Coulin Forest from Glen Torridon

Start of route in Glen Torridon

Torridon is a small village, some 10miles west of Loch Maree in the north-west highlands. The A896 connects Loch Maree to the village and travels the length of Glen Torridon. This road is narrow and single track for the most part, and being on the NC500 scenic route, can be busy in peak holiday periods !

The hike up the peaks of Coulin Forest from Glen Torridon begins from the car-park at the foot of Stuc a' Choire Dhuibh Bhig on the easatern end of Liathach, around 5km to the east of Torridon village.

Lochan below Sgurr Dubh's summit

From the car-park at the foot of Liathach's eastern end, cross the bridge over the Allt a'Choire Dhuibh Mhor. On the south side of the road you'll find a sign indicating the start of a Right-of-Way. This path aims south-east towards a wooden bridge over the Feith Ghlas burn.

Cross this bridge and follow the path southwards, meeting with Lochan an Iasgair and then Ling Hut (an SMC club bothy). After passing the bothy and then a ruin, the path climbs and passes a waterfall.

The route turns south, climbs slightly, crosses a small burn, then meets up with a slightly larger burn, the Allt nan Corrag , heading down from Sgurr Dubh. Keeping to the north side of this burn, leave the path here and head south-east over heather and soggy ground.

The morraine landscape of this area is most intriguing, and reveals its secrets as height is gained. Faint occasional traces of trods can be found as the Allt nan Corrag is followed to the base of rocky ground . Ascent now much steeper, the edge of a long deep cleft is met and followed up to around c500m.

Liathach from summit of Sgurr Dubh

Liathach from summit of Sgurr Dubh

Below Sgurr Dubh's cliffs, Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine ahead

Terrain between Sgurr Dubh and Sgorr nan Lochain Uaine is undulating, pitted with lochans and constantly changes between grass and boulderfield. Navigation in less than idealy conditions will be testing !

On Sgurr Dubh's summit, about turn and retrace your steps down the boulderfield, pass the little lochans and lose height of around 100m.

Turn southwards and hike on a faint trod through heather and below some cliffs while aiming for a large lochan ahead and below. Over or around a minor bump, travel past some weird erratic boulders.

The route continues by passing another lochan, and crossing more grassy, undulating ground to meet with the lochan at the lowest point between the two Corbetts. Ahead a straightforward and gradual rise meets up with more boulderfield for the final climb up to Sgurr nan Lochan Uaine's summit .

Final pull to Sgurr Dubh's summit

Final pull to Sgurr Dubh's summit

Beinn Liath Mhor above Lochan Uaine

Having reached the summit of Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine, this is the point at which to decide whether or not to continue onwards and up the Coulin Forest Munros, or to bale out in the satisfaction of having bagged two Corbetts. See the section below for splitting the route, read on if intending to head up more peaks !

On the summit of Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine head just east of south for around 100m or so before turning south-east. Now losing some height on bouldery ground, aim for easier grassy terrain to ease ankles for the hike down to the Lochan Uaine's outflowing burn .

Above and ahead, a route up Beinn Liath Mhor doesn't look too obvious, but instead appears rather intimidating. Once over the burn, keep to the grassy crest of the shoulder ahead and reach the bottom of some steep ground . Underfoot is a bit loose, but there's only one slight awkward bit of clambering involved, followed by a pleasant walk up onto Beinn Liath Mhor's crest around 500m east of its summit.

On Beinn Liath Mhor looking to Liathach

On Beinn Liath Mhor looking to Liathach

Descending Beinn Liath Mhor

Beinn Liath Mhor's summit is made of shattered quartzite boulders, therefore care is needed when crossing the ground in wet conditions, as the rock can be very slippy !

Aim west from Beinn Liath Mhor's summit following a path. As the path zig-zags, lose around 50m of height, then begin to turn south-west. Ignore what looks like a white path heading due south (this leads to the top of a steep scree-run heading into Coire Lair).

The path drops to a rather flat area of sandstone and grass. Progress over this, then start to look for some cairns which mark an otherwise indistinct route southwards. The cairns lead to the top of a drop where below is a small lochan. The path, now more obvious again, descends down steep, very loose and badly erroded ground where careful footwork is needed !

Upon reaching the lochan , head around its eastern side and contour around the rise ahead using a worn path. The path becomes vaguer as it drops down to just below the bealach at the head of Coire Lair with its lochan .

Cross Coire Lair and its path, then strike directly up the steep pathless and grassy slopes ahead. Grass gives way to boulderfield as Sgorr Ruadh's north-western shoulder is reached and a path forms. Follow the path uphill as it travels south-east along Sgorr Ruadh's crest through boulderfield.

A grassy section is crossed higher up, then the base of the final ascent of the day is reached. The path turns onto the northern side of the crest for a bit of easy rock-scrambling fun. If wet, the rock here is a bit slimey and the drops into Coire Lair below are significant, so perhaps keeping true to the crest would be wiser !

Final pull up to Sgorr Ruadh's summit

Final pull up to Sgorr Ruadh's summit

Descending Sgorr Ruadh

On Sgorr Ruadh's summit, about-turn and trace your footsteps north-west back to the boulderfield on the mountain's crest. Follow the crest a bit further than the point you reached onto it earlier, to cross the boulderfield and reach more grass. You should be able to find a faint path that descends down grassy slopes, north-eastwards to the lochan at the head of Coire Lair.

Pick up the Coire Lair path and follow it northwards. The path drops into Coire Grannda where it levels out and approaches another small lochan . The path needs to be left here and shortly after which the Allt a' Choire Grannda is crossed.

On the path out heading back to Glen Torridon

On the path out heading back to Glen Torridon

Descending Beinn Liath Mhor passing the Lochan Uaine

As mentioned earlier, the more popular route up Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor approaches from Achnashellach to the south (see Alternative Routes below). If you find you've already bagged the two Munros, you might want to cut the route outlined on this page short.

To do this, upon reaching Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine , head down its south-eastern shoulder as outlined above. As the gradient easies , turn south and lose some more height to reach more level ground below. Turn westwards under the scree and cliffs of Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine then head north-west to walk aside the course of a burn down to meet the path in Cadha na Frianach to follow back to Ling Hut and the roadside.

A similar descent (or ascent) can be made from Beinn Liath Mhor to the path above the Allt a' Choire Ghrannda.