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You are here: Home / Blog / Tour de Loch Quoich – Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach

Tour de Loch Quoich – Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach

28th August 2017 by James Stone Leave a Comment

I woke up the morning after our epic walk from Sgurr na Ciche to Gairich surprisingly unstiff but feeling fatigued.  The morning greeted us with a spectacular sunrise.

It was cloudy but the clouds were well over the summits.  We prepared our breakfast al fresco – porridge and tea in my case.  The story of our previous day can be found here.

Tzvetie was determined to bag some more Munros.  I am sure that I would have been happy to go to the nearest tea shop (probably some distance away) or amble up a nearby bump instead.  The obvious Munros were Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach and/or Sgurr a’Mhaoraich.  I compromised with her by agreeing that we would not try to combine all three Munros!

Breakfast over we drove the short distance to just beyond the bridge over the northern arm of Loch Quoich.  Hidden amongst the rhododendron bushes is the start of one of the best stalker’s paths in the Highlands.  It lifts you easily up the southern arm of Gleouraich giving spectacular views along Loch Quoich to Sgurr na Ciche and the other hills we had been on in the previous days and along an airy highway above the arm of Loch Quoich.

It ends at a pony stance from where a rough path climbs steeply up the final 200m (660ft) of ascent to the summit.  This was my fourth ascent of this hill.

Classic view down Loch Quoich with Sgurr na Ciche in the distance

 

Stalker's path on Gleouraich
Stalker’s path on Gleouraich

 

Pony stance at the end of the stalker's path on Gleouraich
Pony stance at the end of the stalker’s path on Gleouraich

 

To Gleouraich's summit
To Gleouraich’s summit

 

View down Loch Quoich from Gleouraich's summit
View down Loch Quoich from near Gleouraich’s summit

 

The summit is a grand viewpoint.  We could also see Sgurr a’Mhaoraich, Bein Sgritheall and distant Skye to the west.

The South Glen Shiel ridge to the north and even a mist covered Ben Nevis to the south east.

Mist covered Ben Nevis
Mist covered Ben Nevis

 

From Gleouraich a ridge leads east over a subsidiary top from where this shot was taken back to the main summit of Gleouraich.

Back to Gleouraich
Back to Gleouraich

 

And on towards the rather bland slopes of Spidean Mialach after a significant drop in height.

Spidean Mialach
Spidean Mialach

 

Despite the fatigue I still made it from the start to the summit of Gleouraich in 1 hour 50 minutes and from there to the summit of Spidean Mialach in 1 hour 30 minutes.

Here are some pics from the top of Spidean Mialach.  It was noon when we got there.

Gleouraich from Spidean Mialach
Gleouraich from Spidean Mialach

 

The eye keeps on being drawn down Loch Quoich

 

Until someone gets in the way!

 

Now the sun was out and producing a little warmth.  We lounged around on this top for a while.  There is a path all the way down from the summit to the road.  As we neared the road we encountered a group of 4 guys just starting out up Spidean Mialach, perhaps a bit late in the day considering it was October.

We were back at our cars after a round of 6 hours and drove back to Fort William where we treated ourselves to a pizza.  Then I drove down to the Lake District for an appointment the following day in Ambleside!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Marilyns, Munros

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