Beinn Sgritheall was one of my favourite Munros of my first round. Read my account: Steeps, scree and awesome views. So, it took no persuasion to head back to walk this Munro with friends, Cath, Rachel, Geraldine and D. We chose a weekend in May that turned out to be beautiful weather.
I had also spotted that there was a Munro Top to the north-west of Beinn Sgritheall, which was a short detour from the Munro. I am now bagging all kinds of lists, including Munros, Corbetts, Munro Tops, Fionas, Grahams and Donalds.
Steep walk uphill to Beinn Sgritheall
Weparked for the night in a couple of campervans at the end of the tarmac road on the Glenelg peninsula (the community allows up to three vans to be parked overnight in return for a donation at the nearby community hall and toilets). To get to the start of the walk required a short drive back to Arnisdale village. There are several places to park at the side of the road.
A sign marked simply as “Beinn Sgritheall” showed us the way to a path that climbs behind the village. There is very little light relief for the legs and so we took our time to walk uphill on the obvious path that was sometimes boggy and sometimes dry and rocky.
At one point, a “snake” slithered across Geraldine’s shoe and she leapt sideways and screamed. This left us all a bit anxious because the path is narrow and hedged by thick vegetation so there was no way of seeing another snake unless it darted out in front of us.
We realised later that is was a slow worm, which is harmless to humans although it’s no fun to have it on your foot.
Eventually, we reached a bealach and by this point the sun was warm and we had all removed top layers of clothing.
From the bealach, a wide slope of grass and scree rose up above us and we continued to climb on a path. At times, the gradient was so precipitous that we were almost crawling upwards, yet it was not as daunting as I remembered.
Finally, we reached a high point, just above 900m, at the end of the ridge that heads across a wide col towards the summit of Beinn Sgritheall.
With clear visibility, the views over the sea and surrounding mountains, including those in Knoydart, were superb and we relaxed and chatted as we strolled towards the last short rise that took us to a trig pillar marking the Munro’s height of 974m.
The final climb had a few airy sections but nothing very daunting. The vista all around was spectacular and we looked down on Loch Hourn and far afield to the Isle of Skye and the jagged outline of the Cuillin ridge.
On to the Munro Top
There is a choice for anyone walking Beinn Sgritheall: You could simply return form the summit the way you came (although the descent is very steep indeed), or continue west along the wide ridge to form a circuit.
We chose the latter but I also requested that we make a short detour so I could bag the Munro Top to the north-west of Beinn Sgritheall.
It amounted to only an extra kilometre or so of walking and a short down and up to reach 928m elevation.
After this we rejoined the circuit route, descending along the westerly ridge on a trod that is fairly easy to see on the rocky ground. When we spotted a lochan, we turned almost directly south on to a steeper descending path through rougher ground and then into the woodland of Coille Mhialairigh.
The views back along Barrisdale Bay were stunning.
The path joins the singletrack road along the Glenelg penisula. We turned left and walked the undulating tarmac around 2km to 3km back to where we had parked a vehicle in Arnisdale.
Route details: Beinn Sgritheall
Distance: 11.5km
Total elevation: 1134m