A long route to reach the summit of two steep-sided Corbetts, An Dun and Meall Creag an Loch, was made considerably easier by cycling the first and last 8km on the Gaick Pass.
The 29km route starts next to the A9 at Trinafour in Perthshire. The Corbetts rise either side of Loch an Duin close to the highest point of the Gaick Pass.
My friend Ben and I left our start time until mid-day because the weather forecast promised that the morning rain would give way to sunshine. Trinafour was also a straightforward drive from my home near Inverness and Ben’s in Edinburgh.
There are some limited parking spaces on the verge of a road that runs parallel to the A9. Once parked on the south side of the busy road, you need to cross four lanes of traffic to start the route on a wide and rough track. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be.
Bike to the hike of Gaick Pass Corbetts
While Ben rode his hard-tail mountain bike, I gave my new Liv gravel bike an outing. The route of the pass is a rough Landrover style track and also stoney and bumpy, it posed no technical issues.
The pass climbs from about 300m elevation to a height of 460m over the first 8km. It is never steep but does have a few short uphill challenges. The distance seemed to go by very quickly and it was, in retrospect, aided by a tailwind.
Hike of Corbett: An Dun
Both Corbetts are steep and the terrain is rough. Ben and I took our time ascending An Dunn. We had no choice because our leg muscles made us slow down!
Thankfully, the forecast had come true and the weather was dry and fine. The views over the surrounding landscape expanded as climbed, which offered some rewards for the effort.
There was very little evidence of any trods to start with but higher up we did pick up a path. This was a helpful aid to the higher reaches of the Corbett.
The summit is actually quite a flat plateau. This seemed surprising given how steep the first part of the walk was. Ben and I weren’t complaining as we enjoyed more of a saunter up a much easier gradient.
There are a couple of cairns on the top. A large cairn sits on the southern summit, however the top proper at 827m is marked by a much smaller cairn (almost “Donald like“!) a short distance further north.
The route continues north on the summit plateau before dropping steeply off the top.
Beautiful wild flowers.
Hike of Corbett: Meall Creag an Loch
It felt rather dispiriting to descend right back to the pass far below. We crossed a winding river that could be a potential hazard if the water was high. A relatively dry summer meant the water was low enough for us to pick out natural stepping stones.
Some route guides suggest simply climbing the slope – very steep again – of Meall Creag an Loch but Ben and I decided to walk along the Gaick Pass for a kilometre or so to see if there was a gentler gradient to the north.
It turns out there is no such thing as gentle on the lower flanks of this Corbett. Although not a huge amount of elevation, the slope posed a steep slog. We took eve more breaks to rest our leg muscles on this second Corbett.
Looking back we enjoy super views of the Gaick Pass and Gaick Lodge. We caught a glimpse of a Corbett we had walked earlier in the summer, from further along the pass.
Again, the Corbett Meall Creag an Loch is shaped with a flat summit plateau. We reached a small summit cairn of Maol Creag an Loch first and then walked south to reach a second and larger cairn at the lower southern summit. This marks the top of Meall Creag an Loch at 875m elevation.
On the descent, we stayed to the western side of the plateau and above steep – more steep! – crags.
Eventually, we picked up a path lower down the Corbett that traversed on a flatter path to regain the spot where we had locked up our bikes, just off the Gaick Pass.
Bike return along the Gaick Pass
We returned the way we had come on our bikes, although it was more downhill than uphill. As we closed in on the A9 again we passed a cyclist going in the opposite direction. It turned out to be a friend who was heading off for a night of wild camping as part of a short bike-packing trip. As is normal on the Corbetts, we met very few other people all day.
Gaick Pass Corbetts details:
Distance: 29km
Total elevation: 1145m
Corbetts bagged: 95.