Munro Diary: 272-276. Beinn Fhionnlaidh (128), Mam Sodhail (14), Carn Eighe (12, P600 60), Tom a'Choinich (41), Toll Creagach (77). 24/06/2024

Climbing the 5 munros between Glen Affric and Glen Mullardoch in a day is a serious undertaking, with most estimates around the 11hr mark climbing from the car park in Affric and with a substantial detour to get to the smaller Beinn Fhionnlaidh behind the main ridge.

We were therefore very fortunate to stumble upon another way of doing this. We learnt (at around 700m on Sgurr Mor, as you do) that a man living in Cannich will happily take walkers from the dam on Loch Mullardoch and deposit them right at the foot of Beinn Fhionnlaidh. He can be found on social media and charges £40pp at time of writing, but this was well worth it!

From the shores of the loch, it is a steady climb following a stream southwards before turning west up a broad ridge with scattered rocks that becomes quite steep towards the summit. We had drizzle and cloud the whole way (which was a bit disappointing given the forecast, but there was some hope it would lift.

From here we dropped down a short way before starting to climb Carn Eighe. Instead of going to the top, we were aiming to contour round at about 1050m. We didn't get this quite right and ended up on a slightly lower contour, but this was rectified just before the lowpoint between Carn Eighe and MamSodhail. From here it wasn't a long climb to the top of the latter. Here we found a large broch-like stone structure that can only be described as a shelter, but without any opening in the walls. I climbed on top and then down into it to eat my sandwich - it seemed like the right thing to do.

I'm surprised this and Carn Eighe are allowed to be considered separate munros with only about 130m of reascent between them, so we were soon on our third munro of the say - still in the drizzle and with slightly weary legs.

The high ridge between here and Tom a'Choinich was rocky and interesting and included a few bits of scrambling - it would have been spectacular in clear weather. It was only after the top, when we dropped down to around 1000m that the weather cleared. This provided a well-timed morale boost for the remaining distance over to Toll Creagach, which in the end seemed very easy in comparison to its neighbours. Near the top we met a chatty man (with two tired-looking labradors) who warned us that our descent choice was arduous, but this turned out to be unfounded. In fact it was quite a soft (if occasionally damp) grassy ramp east then north-east to some deer fences. From there we found a wet path through the heather to the dam.

By chance, we arrived back at the car at the same time as 3 walkers with whom we had shared the boat. They had climbed the four munros to the north of Loch Mullardoch. In all, the day's 23km and 1750m of ascent had taken a mere 8h25.