Two Corbetts in Sutherland: Arkle and Meall Horn

My friend Ben and I enjoyed three days of Corbett bagging in the far north-west of Scotland. Day one we walked a double Corbett route of Arkle and Meall Horn; the next day we tackled Foinaven from the north; then on day three, we walked Ben Hee. We were fortunate with good weather although the clouds persisted at summit level over Foinaven.

Arkle & Meall Horn

Parking to the south of Arkle and Meall Horn just off the singletrack A383 road at Achfary – between Lairg and Laxford Bridge – and on the southern shore of Loch Stack, we began the walk on a decent track. If you fancy a short cycle, the track is ideal for a mountain bike or a gravel bike.

Even as we started the walk, we could see the stunning outline of Arkle ahead, with the steep southwesterly slopes of quartzite rising high beyond the loch.

At first, the track stays close to the shore of Loch Stack before veering off. We passed a fine looking house with a garden of hens, then a derelict cottage. At a fork in the tack, we headed left and through a very pleasant woodlands of tall pines.

At the edge of the pinewoods there are two huge boulders that form a sort of gateway. We stood and looked at the boulders and wondered how they had been created.

Through the trees, the tracks starts to climb and then continues to ascend at varying gradients. After crossing a stream, we spotted a tiny cairn on the left of the track that marks a trod that we followed on to the mountain slope.

The going is steep but not ridiculously so and every so often we stopped to look back at the view behind. I love the landscape in Sutherland and we were treated to a vista that included the Quinag trio of summits.

We came across two red deer stags who seemed amazingly unbothered by our presence.

There is a flatter section higher up at the bealach of Arkle and Meall Aonghais. The slope was broad and rocky as we climbed towards Arkle’s eastern summit. We could see out second Corbett of the day, Meall Horn, clearly across the glen now. Foinaven was shrouded in cloud at this point.

With the cloud coming and going on Arkle, too, we reached a cairn marking a 758m summit. To gain the highest point on the ridge, we descended on a rocky slope and then climbed again on to a great curve of ridge. This is a magnificent ridge and is rivalled in the area only by Foinaven.

There is a short and narrow section that I’d been worrying about but it barely registered on my “fear of exposure” radar. I guess I could have stopped to take in the sudden drops to each side, with Loch Stack far below on one side and a vast bowl of rocks between Arkle and Foinaven on the other side, but to save my fear I kept looking ahead and upwards!

Some of the ridge formed an amazing platform of huge flat blocks with small gaps between. It reminded me of being a kid and avoiding the gaps in the pavement.

The ridge widens higher up and soon we reached the true summit of Arkle at 787m.

After stopping for something to eat and to enjoy the sweeping views, we retraced our route back towards the glen. Aiming to stay as high as possible, we took a northerly route via the glen, crossed a track and then headed for the summit of Meall Horn.

I’d climbed Meall Horn last year in wind and rain, so it was good to see the mountain in better weather. In any case, it was Ben’s first time on this Corbett and it made sense to do a two Corbett day.

Corbett 2: Meall Horn

There is nothing much to report about the ascent of Meall Horn, except to say it is mostly off-trod and quite steep. We hiked through heather, grass and some boggy stretches to gain the wide ridge and the easier walk to the summit at 777m.

By now, it was approaching early evening and the sky was still bright, although with building cloud. It was warm and as we made our way south-westerly from the peak, we enjoyed the glow of the evening sun now lower in the sky.

We walked along the ridge for a while and then took a more direct route downhill to rejoin the track we had walked along at the start of the day.

As usual, the walk back to the van seemed much longer than it had at the start of the route but it was a pleasant enough hike and on a lovely summer’s evening.

This is a superb walk of two Corbetts in northern Scotland if you have good weather. In facyt I recommend you leave these for the best weather.