Hillways: A Short Visit to Kintail

Kintail Rainbow

Natsuyo’s first visit to the west coast got off to a stormy start when the weather gods decided not to play. Less than 12hrs after flying in from Tokyo, she found herself under the only bit of bad weather in the whole country – pretty ironic given all the good weather we’ve been having!

River Lair

She only had 2 days to sample the delights of Kintail, the first one turning out to be abysmally wet and windy, the second one just plain windy. Accordingly, we gave the high tops a miss and I showed Natsuyo 2 of my most favourite low-level walks in this beautiful part of the Highlands.

Coire Lair

Fuar Tholl, Shrouded in Cloud

Parking at Achnashellach, we walked up through the rhododendrons across the railway and into the open woodland. Dark skies glowered overhead and the mountains themselves were well-hidden. It was still a wonderfully atmospheric setting and there was still enough colour and texture in the surrounding countryside to make it a rewarding day.

Climbing Up Into Coir Lair

We climbed until we met the clouds at about 300m, paused as the rain turned heavy, and then retraced our steps back down to the car. We didn’t quite make it into Coire Lair proper, but Natsuyo at least got a flavour of the place and I always enjoy coming here.

The Gates of Affric

Gates of Affric

A brighter second day saw us walking from the visitor centre car park at Morvich. We set off along the excellent NTS footpath that leads up into impressive Gleann Choinneachain between the Munros of Beinn Fhada and A’ Ghlas-bheinn. Ahead of us lay the distinctive U-shaped bealach of the Bealach an Sgairne – the Gates of Affric - the closest point the UK east-west watershed comes to the west coast.

The Northern Corries of Bheinn Fhada

We made it as far as the rushing waters of the Allt Coire an-Sgairne before traversing under the Gates and returning down the other side of Gleann Choinneachain. A scratchy path eventually leads to a track through the forest which can be followed back to the ruined house of Dorusduain. Here, the track becomes a tarmac road which we followed down Strath Croe and back to the car.