A superb 5-day trek around the remote Ben Alder group of mountains bounded by Loch Ossian, Loch Ericht, Loch Ghuilbinn and Loch Treig, starting at Corrour station and ending at Tulloch station. The route is mainly on good paths and tracks with just one significant rough pathless section between Dubh Lochan and the Allt Gualainn a’ Chàrra Mhòir.
The outward leg from Corrour station follows the southern shore of Loch Ossian and ascends via the Uisge Labhair to the upper reaches of the glen.
The southern section traverses Bealach Cumhann, descends near the Alder Burn to Benalder Cottage and climbs to Bealach Breabag and the summit of Sròn Coire na h-lolaire for a fine view of Beinn Bheòil and Loch Ericht.
The eastern section descends via the shore of Loch a’ Bhealaich Bheithe to Culra Lodge for a splendid view of Ben Alder’s superb eastern corries and the neighbouring Geal-Chàrn group.
The north-eastern section traverses the An Lairig from Loch Pattack to Dubh Lochan and descends to Loch Ghuilbinn and Strath Ossian.
The north-western section ascends the footpath over the lower slopes of Chno Dearg and Coire Dhearcaig to Fersit for a final hike along the minor road to the A85 and Tulloch station.
Our second expedition to Scotland in 2012, we were again blessed with fine sunny conditions and clarity but a quite debilitating heat in the latter half. Despite the high temperatures and lack of wind we experienced no midges at all. The first and last days were largely spent on the driving and train journeys and were planned to be short. Late in the first day near Corrour Lodge an activity group was setting off and a few people were returning, after that we didn’t see another walker for the rest of the trek.
25 Comments
Another cracker, lovely stuff once again Geoff. Thanks for the inspiration.
A compelling account of a fantastic looking trip - thanks Geoff. Hopefully, the tranquility of the hills soon eclipsed the train fiasco! The air clarity looks much better up there than it was in North Wales on the same days. My views were good, but distinctly hazy.
I love the sentence ‘the terrain hereabouts was heather and peat hags and hostile to pitching’.
Another cracking backpack Geoff. I did think that you may have been taking the opportunity of a few days of perfect weather to get into the wilds. I enjoyed reading that, thanks.
much impressed Geoff. You really do inspire me. Now all I have to do is get out there
A super trip Geoff, I really love that part of Scotland!
Karl - thanks very much, superb area.
Jim - we soon put the train panic behind us with the prospect of scenery like that. It was surprisingly clear considering the heat, I guess the difference in air streams can be very significant between Scotland and Wales.
James - we’ve pitched in - or rather on - large heathery hags before now, very comfortable actually. A splendid backpack this one.
Alistair - Thanks a lot. I find that’s the only downside to reading so many great reports, I want to do them all.
Geoff - thanks very much, a brilliant circuit. Any wild backpacker would surely love that area.
Great trip report of what looks to be a superb trip. We were looking at a similar Corrour - Tulloch trip recently, for one of the times hubby next has work in Fort William. You certainly were in a wonderful spot to enjoy our recent ’summer’.
Sheila - hello again and thanks very much. That’s two ‘Scottish summers’ in one year now, can’t be bad!. Glorious mountain country here, you should have a fantastic trip.
I made a pint of tea, cast about for my bedraggled Landrangers 41 and 42 and settled back to enjoy. I feel like I’ve had a mini holiday of my own. Fab. All those wide mountain vistas with lochans or tumbling streams in the foreground - a photography masterclass.
When I was young and fit and living hand to mouth in temporary jobs precisely so that I could take time off to do this sort of thing, I did a bothy trip from Fort Bill to Culra and back. It was June and I was feverishly bagging every Munro I could. The weather was so hot that I did Ben Alder at night (not that it was dark for long). Happy days.
Mark - many thanks, it’s excellent mountain scenery that begs to be photographed and a fantastic backpack.
That’s an interesting memory-jogger, I can picture spreading out tatty, well fingered maps and finding the crucial point exactly on a frayed seam, or a route spread over four maps. All digital now, anywhere, any scale at a click-and-scroll of a mouse!. Not quite the same experience but still.
Nice one. Inspiring as always. Have done a good few trips in the Lakes now an I usually find myself taking inspiration and ideas from your site. Looking forward to planning an extended trip in the Highlands soon. Thanks again.
Ban Alder area is prime backpacking terrain. Indeed a fantastic backpacking trip Geoff. Weather wise I would have taken some summits in. But a very nice route, and again good use of train lines to get to and back to the car.
Gavin - Thank you, the route collection is growing nicely. I hope to add more to the Scotland section, this is a superb one for generally low-to-mid level backpacking.
Martin - it must surely be one of the best areas in that part of the Highlands, excellent backpacking, and the train opens up more possibilities. I might return to that area on a solo trip to take in mountain summits, but on joint trips like that one we are generally limited to low-to-mid level easy walking now.
Looks like it was a cracking trip Geoff, very inspirational. As always some stunning pics. I can sympathise regarding the Cuckoo we had them in stereo all week in Torridon, driving me mad by the end of the week.
Geoff, doing a lot of catch up on reading. Thanks for sharing this route. I am just back from backpacking in Knoydart and it was a toss up between these two areas. So this will give a good basis for a trip of my own in this area. Excellent write up as always.
Phil - Thanks very much. Noisy blighters cuckoos, and you still think you can hear them even after they finally stop, like an after-echo in your head.
Mark - thanks again. There are many variations in this area, I said earlier to Martin that I may well do a solo backpack here via the summits one day.
I just saw your preliminary pictures. I have three variations for a Knoydart trip plotted out, but the logistics are troublesome, at least compared to the trips we’ve done so far.
I guess you are right with the logistics, but not too bad if you have the time and the inclination.
I drove to Shiel Bridge where I camped overnight at the campsite there. I left the car with the owner’s permission for 4 days. From Inverie I caught a boat from Mallaig at 10.30 am. A bus from Mallaig to Ft William and bus from Ft William back to Shiel Bridge. Might seem a lot of travelling, but the routes are very pleasant
and I did not find it a chore. The Ben Alder trip is easier - as long as you follow your instructions on the train at Crianlarich!
The British Public transport system is a fine and wonderful thing! What a superb trip and some stunning camps and sounds like you had it pretty much to yourselves. The Ben Alder range is a massive gap in my Scottish hills collection so I need a trip out there. Camped in Strath Ossian a few years back, cracking spot. You must have done something right in a previous life to have 2 trips up there in succession with glorious weather and no midges.
Mark - my ideas had a structure involving a bus and train and avoiding the ferry, it might happen one day. It’s difficult to get a handle on the popularity of the main Knoydart routes: on the one hand it’s a remote area with limited access and one might expect very few day walkers, on the other hand the backpacking routes seem to be well known and we read of tents pitched in quite large numbers in Barrisdale, which is also an obvious destination for walkers arriving on the ferry. Yes, beware Crianlarich!.
Andy - the most monumental examples of incompetence we’ve found over the years have all been in the transport system, but it can be excellent. Once on the train this service is fine but the basics at the station leave a lot to be desired. Two 5-day trips in a couple of months in perfect conditions is quite something, and we were really surprised to find the area deserted after that DOE group at the start.
Fabulous photos and writing Geoff, that is definitely another trip to savour and one that, as you know, pushed me into heading into the Alder area at last. Combining the train and backpacking is so natural and I’m already brimming with ideas for other routes in that area. Here’s hoping the good weather allocation hasn’t been used up for you just yet!
Thanks Nick, it’s splendid backpacking alright. I’m watching the forecast for my return solo trip but we are into the midge season now, so it better be fairly breezy too.
The train is a great way to open up new possibilities with the stations on the same line. I had thought of using Dalwhinnie at one point, but although it has a rail station it may as well be on another planet!.
Haha, exactly! Being in Aberdeen the Inverness-Perth line is much more convenient than the Highland line for me (and I used it to do Blair Atholl to Aviemore earlier in the year) but the lack of quick transition between the two is definitely a show-stopper for traverses using them both. I’ve been lucky with the midges so far this year - I’ve only had a couple of bites and those were at the car park rather than out and about!
Got interrupted reading this first time round so back again for a successful second attempt!
Another fantastic outing Geoff.
It’s another lovely area that I would like to revisit, trouble is there are still plenty of others tucked away waiting to be explored for the first time!
Sadly my backpacking trips have been a bit limited during the “summer” but there is always hope, maybe a fine autumn!
Paul - Thanks again, best trip of the year so far. If only it wasn’t such an effort to get to Scotland, we have run out of new remote areas south of the border.
This summer has seen very few backpacks for us too for one reason or another, about time we were out.