Gairich & Sgùrr Mòr via Glen Kingie

River Garry by Poulary

The A87 travels from Invergarry in the Great Glen westwards through Kintail and onwards to Skye. On this road, around 8km west of Invergarry and above the shores of Loch Garry, there is a junction with an unclassified road which is marked heading to Tomdoun and Kinlochourn (sic).

Follow the unclassified road above the shores of Loch Garry and into the forests surrounding Tomdoun. Past the forests, the road passes a recently renovated old white house on your right. Beyond this, there are a few houses on your left in sparse woodland, all with access roads - the third of these has a right-of-way sign - this is the beginning of the route to Glen Kingie.

Parking is very limited nearby !

Heading along the forests in Glen Kingie

From the roadside, head down the access road, through a gate and keep left on the main track downhill to the bridge over River Poulary .

Over the bridge, the track heads into forestry (much felled and recently re-planted) and aims west for 500m before turning south for 1km. Coming to a junction in the track, keep right (turning left leads uphill to the foot of the Corbetts above the eastern end of Loch Arkaig), before turning west again for a further 4km.

A bridge over River Kingie is crossed beyond which the track becomes a tad rougher and less used.

A further 3km on, the track comes to a junction . Turn left and head down to the ruin of Lochan with much of the dense forestry now left behind.

Ruin of Lochan

Ruin of Lochan

Gairich from Gairich Beag

After leaving your bike by the bridge, don't cross the bridge, instead hike uphill on the track that travels north-west towards Clach na Meineir - the bealach between Gairich Beag and Sgùrr an Fhuarain. On nearing the highest point of this track, you'll come to the base of a stalkers path heading east, uphill.

The track is well defined, though occasionally soggy and twists and turns as it climbs 300m up the western side of Gairich Beag. Ascent easies and the path disappears into grass while approaching the flat moorland of Gairich Beag .

On Gairich's summit looking west

On Gairich's summit looking west

Stalkers path below Gairich Beag, Sgùrr an Fhuarain ahead

Leave Gairich's summit behind and return to the track on Clach na Meineir . Cross this track and the accompanying line of old fence-posts and hike over the soggy ground of Clach na Meineir to pick up and follow the faint remains of another stalkers path heading southwards.

The old stalker's path gradually disappears into grass, from where strike up steep grassy ground up onto the eastern arm of Sgùrr an Fhuarain.

Pathless grass covered ground is ascended aside occasional old irons fence-posts. The crest of the hill widens and the fence-posts are left behind to instead aim directly uphill for the remaining 150m ascent to Sgùrr an Fhuarain's summit with its conical trig point and small cairn.

On Sgùrr Fhuarain, looking to Sgùrr Mor

On Sgùrr Fhuarain, looking to Sgùrr Mor

At the bealach below Sgùrr Mor

At just over 2km away, Sgùrr Mòr appears surprisingly close when viewed from Sgùrr an Fhuarain's summit.

Head west from Sgùrr an Fhuarain's summit along a faint path over pleasant grass covered ground on its western shoulder. While taking in the views ahead, a height of 200m is lost descending the shoulder's gentle slope over a distance of just over 1km to reach the bealach between Sgùrr an Fhuarain and Sgùrr Mòr.

From the bealach, start heading up Sgùrr Mòr east facing grassy slope, the path now more obvious . As the route turns north-west, the path narrows and zig-zags a bit as terrain becomes a tad rougher than that of the descent of Sgùrr an Fhuarain.

Further up and after climbing around 200m, the path turns westwards for the final climb up rockier ground onto Sgùrr Mòr's summit crest. The faint path crosses undulating ground to reach Sgùrr Mòr's summit , where a cairn made up of a large untidy pile of stones and boulders stands and provides just enough shelter out of any wind.

Approaching Sgùrr Mòr's summit from the east

Approaching Sgùrr Mòr's summit from the east

On Sgùrr an Fhuarain's summit looking to Gairich

Retrace your steps back down to the bealach between Sgùrr Mòr and Sgùrr an Fhuarain. Decision - direct downhill to Glen Kingie for a hike along a path to your bike, or up and over Sgùrr an Fhuarain to your bike ?

If weather isn't great, I'd go for the direct descent to Glen Kingie - it's a fairly steep drop of 500m on grass making for an enjoyable downhill run. The path in Glen Kingie is pretty good.

If weather is fine, I'd opt to stay high. The effort of the ascent back up to Sgùrr an Fhuarain's summit is rewarded by the having mountain views for longer. This route is also slightly shorter !