Carn Dearg, east of Glen Roy

In Glen Roy, looking up Carn Dearg

The village of Roy Bridge lies on the A86, a few miles east of the junction with the A82 at Spean Bridge. In the village by the bridge over the River Roy, a junction with a sign indicates the way to Glen Roy.

Head up this road which is single track with passing places. The amount of sheep-shit along this road is quite something (therefore expect to use the jet-hose later) !

The road twists and turns through woodland, then comes out and climbs to a view point with parking area.

After dropping downhill and around 12km on from Roy Bridge, a bridge over the River Roy is by the roadside, around 1km before reaching Brae Roy Lodge. Parking is limited, though there should be enough room to squeeze a couple of cars without blocking access to the bridge or obstructing the adjacent passing place.

On summit of Carn Dearg (east of Glen Roy)

Head across the bridge over the River Roy, it's sturdier than it looks, then up to a small green hut.

Behind the hut, ground is covered in deep grass and there are no paths to follow - it's just a case of finding a line up the steep hillside ahead that suits. The parallel roads are crossed without really being noticed and after climbing around 350m, the hill's gradient begins to ease, the ground cover becomes less dense and a minor summit at 673m is reached.

Turning south-east a wide bealach is crossed and a line of old wooden fence-posts are met. The wooden posts are followed to a higher bealeach between another minor summit (at 763m) and Carn Dearg's summit - though I detoured to the minor summit first just to get the views !

On this higher bealach, a faint path can be found that traces a route up to Carn Dearg's summit upon which a small cairn rests.

Carn Dearg's south-western slopes

Rather than re-tracing your route up, a circular route can be made. To do this, from Carn Dearg's summit cairn, head west-north-west and descend a gentle and damp gradient. A bealach is crossed followed by a slight rise up to the minor summit of Carn Bhrunachain .

Some careful navigation is required next, particularly in mist, to avoid the gash in the hill ahead that heads down to Coire na Reinich (see left of photo).

From Carn Bhrunachain turn west and hike around 300m before turning northwards. Once past the gash, a lovely bound down heather and deer-grass reaches the Allt na Reinich and back to the bridge over the River Roy.