TR - Graham - Carn Salachaidh

Carn Salachaidh

20 October 2007

Strathcarron was the location for the ascent of this Graham. The Glen
was reached along a single track road from Ardgay on the A836 just
south of Bonar Bridge. Directly opposite the impressive Gruinards
Lodge a metal gate permitted access to the hills on the south side of
the road.

A vehicle track was followed through a small area of forest onto the
open hillside. The map actually showed it as a path but as far as its
highest point it had been used by vehicles.

It was a very pleasant morning, calm with the occasional roar from
cows in the glen and from stags. However the rut must now be over as
the stags were very quiet, either that or they have all been shot.
This was the final day of the stag stalking season for this year.
The autumnal colours were wonderful especially where the sun was
shinning on the hills.

The track continued uphill to the east of Carn Mor and was a bit boggy
at times. I 'put up' a few grouse and some deer on Carn Mor watched me
for a while before running off. The track levelled out, reverted to
a path, before it gradually descended for around forty metres to the
Allt a'Ghinne. It was very tranquil and calm here with only the
noise of the stream disturbing the peace.

I crossed the stream and a followed a stalker's path on the opposite
side. This was not shown on my map but it soon disappeared into long
heather and bracken. I kept to the west side of a small stream trying
to find the easiest route through the vegetation watched by a stag and
a few hinds.

Higher up the gradient eased and here it was a bit windy. I worked my
way to the west of Carn a'Bhealaich and towards the surprisingly rocky
summit of Carn Salachaidh. I had to work my way round some of the
rocks before reaching the summit trig point. However this was not the
highest point as a large boulder just to the east was obviously
slightly higher.

From the summit I had views of Carn Chuinneag, Ben Wyvis and the wind
farms east of Loch Glass and on the east side of Ben Wyvis. It was
windy here but I found some shelter to have an early lunch looking at
the distant mountains of the North-West.

The return was by the ascent route although I kept to the east of the
stream flowing into the Allt a'Ghinne where there was a bit more
grass, although underfoot it was wet in places. Lower down I still had
the bracken and long heather to contend with before reaching the path
back to the start.

This was a fairly isolated hill and I never saw any sign of human
activity even in Strathcarron.

Time taken - 4.5 hours.
Distance - 12 kilometres.
Height climbed - 770 metres.

Photographs taken on this walk can be seen at:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/gallery07/carn_salachaidh_oct07/index.htm

Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com

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