Under the shrouded Corbett
With just two weeks to go until the Highland Cross, I’ve been trying to squeeze in as much off-road running as I can. I spotted the potential for this route during a mountain biking trip – featured in Active Outdoors last week – when I noticed a good path striking up the lower slopes of Bac an Eich at the head of Strathconon, below a lower summit called Creag Coire na Feòla.
It’s not an easy run by any stretch of the imagination but, as I discovered last year, the Cross is no pushover either – taking runners or walkers 20 miles from Kintail to Glen Affric before a 30-mile cycle to Beauly. I’d have to be properly prepared.
My Highland Cross team-mate Iain Blackburn and I were out on this rainy day for nearly three hours, wading through rivers, trudging up steep slopes and even adding an unnecessary 100 metres of climbing after a navigational lapse of concentration in the cloud.
Most of the route follows decent paths and tracks and I was surprised by how much of the circuit we could actually run.
We started near the head of Strathconon at Inverchoran, where there’s space to park a number of cars at the edge of the road close to the entrance to the estate farm. A few were already here, possibly walkers who were aiming for the Corbett which remained shrouded in cloud for the whole day.
Running west we set off down the road, passing Loch Beannacharain to reach Scardroy Lodge, keeping left where the right of way to Achnasheen heads uphill to the right. This couple of miles on the road is a luxury the Highland Cross doesn’t afford, as it starts on a rough but flat estate track.
After passing some farm buildings we crossed a new plank bridge then continued to Corrievuic, where we forked left over another bridge towards the obvious ruin at Corriefeol. From here the OS map shows a track all the way but that’s never a guarantee of something existing on the ground, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the old stalkers’ path in decent condition, despite the rain pouring down it.
By now we were drenched, so the bog and puddles weren’t worth avoiding as we made our way slowly but surely into Coire Mhoraigein. The running was steady but the rain was relentless!
Further into the corrie the track became steeper until we were jogging alongside a beautiful burn, heading gently upwards towards a steep slope to which the base of the cloud was clinging.
We continued up a steep zigzag path to a plateau before we realised the landscape didn’t match our expectations from the map. A quick check of the GPS – a luxury that can be a real benefit on the hill, if used to supplement map reading and compass skills – showed where we had gone wrong. We’d climbed onto a plateau on the north-east ridge of Sgurr Coire nan Eun instead of contouring round on the path shown on the map.
A steep descent out of the cloud exposed the path we should have followed and we picked it up again a little further on, giving us a chance to get running properly again.
In the valley below we could see Loch na Caoidhe but the path clings to the quiet southern slopes of Bac an Eich, resisting the temptation to descend into the upper reaches of Glen Orrin beside the loch.
Eventually we swung left, meeting a 4x4 track at Torran Ceann Liath that would ultimately lead us through Gleann Chorainn to Inverchoran. Along the way we had some rough, stony terrain to contend with, some grassy sections and a series of chilling river crossings.
Deer dotted the hillsides as we looked back up the long glen at the distance we had covered in a relatively short space of time. The running is rarely quick on this terrain but, whatever the weather, it’s an incredible experience to be out here exposed to the elements and enjoying these beautiful parts of the Highlands.
* To sponsor John in this year’s Highland Cross, please visit www.justgiving.com/JDHighlandCross14