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lat / lon: 56.951233, -04.213745
OS grid ref: NN 65370 86605
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The Clouds rolled in during the night and although I saw a bit
of sun at sunrise it soon rose into the clouds. I packed up camp
and walked directly down to the Schiehallion Road then back to
my car at Tullochroisk. Finlay wasn’t there so I drove to the A9
and on to the start of my next planned walk. I was going to do
it first thing Tuesday morning then drive home but as I was well
ahead of schedule decided to do it today.
I parked in a layby
by the A9 in Glen Truim. A short way NE I reached an access
track heading east which I followed to the start of an open
watercourse above the river Cuaich. |
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The map calls it an aqueduct but it is a watercourse that takes
water towards Dalwhinnie. As I continued the steep walls of the
watercourse were held up by many flying buttresses. After about
2km I came to the Cuaich Power Station, apparently built in the
1930s with an output of output 2.50 MW. Up ahead I could see
Meall Chuaich which is my objective. The weather was reasonably
clear but high coud. The track continued after the power station
towards Loch Cuaich which has a dam and intake at the southern
end. |
Power Station outflow |
Watercourse and butressess, |
Cuaich Power Station hydro output 2.50 MW. This was one of
the early hydro electric schemes, built in the 1930s. |
Cuaich Power Station. |
I came to a very tidy bothy but it is private and locked.
Continuing on and over a wooden bridge I left the track to
follow a well worn path up the hillside. I kept plodding on but
there weren't any good views to make the walk interesting.
It
is interesting to note that the Ordnance Gazetteer of scotland
1885 describes the area as (presents for the most part a moorish
bleak and cheerless aspect.) |
Cuaich Power Station. |
Bothy. |
Meall Chuaich 950m summit cairn. |
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Higher up the ground levelled off for a while but the true
summit was still out of view. I left the main path to follow a
minor track to the left and this turned out to be quite easy
underfoot and rejoined the main track higher up. Eventually I
could see the large stone cairn on the Meall Chuaich 950m
summit. There was a figure up ahead which turned out to be a
woman on her way down. I continued up and we exchanged waves at
a distance. It was now quite windy but not too cold at around
15degC. |
Meall Chuaich 950m summit cairn. |
On the way down. |
Supply Pipeline. |
I turned around to return by the same route but kept to the main
stony and indistinct route that I’d bypassed on the way up.
Overall I found it quite a dreary walk and one I have no
intention of repeating. I got down to the track and bothy cabin
and then just had to endure the track for several kilometres
back to the car. The lady I’d seen on the summit had left the
lower track to look at the loch dam so she was now behind me
when I got back to the car.
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