Meallach Mhor (NN776908; 769m)

Sunday 20 August

Start Point: Nature Reserve car park at NN776998

Distance and Ascent: 23.3km, 695m

Weather: Overcast and breezy, but dry save for one short, light shower

Couldn't fit it all on one screen grab

I’d intended to do the head of the lollipop of this outing in the opposite direction (i.e. along the ridge to my objective, then back along the glen), but having parked in the Nature Reserve car park for the second time this week, and made my way along the Speyside Way off-road route and into Glen Tromie, the wind direction and speed suggested that a reversal would be more comfortable. Heading generally SW along the ridge for just shy of 7km, against a SW wind of between 20 and 25mph didn’t sound like the most fun approach.

As it goes, I’m not sure I picked the most fun approach in any case, although I suppose it depends on one’s definition of ‘fun’! The usual approach to this hill seems to continue along Glen Tromie (often on a bike, which makes perfect sense if you have one at your disposal) and approach it from the east. That route is 3.25km further than doing what I did: going via Coire Bhealaich.

Initial indications were promising, when I found an excellent grassy track exactly where I wanted to head up.

That it went straight through a large collection of beehives was unfortunate, but I made it through (with bees bouncing off me) unscathed.

View back down Glen Tromie from the midst of a big patch of bracken. This route would be easier in winter. 

The initial grassy track soon became a rough ATV track, but it had been used recently enough for the bracken in between the tyre tracks to still be semi-flattened. It veered off at the 440m contour, so from there I was yomping through heather and long grass, with some boggy bits. Had this been an obscure Marilyn, I would have considered it reasonably good going, but as it’s a Corbett, I had the nagging thought that there was probably a trodden line on the usual route. That seemed to be borne out when I finally reached the low point between Meallach Mhor and Meallach Bheag and picked up a good trod that I could see coming up from the glen. Looking now at my kilometre splits, I see that my pace per kilometre during that rough climb was 16, 19.5 and 18 minutes, so even if going the more usual route would have been easier, due to the extra distance, it wouldn’t have been quicker (the good old ‘distance versus ease’ conundrum).

The views from the top were magnificent. Alas, my snaps don’t even start to do justice to the reality of the vista (and whilst the air clarity wasn’t first class, I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as my photos make it look):

Whilst I was curious to see if the baggers’ trod did go the whole way down to the glen, my desire to do the ridge route (and avoid the glen track) was greater. Happily, the going along there was far easier than my ascent route, and ATV tracks and narrow trods took me the whole way with ease, and the views in every direction were superb.

Spot the path

Dressed to match the heather.

Eventually I reached the path I’d ascended on Tuesday (on an outing to visit a bridge that doesn’t exist), which took me back down into the glen, from where it was just a simple 3km back to the car park.

It’s probable that other people did visit this hill today (surely? On a Sunday in August with a good weather forecast?) but I saw not a single person, even from a distance.  

What were the planners thinking?! 

4 minutes after the snap above. That's better!