Fisherfield Six - Photo Gallery

The forecast is good and I've got the word to go, I picked up Lindsay and Frances in Inverness and after another hour or so I left the car in a parking space on the A832 at Corrie Hallie close to Dundonnell, 450 miles from home. I'm using my backpacking rucksack for the first time, it is enormous and weighs a ton so I was hoping the walk to the bothy at Shenavall would be less than Lindsay said it would be. Firstly along Gleann Chaorachain and then around the base of the An Teallach massif it was an exhausting two hours and forty minutes. A bothy is not much more than a stone outhouse with a roof and the facilities comprise a nearby stream and a shovel.

I was surprised to see so many people around, it was just as well we had our tents because there was no room at the bothy, we also met Jim who we knew who just happened to be camping there too. It was the first time for a couple of years that I had camped and I was relieved to get all the pegs into the stony ground while the fine sunset kept the darkness away. I stayed warm in my winter sleeping bag on a cold night and I was woken at 5 o'clock for breakfast outdoors on a cold but sunny morning ready to set off at 6:20 for a longer day than I had anticipated.

As we set off the rising sun illuminated the hills, first the impressive Beinn Dearg Mor and then the imposing Beinn A'Chlaidheimh which was our first Munro. The first challenge of the day was to cross a river, Abhainn Strath na Sealga is an obstacle in dry weather and impossible in wet weather but we got across without too much trouble. Then there is the extensive bog of Strath na Sealga to get across before the climb of Beinn A'Chlaidheimh, a consistently steep heathery slope at first. Eventually boulders and rock outcrops replace the heather but not before the heather has unfastened my bootlaces.

There are interestingly shaped rocks to climb up and over before suddenly you are on the long ridge to the summit, there are snow fragments on the ridge and on all of the higher hills around. The views of Beinn Dearg Mor and An Teallach put them on the list of hills I would love to climb, Loch na Sealga shines in the distance. The sky is blue and the sun is high, although it is cool and ideal for walking I have to be sensible and wear my sun hat at 8 o'clock in the morning. There is a grassy, bouldery descent to the bealach at Am Briseadh and between two small lochans and Loch a'Bhrisidh we found a stream to take on water. The extra weight of 4 litres of water is the price I have to pay to avoid becoming dehydrated later.

It was a surprise to me in this remote area to meet three other walkers on the same route but no surprise that they are also taking on water. The next hill Sgurr Ban (light coloured peak) is well named, a vast area of light grey coloured rocks and boulders on the ascent and also on the broad summit plateau. The good visibility and Lindsay's experience and knowledge are well used because there are no obvious paths on this vast featureless boulder-scape. Rocky hills don't usually tease you like the grassy ones, the skyline you see is usually the summit plateau and so it is with Sgurr Ban, the climb finishes abruptly and it is a short distance to the large summit cairn.

The views are extensive in perfect light, many of the hills are too distant to see much detail but are distinctive enough to be recognised by the others. Then there is a steeper descent through the same light coloured rock as we climbed with the occasional large patch of snow to walk through. The elegantly named but impossible to pronounce Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair can be seen rising steeply across the bealach. The start of the climb is steep on loose soil and vegetation but soon the surface changes to gravel sized stones making it awkward to climb without sliding back down. Then it becomes more interesting, climbing over steep grey boulders where some of the large ones move as you step onto them.

Once again you climb directly to the rugged summit, you can't see the join where the cairn sits on the highest of the rocks. The descent is steep and interesting over rocks and large patches of old drifted snow which become knee deep at one point. Near the bottom of the descent is an interesting scramble over red rocks, ones that look as though they have been sculpted and shaped by water as they lay on some ancient river bed for thousand of years.

We walked around base of Meall Garbh to Bealach Odhar where we made the ascent of Beinn Tarsuinn, it was a long slog but at least we started half way up. From the interesting summit you can see an unusual table topped outcrop on the ridge that you have to descend. The table top looks unnaturally flat from the summit but as you get closer you can see that it slopes gently and walking across it just looks like a well worn slab. Once we got past the slab we were traversing along the contours of a very steep slope before making a descent so steep that I wouldn't have volunteered to do it but Lindsay seems to know where he is going.

At the bottom of the descent we took the opportunity to fill up with water again, after nine hours there was still a long way to go and I didn't like the look of the next hill. The next task was to cross an extensive peat bog, it was a good job it was a dry as it was difficult enough to find a way across. There were many deer hoof prints in the mud, if the ground was solid enough to carry deer would it carry me, best not to take that risk I think so find a sensible detour. Even though there was no gradient as such it was strenuous work zig zagging across the wide bog and climbing on and off the many peat hags.

A'Mhaighdean looked a huge hill from there and I would have willingly stopped the walk at that point but Lindsay is keen and enthusiastic about it, it was difficult to share his enthusiasm for this huge green lump. It was a long painful slog over rough grass, not my favourite climbing at the best of times and my head was telling me I was too tired to go on. Finally the summit of A'Mhaighdean arrived and we found Lindsay sitting, just taking in the view; he was right, this is a very special place with unique and wonderful views. My loss of enthusiasm probably meant I didn't make the most of it, all I could think about was the next steep hill and the long walk out.

You can see Ruadh Stac Mor very clearly, it looks uncompromisingly steep and stony; I was not looking forward to it, it looks like steep, steep scree once you get past the steep rock. It must be nesting time for the Ptarmigan, we had passed a couple earlier in the day and here was another one perched on a rock. It didn't fly away as we walked past, it was so well camouflaged on its rock that I wouldn't have noticed it only six feet away without Lindsay pointing it out. We carried on downwards over interesting steep ground that I couldn't appreciate in my state of lost enthusiasm.

Then we got to the next ascent, at first we climbed up steep grassy ground through the rock buttresses to the steeper part of the hill. There were thousands of red boulders to climb up but I was revived with my enthusiasm rediscovered and I was first to reach the triangulation point at summit. Even more I am convinced that tiredness is only in your head, I didn't want to climb A'Mhaighdean and I was tired, I enjoyed the steep bouldery climb to Ruadh Stac More and I am having fun again. As we rested at the trig point more people arrived who were on the same route.

Lindsay knows a short cut back to Shenavall, only three hours to get back. The route is not too steep and the rocks are different again, red but splintered and rectangular and covered with multi coloured lichen. After the steep descent we got to a flatter area around Lochan a'Bhraghad where a path appeared to provide a not too boggy route to the Gleann na Muice Beag track. After that it was just a long way down, the path was good, my legs were surprisingly not aching but my feet were feeling sore. Lindsay was trying to show me a large herd of deer we had disturbed but without my glasses they were just too well camouflaged for me to see.

Gleann na Muice Beag led to Gleann na Muice and Frances found a place to cross the twenty feet wide Abhainn Gleann na Muice without having to take off our boots. Then we had to cross Strath na Sealga again, in the gloomy conditions and feeling tired this was quite a chore. At just after 10pm we got back to Shenavall, almost sixteen hours of hard work forgotten as we watched a magnificently colourful sunset.

A 900 mile round trip, a 3 hour walk in to Shenavall bothy wearing a monster rucksack, almost 16 hours to walk the six Munros of Fisherfield and another 3 hours with the same heavy sack to get out again. The further away from it I get the better the memories become, a lot of it was fun but there were moments when it all felt too much. The rivers and bogs were passable and each of the six hills had its own character and its own view of the world. The view from A'Mhaighdean is probably the best I have seen but it is a hard won prize, I suffered a loss of enthusiasm as it all got too hard before rediscovering the joys of walking on Ruadh Stac Mor. A final 3 hour walk back before fording a twenty foot wide river and the last 30 minutes crossing a man eating bog ended with brilliant sunset as we got back to Shenavall at 10pm.

I don't usually go in for statistics but the walk in and out of Shenavall is about 8 Kilometres (5 miles) each way, the distance of the walk around the six Munros is approximately 24 kilometres (15 miles) with about 4000 metres (a lot of feet) of ascent. A memorable weekend.

Andy Wallace 13th to 15th May 2005

You can read Lindsay's version of the trip on his Caledonia Hilltreks web site