for 100% certainty that this is the correct route.
It was too late to turn around, so headed towards the 2nd peak Corrag Bhuidhe and this time I made sure to scramble over all the pinnacles and reach the summit. On the descent, came upon the bad step, which is a graded rock climb. Retraced my steps and then tried to navigate my way around. Still couldn’t find a safe passage and took about 10 mins to solve the problem of descending from the pinnacle.
I’ll have to wait until the next time I venture up An Teallach to summit the 1032m Lord Berkeley’s Seat. According to the legend, Lord Berkeley would sit up here smoking his pipe with his legs dangling over a mostly vertical drop of at least 500m. The “seat” itself is about 8 inches wide so not sure if I’ll have the courage to sit here but I’ll definitely give it a try.
Descent from Sail Liath was unpleasant with lots of loose scree. After reaching the road, still had nearly 1 hour walk in the dark, alongside the mountain range. Fortunately, the road was very quiet though did not enjoy the walk. When I got back to Dundonnell Hotel, it was 12 hrs since starting, so the hike was longer than expected. I was absolutely shattered!!! Drove back to where I camped the previous night and had some dinner (pasta salad) and could only manage 1 beer before falling asleep.
The following day was lovely until about 6pm. Decided to take the long way home by driving on the A82 road. The road was closed at Invermoriston though really wanted to drive along the West of Scotland so followed the diversion on the East side of Loch Ness. Briefly stopped at Dores beach for lunch and some well needed sunshine.
Some more pictures of the adventure
