The circuit of some 16.5km and 875m of complete elevation begins near Dalwhinnie on the A899 and takes in two main summits, Meall nan Eagan and The Fara. It was my fourth time on The Fara. Additionally learn:

The Fara is assessed as a Corbett. These are Scottish mountains of between 2500ft and 3000ft (762m and 914m) peak.. The Fara summit is at 911m elevation, which makes it only some metres shy of a Munro (greater than 3000ft).

Meall nan Eagan is a part of the Grahams checklist, or the brand new “Fionas”. If in case you have learn something concerning the Grahams lately, you’ll know that they’ve been the topic of some steered modifications. Alan Dawson has proclaimed himself to be keeper of the Grahams, though they had been initially named after the late Fiona Torbet (maiden identify Graham) and recognized as summits in Scotland between 2000ft (609.6m) and 2500ft (762m).

Initially, a 150m prominence in stature was then agreed between Fiona and Alan. He then shaped an inventory of all British hills with 150m of ascent on all sides. In Scotland, these had been referred to as the Grahams.

Alan then proceeded to acquire a registered trademark on using the identify Grahams. He has additionally redefined the Grahams as mountains between 600m and 762m. This implies there are 12 extra summits which might be classed as Grahams by Alan.

Some folks have dismissed the reclassification and are sticking to the normal checklist, renamed by some as “Fionas”. For apparent causes, I like the concept of bagging an inventory of mountains often called Fionas!

Meal nan Eagan featured on the normal checklist of Grahams and so I’m calling it a Fiona.

Stroll circuit: A Fiona and The Fara

My good friend Ben joined me for the stroll and we headed at first alongside a large monitor from the roadside, west in direction of Meall nan Eagan. The path turns right into a path that crosses a winding river a number of instances. A number of bridges appeared like they’d been moved to the shore, moderately than being over the river, though this may occasionally have been because of pure causes, comparable to a excessive river move.

The going is kind of moist in locations earlier than we began the climb of the jap flank of the Fiona. It was principally off-trod and on tough and heathery terrain. The slope was hardly ever too steep and we appeared to succeed in the summit at 658m fairly shortly.

We had been lucky with the climate and, subsequently, the views. Ben and I commented on how pleasant it was to really feel the heat of a spring solar. There was a little bit drizzle on the high of the hill nevertheless it didn’t final.

Approaching The Fara from the north-east was a brand new route for me. I’ve solely ever walked and skied to the summit from the south and south-west.

This route additionally noticed us scrambling via a “Dirc”. I’m not certain what dirc means however there are two on this space, Dirc Bheag and Dirc Mhor, and I can solely think about it refers to a “hole”, “gorge” or “slash” within the panorama.

Ben and I selected the smaller, Dirc Bheag, to ascend. For some time we had been transported to a surroundings that felt historic and other-wordly. The bottom was a jumble of rocks lined in thick moss and different vegetation. Outdated timber stood singular and stark and it appeared unimaginable that they may survive in what felt like a moderately darkish and forgotten place. it reminded Ben of the Hidden Valley in Glencoe.

We throughly loved being in such a distant place. Apparently, it’ a favorite hang-out of adders so it’ a good suggestion to take care in the summertime months.

As we crested the best level of the dirc, had been had been abruptly offered with lovely Lochan na Doire-uaine. It means “lochan of the inexperienced thicket” in Gaelic.

Probably the most difficult a part of the circuit got here subsequent as we climbed a steep north-west slope, skirting across the base of precipitous crags. It is a place to take your time and guarantee you realize that every foot and hand maintain is safe.

Larger up, the slopes levelled out a bit earlier than we began strolling south and alongside the highest of east-facing crags.

We headed across the high of the parallel Dirc Mhor and appeared down on an excellent larger jumble of rocks tightly packed into an enormous slash within the panorama.

The ultimate 1.5km hike to the summit of The Fara was fairly arduous. There was no path to observe and Ben and I wanted to tramp via thick heather and deep vegetation on a slope that was continuously steep.

Simply once we had been questioning if the highest would ever come, we lastly noticed the big cairn, which actually doesn’t mark the true summit. The precise summit sits on high of huge rocks a little bit additional south of the cairn.

We loved a cease for one thing to eat and to soak up a wonderful panorama of mountains.

Descent of The Fara

We simply picked up an apparent trod heading off The Fara to the north after which easterly. The slope felt pretty mild and earlier than lengthy, we attain a large monitor that took us again to the unique monitor we had ascended for Meall nan Eagan.

The stroll took round 5 hours in complete, of which 4 hours had been spent strolling. See Strava for the route.