Inverlael Munros

Getting there

• Inverlael lies around 10km south of Ullapool on the A835, where a hill-walker's car-park holds many cars, note however that there is a height barrier preventing access to campervans and other high vehicles.
• The route starts and finishes some 16 km apart, therefore a bike (or two cars) is ideally required. Leave your bike (or other car) at the western end of Loch Glascarnoch, by the weather station.

Seana Bhraigh

• The start of this route heads into the forest from the new car-park by the phone-box at Inverlael. Recent timber-felling has cleared many hectares on the lower slopes, which can appear quite unsightly.
• Head up the track, at the first junction, keep right and continue to another junction - keep left this time, down to a bridge.
• Cross the bridge and the track goes up to the edge of an old wall with a sign pointing to Beinn Dearg.
• Just after this, there is another split in the track - keep left.
• Just after this split, a bulldozed track heads uphill - take this.
• This track gives way to the old stalker's path and carries onto to a gate and leaves the forestry land behind. Continue on this path, uphill, then down to cross the Allt Glean a'Mhadaidh.
• The path, now quite wet, follows the northern bank of this burn for 1km, then starts to veer slightly left, goes over the north-west arm of Eididh nan Clach Geala, then drops slightly into Coire an Lochain Sgeirich. Sticking to the path, cross the Allt na Creige Duibhe and continue around the southern base of Meall Glas an Ruighe and head up to a cairn just south of the small loch on the plateau. If in mist, from here you'll need to concentrate on your navigation !
• Head north-east from the small loch and start to drop to wet ground. Past a couple of little lochans, aim east, the ground starts to level and a faint path is picked up.
• Follow this path across the bealach at the head of Cadha Dearg and turn in the direction of Seana Bhraigh.
• Very wet ground next uphill, go around the south-western side of Seana Bhraighs top marked 906 on the OS map and reach the peaty bealach before Seana Bhraigh.
• From here, it's a simple trudge to the summit with its small cairn. Fantastic views from this spot.
• Seana Bhraigh is on the top of a spectacular circular coire with sharp drops to the north-east. At the eastern end of the coire is the craggy summit Creag an Duine, which requires a bit of scrambling over loose ground to reach.

Eididh nan Clach Geala

• Return to the bealach at the head of Cadha Dearg. No paths next and this combined with fairly featurless ground will test your navigation skills.
• Aim south-west, gradually attaining height.
• After around 1 km, rockier ground is met and the gradient starts to level as you approach the plateau just over 850m. The ground travels west-north-west and can confuse in mist. In clearer conditions, Eididh nan Clach Geala's summit can be seen west ahead - aim directly for it. It will require a slight drop over wet ground, but grass covered ground covers the easy climb ahead.
• There are two cairns on the summit, with a rocky gap between - the summit is the eastern cairn.

Meall nan Ceapraichean

• Leave Eididh nan Clach Geala's summit and head south-east downhill on a faint path.
• The path disappears into grass and sodden ground, but keep on south-east down to the wet bealach and the burn below.
• Cross a good path, then turn south and start climbing up wet ground. Although pathless, there is a natural line up Ceann Garbh, which becomes steeper further up.
• Once up this plateau, just aim directly for the cairn on the bouldery top of Meall nan Ceapraichean.

Beinn Dearg

• From Meall nan Ceapraichean, head south-east on a path through the bouldery ground and drop to the grassy ground and lochans of the bealach below. The lochans make for a good point to navigate to in mist.
• From the lochans aim south and pick up the destitution wall. This wall is followed directly uphill to just over c1000m where the wall turns sharply.
• There's a gap in the wall, turn south and, on a faint path, aim for the summit of Beinn Dearg. There's a huge cairn on the summit and the views are good, however the bulk of the flat summit means you'll have to head just off the summit for the best views.

Cona Mheall

• Return to the bealach, following the wall down.
• At the bealach, cross over the wall to the grassy south side and look for a obvious path.
• The path contours below the bump marked 886m on the OS map and will lead you to the bealach before Cona'Mheall, from where a faint path aims south-east uphill. This path picks a route over grassy ground between the boulderfields, but eventually some boulderfields have to be crossed.
• The long narrow summit of Cona'Mheall is just beyond, its small cairn perched above some precipitious drops.

Am Faochagach

• North-east downhill next on slippy, grassy, pathless ground. The first few metres of descent require a bit of care as the ground is not only slippy, but quite loose. In mist, the route down will require some navigation as the lines of rock tend to pull you away from your intended bearing.
• As height is dropped, grass gives way to heather and a faint path is picked up to follow down to the south end of Loch Prille.
• Cross the outlet, taking some extra care as rocks are slippy and a waterfall thunders just below.
• Start climbing up through deep tussock grass and gradually head south-south-east, from where it's an unrelenting, but haul up to Meallan Ban, where there is a well constructed symetrical cairn around two metres high.
• Am Faochagach is just under 1km away with only 80metres of ascent up a gentle gradient on fairly flat ground. Fine views from the cairn.

Descent to Glascarnoch Weather Station

• Leave Am Faochagach's summit and head south-west over one rise, then turn south-south-west to drop to the top of the southern shoulder.
• Now aim directly for Loch a'Gharbhrain, dropping down over ever-thickening heather.
• Further down, following the Allt na h-Uidhe, you'll find a faint path, which becomes more definite as the loch is approached. Heading around the south of the loch limits the number of river crossings to just one, however the ground is soaking for the last 1km to the road. There is another wet path around the northern side of Loch a'Gharbhrain, however this route is longer and you'll be drawn to follow the path which aims to the road a fair bit west of the weather station.
• Ideally you'll have left a bike for the mainly downhill cycle back to Inverlael.

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