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The "Hemmingway never did anything this difficult and painful" tour of Loch Mullardoch

This was easily one of the hardest walks we've been on, probably owing mostly to the fact that thanks to the vagaries of Scottish weather, and the remoteness of our camp (i.e. no pub nearby), we had to carry quite a bit of food and clothing. The weight certainly hurt us. In fact, Craig is now on crutches after the walk, and it's taken Mark a couple of weeks to regain feeling in his feet. Kristan was sore behind his knees for about a week, but the solution there was to go indoor snowboarding the next weekend, thus masking the hiking pains with much more severe snowboarding ones.

The route took us from Glen Affric (not on map above) where we parked a car, upGleann nam Fiadh, and then up onto the ridge to tackle Carn Eighe, then Mam Sodhail, then Beinn Fhionnlaidh. We camped at the very Western end of Loch Mullardoch. The second day we went up An Socach, then decided we couldn't take any more hills in and took the valley down to the bothy at ~~XXXXXX~~, then followed the lochside to the dam where we had parked the second car.

The walk was in some of the most remote parts of Scotland. From leaving Glen Affric, we never saw another person until about 10 minutes from the end of the second day. The scenery was gorgeous, and if the weather wasn't great, it wasn't raining the whole time either. Plenty of sunny spells gave us many chances to enjoy the scenery.

The start of the walk. Will the car still be here when we get back in a couple of days?

The car is hardly out of sight, and Mark is already stopping for a change of clothes. Now there's a surprise!

A nice cool drink of Cryptosporidium, anyone?

A foot fetish? Nope, Nurse Mark just getting excited about finally being able to use his first aid kit after hauling it up and down mountains for years on end.

A pretty waterfall on the walk in.

Steeper than it looks! And colder. And wetter.

Notice the map is out. GPS hidden out of view.

Summit of Carn Eighe

Walking towards Mam Sodhail

Traversing around Carn Eighe from Mam Sodhail to Bienn Fhionnlaidh

Beinn Fhionnlaidh. Supposedly one of the most remote (in terms of walk-in time) Munros in Scotland

A cold river crossing at the end of the day, before getting to our campsite. Cold does not do it justice - glacially cold would be a better description. After the numbness and then pain subsided, we all agreed that it was refreshing however.

The epitome of Happy Campers. Setting up the tent in the dark, in the rain, after walking 20 miles with heavy packs. Nothing tops it all off like a nice warm dinner of freeze dried meatballs. Yum! What better way to spend a Friday night? At least we did have whisky with us too, although we were nearly too tired to drink it.

The campsite at dawn the next day. What a beautiful place. This view made it all worthwhile for me.

Another day, another stop for change of clothes for Mark. Actually, we all needed the rest. From campsite we crossed another river, and then it was straight up An Socach - no path, no traversing.

This is easily one of the prettiest corries we have ever seen.

Towards the bothy.

After multiple cold river crossings, as we near civilization again it was nice to see a bridge.
Put something here for browsers that don't use Java.
Panorama view from below An Socach looking West towards Iron Lodge. Click and drag to view around. Unfortunately, its not a 360 degree panorama.

Thanks to David Griffiths' Panorama viewer applet.

The start of the walk. Will the car still be here when we get back in a couple of days?	The car is hardly out of sight, and Mark is already stopping for a change of clothes. Now there's a surprise!	A nice cool drink of Cryptosporidium, anyone?
A foot fetish? Nope, Nurse Mark just getting excited about finally being able to use his first aid kit after hauling it up and down mountains for years on end.	A pretty waterfall on the walk in.	Steeper than it looks! And colder. And wetter.
	Notice the map is out. GPS hidden out of view.	Summit of Carn Eighe
Walking towards Mam Sodhail	Traversing around Carn Eighe from Mam Sodhail to Bienn Fhionnlaidh	Beinn Fhionnlaidh. Supposedly one of the most remote (in terms of walk-in time) Munros in Scotland
A cold river crossing at the end of the day, before getting to our campsite. Cold does not do it justice - glacially cold would be a better description. After the numbness and then pain subsided, we all agreed that it was refreshing however.	The epitome of Happy Campers. Setting up the tent in the dark, in the rain, after walking 20 miles with heavy packs. Nothing tops it all off like a nice warm dinner of freeze dried meatballs. Yum! What better way to spend a Friday night? At least we did have whisky with us too, although we were nearly too tired to drink it.	The campsite at dawn the next day. What a beautiful place. This view made it all worthwhile for me.
Another day, another stop for change of clothes for Mark. Actually, we all needed the rest. From campsite we crossed another river, and then it was straight up An Socach - no path, no traversing.	This is easily one of the prettiest corries we have ever seen.	Towards the bothy.
After multiple cold river crossings, as we near civilization again it was nice to see a bridge.	Put something here for browsers that don't use Java. Panorama view from below An Socach looking West towards Iron Lodge. Click and drag to view around. Unfortunately, its not a 360 degree panorama.