When my friend Victoria spotted a sunny forecast for one Saturday amid a wash-out summer, I was quick to agree to a plan for a mountain day. Another friend D joined us and we headed off to walk two big Munros in the stunningly scenic Highlands area of Torridon.
I have finished a round of Scotland’s 282 Munros but I am always happy to return to mountains with great views. I can’t actually recall walking Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh before but this probably means the weather was poor, or I summitted them so early in my Munro bagging journey that my memory of the route has completely faded.
After the more recent outing, I know I will now find it easy to remember this day of hiking.


Beinn Liath Mhor and Sgorr Ruadh
While these two Munros have mostly obvious paths, walking them both in a day requires a reasonable level of fitness. As well as the distance of more than 18km, the route amounts to a total ascent of more than 1450m.
The day was hot, too, which none us were used to. This meant we drank through all our water and had to wait until later on in the second half of the route – on the descent of Sgorr Ruadh – to find fresh running water for a refill. I am pretty sure I ended up dehydrated and that made me lethargic, too.



First Munro: Beinn Liath Mhor
From the start of the walk at Achnashellach, the views were superb. The sky was blue and the sun shone brightly. We left a car at a small lay-by by the A890 road, although you could take the train and alight at Achnashellach station. (See my article in the Scots Magazine about Munros by train.)
After a short section of wide track, we needed to cross the rail line and then continued on another short section of tarmac and back on to a track. A wooden sign sent us on to a narrower path that then wound through trees.
Leaving the woodland behind, we entered the wider glen with fabulous mountains rising up on both sides. Our first Munro Beinn Liath Mhor was part of a long and undulating ridge to our right, although at this stage we could not see the summit.

Leaving the glen path behind after around 3km, we diverted right walking north on to another path until our route start to climb more steeply and zig-zagg up the eastern flank of Beinn Liath Mhor. The route was stoney and rocky and quickly steepened so we took out time to ascend. It felt like exactly the right thing to do, to stop for a breather every so often and survey the magnificent vista.
As far as we could see, the many peaks of the Highlands spread out behind us. Turning back to our pursuit to gain ridge, we continued plodding upwards.
I think this was when we all realised the hot sun was going to slow our progress a little. We needed plenty of hydration and a few more rests before we finally reached a cairn at an elevation of 876m.
But this was not the summit proper and so we walked west descending and ascending between higher points of 874m and then 887m.




There were a few sections of narrower and rocky outcrops but these could be easily walked around, or crossed with care.
As we walked, we chatted and laughed together. We had been joined by another walker Simon, from Dumfries & Galloway. He walked companionably with us along the full ridge until we reached the true summit of Beinn Liath Mhor at 926m.


We stopped here for a bite to eat and to enjoy a superb panorama. We also took the opportunity to contemplate the route downhill to the bealach between the two Munros. We were fairly sure we could see a trod stretching out downhill and then uphlll again and we hoped we would be able to follow it.


Second Munro: Sgorr Ruadh
In the end, we descended to an elevation of around 730m before starting the ascent. The climb seemed long, although it was most likely because I was in need of more water. It was also still hot and we were relieved to enjoy some sections where the wind provided a welcome breeze on our hot skin and heads.
The path was stoney and zig-zagged steeply upwards until we finally crested a high point ands we could suddenly see the cairn on the summit of Sgorr Ruadh, marking 962m elevation.
Neither of these two Munros are significantly tall but the many ups and downs made it a fairly challenging hike.
Again we found ourselves walking with Simon and because I was chatting to him I made a somewhat dubious descent from the Munro. It wasn’t dangerous, rather it seemed to veer off the trod. In the end, after checking the map, we headed for the edge of a lochan further below and then refound a more obvious path.


I waited for D and Victoria while Simon pushed on. Our path seemed to disappear again and we found ourselves on rougher terrain but it wasn’t difficult to walk on and before long we sore a very well-trodden path heading downwards through Alt Coire Mainnrichean.
The rest of the walk was easy to find because we simply followed this path. Indeed, it joined the path that I had walked a couple of years ago to reach the Corbett Fuar Tholl. Eventually we returned to the path we had walked at the start of the day to access the first Munro.
As is so often the case with big hikes in the mountains, the path out seemed so much longer than the path in. We all had tired legs and the stoney terrain meant my feet had become sore underneath.
Eventually, we rejoined the track that led us through trees, crossing back over the railway line and then to the roadside and our vehicle.
This is a brilliant two Munro day and in a truly special part of the Highlands.
