Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

Slopes of Moruisg and Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

This route begins from a lay-by on the roadside of the A890 around 10km south-west of Achnasheen (where the Midge Bite Café is an excellent place to stop) and 20km north-east of Lochcarron.

As part of the NC500 and with the lay-by being aside a straight stretch of the road, traffic is known to travel quite fast !

Entering the woodland regeneration below Moruisg

From the lay-by, head through a gate into a field (sometimes with cattle) and down a track to a bridge over the River Carron.

Just after this, rough ATV tracks head towards the Inverness-Kyle railway-line, where an underpass allows people to pass safely. Beware as the ground below the underpass is likely to be soggy and you'll need to duck to avoid banging your head on iron-girders !

Immediately after the underpass, head through a gate into a vast area of moorland fenced off to allow natural regeneration of the forest. A rather damp path travels through the occasional marshy area up to another gate at around the 300m contour, through which it's then onto open hillside.

A faint path can be traced climbing up a grassy bank through heather and aside a small burn. Higher up, the heather is left behind and hillside is more grass covered, with the path making a vaguely traceable route to Moruisg's summit plateau. There are three cairns on the top - I think the small centre one marks the highest point !

The larger cairn on Moruisg with Torridon behind

The larger cairn on Moruisg with Torridon behind

Sgurr nan Ceannaichean above Coire Toll nam Bian

To continue onwards to Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, leave the cairns on Moruisg and head south-west. A faint but fairly easy to follow path can be traced as it sticks to the line of the crest above the rim and crags of Coire Toll nam Bian.

Further on, the path turns south-west, then west and drops down to a grassy bealach . Just north of the bealach some shelter amongst rocks can be found to get out of any westerly winds.

Nearing the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, Moruisg behind

Nearing the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, Moruisg behind

Maoile Lunndaidh from Sgurr nan Ceannaichean's summit

On Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, about turn and retrace your steps along the flat top, down the zig-zags and for a further 300m or so along the peak's northern shoulder. As you do this, keep looking on your left and you should see a path heading north-westwards (if you reach the rim of Coire Toll nam Bian, you've gone too far !).

The path, fairly faint but quite traceable, descends northwards. Lower down the path twists to avoid the steep group of Creag a' Chait then drops on more gentle slopes to a fence .

On the path out from Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

On the path out from Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

Sgurr nan Ceannaichean from Maoile Lunndaidh

The first time up these hills was from Craig, with a direct ascent up Sgurr nan Ceannaichean's steep western flank, descending off Moruisg via the stalkers paths to Glenuaig Lodge and back through Glen Uig.

Subsequent visits all combined these hills with other Monar mountains and it wasn't until my 10th visit that I approached these hills from the lay-by on the A890 - doing much of the above route, but for the return, descending west from Sgurr nan Ceannaichean for around 1km before turning northwards to pick up the Allt Coire an t-Seilich to return.

This is a fine route for a spot of hill-running ! Have a look on Strava for the hill-running times up Moruisg. I set the fastest time in 2018, holding it for 2 and a half years before it was obliterated by Sam Alexander in late 2021 !