[There's a route map on our Walk Highlands website report for this walk (at the bottom of the page).]

For us this was a special journey from an ultra-special place. Reflections came to us in many ways: directly off the water, less immediate hallmarks - of the recent fire on Liathach, and distant but still poignant reminders of some of Torridon's history.

This year, would it be fourth time lucky to get onto Liathach - Liathach, fearsome monolith which dominates iconic Torridon more than any other hill...? Yes, very - though not in the way we originally planned all those years ago: Not to the highest point, the Spidean A Choire Leithe, but to its other Munro, the Mullach an Rathain. The west end of the Liathach ridge, Sgorr a Chadail, took our fancy: It's a prominent feature from Corrie, particularly from Lochside Cottage, where we were staying: It looked like it could give a spectacular bird's eye view of Loch Torridon. We had also wondered for a while about climbing Mullach an Rathain from round the back, up Coire Mhic Nobuill.

So we set off on foot from Lochside Cottage, on the Torridon House Estate, on a perfect summer morning. We followed the delightful shore road eastwards to the junction with the public road from Fasag to Alligin, turned left and up the hill, along and down to the bridge at Coire Mhic Nobuill. Many people start walks on Beinn Alligin, or up the Coire to Coire Mhic Fhearchair or Beinn Dearg, from this bridge: there's a layby adjacent on the south side.

On up the Coire Mhic Nobuill path until it crosses the Allt Coire Mhic Nobuill (NG882589). Instead of crossing the bridge, we made our own way more or less directly onto the ridge. Once there, it was easy walking to the Sgorr, then along to the Mullach. We returned to the road by a similar route, but carried on down the Allt through the Torridon House estate, on a reasonably clear path through the woods, joining the track from Rechullin back to Lochside Cottage. As we emerged from the Corrie woods, the moon was just over the mountains on the other side of Loch Torridon.

A beautiful day for us: we hope you enjoy the photos!

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Sgorr a Chadail from the Lochside Cottage jetty.	..and (sidelit) from outside the cottage. The summit of the Mullach is just visible at the right-hand end of the photo.	Just before we set out to climb the Sgorr and the Mullach: Clare enjoying the sun!	Beinn Damph (right), Beinn na h'Eaglaise (left) and Loch Torridon at the start of the walk	Beinn Shieldaig from Lochside, at the start of the walk	..and from the Corrie road	The fish trap at Corrie (near shore)
The waterfall upstream from the Corrie road bridge	Woodland at the start of the Coire Mhic Nobuill path	The waterfall above the Coire Mhic Nobuill woods	Beinn Alligin from a little way up the Sgorr	Baosbheinn and the Suileagan ("eyes"), betwixt Alligin and Dearg	Gneiss hills above Wester Alligin, South Rona and Skye (north Trotternish) beyond..	..and the same view (from part-way up the Sgorr) in context

On Sgorr a Chadail:

Upper Loch Torridon, its colours a rich combination of its own and the sky's; looking to Beinn Damph (left) and Beinn Shieldaig backed by the Applecross hills (right) Viewed like this, it's easy to forget that Loch Torridon is a sea loch!	Looking east from the Sgorr, with fire-damaged south face, to the Mullach	Lichen with localised scorching (?)	..and again, though with alpine alchemilla already growing well
	Submarine sediment from the Allt Coire Mhic Nobuill and the Corrie delta, viewed from the Sgorr	Head of Loch Torridon, from the Sgorr: the Am Ploc fish trap, by Fasag, is visible across the bottom left bay of the Loch.	Beinn h'Eagleaise and Meall Chean Dearg, left of Beinn Damph, across the loch; The Sgorr's summit gives a bird's eye view of the graceful shape of the loch's north shore
Looking further east at the sun-dappled mountains of the Coulin Forest	The same view, closer in on Seana Mheallan (centre); Skyline: Sgorr an Lochan Uaine (left), Beinn Liath Mhor (centre) Sgurr Ruadh (right), with Fuar Tholl just to its right. Far right are the hills to the south of Loch Carron. A burnt plantation can be seen bottom right.	..and closer in, on Sgurr Ruadh, with Fuar Tholl behind it to the right	Looking west down Loch Torridon, with the outer Loch, and beyond to Skye; wind-patterns were appearing on the Loch, and the cloud darkening, but this was as thick as it got all day

On the way to Mullach an Rathain from the Sgorr:

Sandy banks on the ridge

Sandy banks in alignment

Pancake-shaped sandstone at the tor

The summit of the Mullach from the false summit

The south spur of the Mullach, above Creag Dubh nan Fuaran - sun on the quartzite foreground contrasting with the Torridonian of the lower spur

Views from the Mullach, and on the descent:

Looking west down the ridge to the Sgorr; Beinn Alligin on the right, Skye and Loch Torridon on the left	Looking a little to the left: the width of the Mullach ridge, from the south (left) spur, Creag Dubh nan Fuaran, to the the tor - the light again showing up the contrast 'twixt the ridge's shapeliness and the abrupt change of rock type	..and looking east along the pinnacles ridge to the Spidean a Choire Leith, the highest point on Liathach, and for many miles in all directions. The contrasts of light over the Coulin forest mountains was particularly striking: the brightest hills in the middle ground are Sgurr Dubh (left), and further right, in line with the nearest foreground, Beinn Liath Beag. Sgorr an Lochan Uaine is the higher, greyer summit to its right. Beinn Liath Beag is some way further east than these other two.		Am Fasarinen. The distinctive shape at the centre of the skyline is the compact group of hills south of the River Bran, between Achnasheen and Achanalt (where we started this holiday!) - Sgurr a Mhuilinn, etc.	The headwall of Coire na Caime
Closeup of Sgurr Dubh, rather belying its name from this angle	Closeup of the Coire a Cheud Chnoc (Corrie of a hundred hills), and the folds on Sgorr an Lochan Uaine	..and a little further to the right: Sgorr an Lochan Uaine, Beinn Liath Mhor, and Sgurr Ruadh (with Fuar Tholl just behind it, in shadow). In the centre of the photo is Lochan Neimhe - a most atmospheric place.	Red admiral on the summit of Mullach an Rathain (very quick photo, hence the blur! Still, something of the striking colour can be seen).	Large emerald in Glen Torridon (near Glen Cottage), at the foot of Liathach (east)	Blue butterfly (underside) on the shore road verges near Lochside cottage (2010), at the foot of Liathach (west)
Between Beinn Alligin and Beinn Dearg to Loch Gairloch, looking across the west and east (Northern Pinnacles) sides of Glas-Toll a'Bothain	Beinn Dearg: behind Baosbheinn (left), Loch na h'Oidhche, and, right, the pointed summit of Beinn an Eoin. Lochan Carn na Feola is on the extreme right.	A broader view across Glas-Toll a'Bothain - both sides of the Glas showing a striking profile. Loch nan Cabar and Loch Grobaig are visible on the right	The Northern Pinnacles leading down to Loch Coire na Caime; Beinn Eighe beyond the Northern Pinnacles, on the right, with Beinn A'Cheircaill to its left.	The Cuillins of Skye on the left skyline: Raasay's Dun Caan is the small prominent table-top to the right of centre. Dun Caan is a small hill for this region, yet is one of the most visible, with a profile that seems similarly distinctive from many different angles.
Meall Chean Dearg looked particularly striking from lower down the ridge	We saw examples of this lichen in other places nearby. This is near the saddle: the photo also shows some quite coarse texture in the Torridonian sandstone.	Slioch, majestic as ever, in the centre of this photo. The "spear", which gives this hill its name, Sgurr an Tuill Bhain, is visible here, (the shallow, sharp point to the right of centre on the skyline). It isn't from the more usual views of Slioch, taken with Loch Maree as a foreground, from further north. This Sgurr is the other end of the horseshoe, the ridge between being completely safe but very exciting. It was our first munro, in 1997, walking the ridge late on a russet midsummer evening. We got back to the chalet in Kinlochewe at 2 a.m., having seen the last of the light over Loch Maree, accompanied by a sandpiper's calls. We're not in any sense out to climb Munros - just as well as doing them all would take us about 200 years at the current rate, but Slioch was one of our best walks and it remains a special place for us.			The bright evening sun picked up the details of Beinn Dearg's southern face. The bright green patches near the Allt Coire Mhic Nobuill, at the foot of the Beinn, were once shieling areas.

Finally: a secluded final part of the walk: dusk, a glimpse of the past, emergence from the woods to the moon...

The cross on top of the Darroch memorial, with Coire Church and Beinn Alligin behind. (2010)

Loch Torridon from the Darroch memorial (2010)

Beinn Shieldaig across Loch Torridon, from the track between Torridon House and Corrie church (2010)

Torridon House - a large building for such a remote place, but with these woodlands and its magnificent backdrop, it seems to fit in somehow (2010)

Lichen nearby

Moonrise between Beinn Damph and Beinn na h'Eaglaise, at the end of our walk on Mullach an Rathain

(Text and photos by Daniel and Clare Gordon. September 2011).

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