Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich in Two Parts October 2007

 

Helen Rose   Hill Diary     

As I near the end of the Munros, I am returning to those I failed on at the first attempt. It was on my second attempt that I got to the summits of Bidein a’Coire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor. These are considered to be remote hills in the Glencarron area and normally require an overnight stay at a bothy. There are several bothies possible but we selected the Bendronaig Bothy.

We walked from Strathcarron carrying a full pack for an overnight stay at the bothy. The pack included a sleeping bag, thermarest, food and cooking equipment for two days and a change of clothes along with sundry toiletries, torches and hill walking gear. It was over four hours walk with the heavy pack and along the way I managed to lose my insulin pen. This was very irresponsible of me as I had not brought a spare. I was not aware of the loss until we were preparing dinner in the bothy. Unfortunately, I had to walk out the next day without doing the hills to get the spare pen from the car. However, it was not a wasted day as we did other Munros in the afternoon.

I returned to these hills with the guide, Lindsay Boyd at www.caledoniahilltreks.com  last month to climb them in one day. I had arranged transport to Bendronaig Bothy from Attadale and from there we walked in a mist up grassy slopes to the bealach. It was up a path to the summit of Bidein a’Choire Sheasgaich. We then descended back to the bealach and followed the path up to the summit of Lurg Mhor. It was a cold, misty, wet, day so we did not linger at the top but descended south east on steep slopes to Loch Calavie to pick up the stalkers path shown on the map.  There was no path and we followed rough ground around the loch to join the stalkers path back to Bendronaig Bothy. I can’t say much about these hills as it was misty all day with no views.

We had a coffee at the bothy and then started the long walk out to Attadale taking nearly three hours. In all, the walk took around ten hours but we had the saving of a further three hours by driving in to the bothy. As I let Noreen and David down the first around, I am planning to return with them next summer to climb these hills but only in good weather when I can see what these mountains actually look like!

 

Coming attractions; The Last Munro! and Musical Legends

 

Contact me at helenrose52@hotmail.com

 

Thanks to Frances Rickus for the photographs