Coulin Forest from Strath Carron

Achnashellach rail halt

The route begins from Achnashellach which is on a single track section of the A890, around halfway between the villages of Lochcarron and Achnasheen.

There is an old red phone box, by the roadside, just along from where there is parking for around 10 cars.

There is also a rail halt at Achnashellach on the Inverness-to-Kyle of Lochalsh line.

If the intention is to extend the route over to Maol Chean-Dearg, then it would be advisable to drop a bike at Coulags or arrange other transport so as to avoid a 7km walk back along the A832.

A wild autumn day in Coire Lair

Starting from the car-park at Achnashellach, head to the old red phonebox, then turn left and hike up a track. The track passes some buildings then arrives at Achnashellach rail halt . Through a gate, cross the railway line, through another gate and into forestry.

Out of forestry, continue up the track for around 50m to a junction, at which point turn left (heading straight on would aim towards the Coulin Pass). Through gate in deer-fence continue on the track for around 500m or so, then look for a sign and stone marker on your left - these indicate the start of a path leading down through woodland towards the Allt an Leth-chreig.

Follow the path down to the river, then uphill and out of the woodland. As the path twists uphill, there is a short detour to view a waterfall.

A further 1km on and after climbing around 200m, the path comes to a junction - stay straight on. A few metres further on, another junction is reached, marked by a cairn - decision time ! Veering left will lead into Coire Lair and an ascent of Beinn Liath Mhor via its western shoulder, Keeping right leads onto Beinn Liath Mhor's eastern top followed by a continuation along the ridge.

The Coire Lair route - follow the path into Coire Lair for around 3km to where the path begins to turn slightly towards away from north-west. Strike up pathless and heathery ground aiming north-west and steepening slopes. Ground is loose but never challenging and Beinn Liath Mhor's bouldery crest is reached south-west of the summit, from where you should be able to pick up a worn path leading to the top .

The ridge route - follow the path beyond the right fork by the cairn and come to yet one more junction - at which keep left. After crossing some moorland, the path begins to climb and make a way through scree. Slopes steepen, then ease as grass and more scree is passed. The quartzite scree covered base of Beinn Liath Mhor's eastern top is reached and a path can be traced through the boulders and onto the summit cairn of this minor top . A path continues along the crest, passing a centre peak and arrives at the large cairn on Beinn Liath Mhor .

On Beinn Liath Mhor's ridge, looking west from just east of the summit

On Beinn Liath Mhor's ridge, looking west from just east of the summit

Descending Beinn Liath Mhor

Beinn Liath Mhor's summit is made of shattered quartzite boulders, therefore care is needed when descending in wet conditions, as the rock can be very slippy !

Aim west from Beinn Liath Mhor's summit following a path. As the path zig-zags, lose around 50m of height, then begin to turn south-west. Ignore what looks like a white path heading due south (this leads to the top of a steep scree-run heading into Coire Lair).

The path drops to a rather flat area of sandstone and grass. Progress over this, then start to look for some cairns which mark an otherwise indistinct route southwards. The cairns lead to the top of a drop where below is a small lochan. The path, now more obvious again, descends down steep, very loose and badly erroded ground where careful footwork is needed !

Upon reaching the lochan , head around its eastern side and contour around the rise ahead using a worn path. The path becomes vaguer as it drops down to just below the bealach at the head of Coire Lair with its lochan .

Cross Coire Lair and its path, then strike directly up the steep pathless and grassy slopes ahead. Grass gives way to boulderfield as Sgorr Ruadh's north-western shoulder is reached and a path forms. Follow the path uphill as it travels south-east along Sgorr Ruadh's crest through boulderfield.

A grassy section is crossed higher up, then the base of the final ascent of the day is reached. The path turns onto the northern side of the crest for a bit of easy rock-scrambling fun. If wet, the rock here is a bit slimey and the drops into Coire Lair below are significant, so perhaps keeping true to the crest would be wiser !

Final pull up Sgorr Ruadh

Final pull up Sgorr Ruadh

Mainreachan Buttress and Fuar Tholl

From Sgorr Ruadh, it's probably easiest to initially head eastwards and aim in this direction for around 300m losing a little height on a gentle slope. A vague path forms and turns south-east just south of a small lochan. Follow this path down to Bealach Mhor encountering Loch a' Bhealaich Mhoir and a few other minor little lochans.

Cross the bealach, and pick up a stalker's path and follow it to its highest point.

Leave the path and continue southwards, passing more lochans and gain the scree at the foot of Creag Mainnrichean. A path can be seen heading up the scree, follow this as it then turns around the south side of the crags ahead. The ground steepens and a bit of clambering is required to progress. The flat top of the ground above Creag Mainnrichean is gained with fine views of the Mainreachan Buttress and Fuar Tholl ahead.

Aiming south-east to begin with, follow the grassy crest above Coire Mainnrichean. Ascend a short section of bouldery ground then cross the grass-covered ground just south of the highest point on the top of Mainreachan Buttress to lose a little height and reach the bealach below Fuar Tholl, where a small cairn stands.

Fuar Tholl's summit and view north over Coulin to Torridon

Fuar Tholl's summit and view north over Coulin to Torridon

Returning along Fuar Tholl, path can be seen dropping into Coire Mainnrichean

From Fuar Tholl's summit, return down the path over the grass-covered slope to the cairn on the bealach.

From the cairn there is a path which heads straight down into Coire Mainnrichean - it's steep and twisty as it descends loose scree to drop to the damp grassy ground in the coire below where it meets up with the stalkers path close to where it crosses the Allt Coire Mainnrichean.

In winter a cornice forms above Coire Mainnrichean and the path down the coire will therefore not be accessible.

If you don't fancy the steep scree descent into Coire Mainnrichean, or conditions prevent its use, re-trace your steps back along the crest above the coire and around Creag Mainnrichean to return to the highest point on the stalkers path above Bealach Mhor.

Turn east and follow this path as it crosses the Allt Coire Mainnrichean then heads down into Coire Lair. The path eventually drops to the River Lair , which in most conditions should be fairly straightforward to cross.

Once on the north bank of the River Lair, a short climb up the path picks up the main path by the cairn , which is then followed for a return to Achnashellach.

Another alternative direct descent can be made from Fuar Tholl south-east over Sgurr a'Mhuilinn to the railway line below. However there no paths in this direction and careful route selection will be required to avoid the many sections of slabby rock.

Heading along Sgorr Ruadh's north-west ridge

From Sgorr Ruadh, the route can be extended over to Maol Chean-dearg. There are two main options.

One option is from Sgorr Ruadh's summit to return along the crest of its north-western shoulder to where it was ascended , then continue north-westwards to the rise of Stuc a' Choire Ghrannda then drop to the path above Bealach Ban. The path is then followed to Bealach na Lice and Maol Chean-dearg is ascended by its east ridge. Although this route appears to minimise height loss, the scree on Stuc a' Choire Ghrannnda is a pain and the deep heather between Bealach na Lice and Maol Chean-dearg's slopes is tiresome, particulary on ascent.

A better option is from Sgorr Ruadh's summit to retrace steps back along the crest down 50m to where the bouldery, rocky ground gives way to grass. Turn south-west and aim directly down the steep fall-line on scree and through heather - tough going for just over 1km. Reach Loch Coire Fionnaraich and cross the burn at the loch's outflow, then continue south-west uphill, over wet slippy grassy ground for 1km and pick up the path heading to Bealach a' Choire Ghairbh.

Descending directly down to the Fionn Abhainn

Descending directly down to the Fionn Abhainn