Mullach na Dheiragain’s not the sort of hill you climb by accident. Being a long way from anywhere, you have to really want it, and I did!
Having made a complete traverse of the Carn Eige range from Toll Creagach to the twin tops of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan one big winter weekend in 2008, I was left wanting this single awkward Munro and the remaining Tops of Gleann Sithidh till it finally dawned on me that they were appropriately accessible from the west by cycling into Iron Lodge. So that’s what I did yesterday, with just two points of real note to report:
- When leaving the main road at Ardelve (opposite side of Loch Long from Dornie), don’t do as I did and drive as far as you can to Camas-luinie because that puts some tortuously overgrown single-track with multiple gates between you and the main track up Glen Elchaig. Far better to go in by the Inverinate Estate sign for Killilan a mile-and-a-half earlier (good track all the way), which is how I came back out again!
- Not even in ‘The Year of the Cleg’ 2013 have I experienced continuous cleg torture to match the Iron Lodge afternoon shift, with 10% action to 90% swatting and attempted evasion probably a generous estimate of my usable time as I struggled to pack my camera, throw on my helmet and cycle off without even stopping to dig out my gloves!
