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| Loch an t-Seilich from the slopes of Meallach Mhor |
On the western side of the Cairngorms National Park is long Glen Tromie. It’s not as well-known or popular as the glens and passes to the east – Glen Feshie, Gleann Eanaich, the Lairig Ghru. No Munros rise above Glen Tromie, no cliff-girt corries. The hills are rolling and round heathery bumps, steep-sided but not dramatic. The glen has some fine native woodlands though and these are regenerating since the conservation organisation WildLand bought the estate several years to add to Glen Feshie which they already owned and began the process of rewilding.
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| Woodland in Glen Tromie |
Not having been to Glen Tromie myself for many years, not since 2208 in fact when I walked through the glen in December with Cameron McNeish (as described in this old blog post), I thought it was time to go and see what it’s like now and go up into the hills from the glen.
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| The estate track in lower Glen Tromie |
There is a Corbett rising above the glen, 769-metre Meallach Mhor. I went up this many years ago from the east but had never climbed it from Glen Tromie, to which it belongs. Guidebooks and websites mostly suggest cycling along the private estate track that runs up the glen to the base of the hill, climbing it, then cycling back down the glen. Whilst the ascent and descent routes can be varied this doesn’t spend much time actually on the hills. Most of the day is spent cycling. I decided I would walk up the glen, camp, climb Meallach Mhor the next day then follow the line of lower hills that parallels Glen Tromie. (This is a route described by Walk Highlands).
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| Meadow sweet, meadows, & forest in Glen Tromie |
The weather was showery and cloudy with bursts of sunshine and a brisk wind as I set off from Tromie Bridge. The lower glen was lush, a mix of hay meadows and woodland. There were many wild flowers and many impressive alder trees by the river. Soon I could see young trees spreading out from the thickening forest. The walk up the glen grew more and more heartening as I saw more and more signs of regeneration.
I thought of camping by Bhran Cottage, where I’d camped with
Cameron eighteen years before, but it was summer not winter and I wanted a
breezier site to avoid the midges. Not much further was a little lochan, oddly
situated above the track and the river. A long straight embankment along the western
and northern sides showed that it was almost certainly artificial. I couldn’t
find a name on any map.
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| Camp by the unnamed lochan |
The bank was overgrown with deep heather and young rowan and birch trees. I had walked almost the whole length of it and was beginning to think I’d have to return to Bhran Cottage when I found a grassy patch just big enough for the tent. A breeze swept over the lochan, just strong enough to keep off the midges. It was a fine camp. There was rain overnight but the morning came with a touch of sunshine.
Meallach Mhor lay directly above, barely two kilometres away.
The direct ascent was not easy though. The slope is steep in places but that
wasn’t the reason. It was the deep, thick heather, which sometimes came up to
my thighs. Relief came higher up when the angle and the heather finally lessened
and I could walk normally rather than stagger and thrash.
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| Cairn on the ascent of Meallach Mhor |
The views were excellent and dramatic though, giving a good excuse to stop frequently. There was no path but I did come upon a fine cairn that overlooked the unnamed lochan.
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| Squalls in the distance |
To the south and the west the clouds were low on the hills and I could see squalls scudding across the land. Further up Glen Tromie I could see Loch an t-Seilich filling a wide cleft between steep hills. Although there were dark clouds on three sides none of the rain reached me. The wind though was strong, buffeting me along.
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| The summit of Meallach Mhor, looking to Loch an t-Seilich |
The stony summit of Meallach Mhor is flat, the high point marked by a small cairn. It’s not very distinctive but as a viewpoint it’s superb and the sense of space and vastness is exhilarating. To the east you look across waves of rolling hills to the Cairngorm giants Braeriach, Sgor an Lochain Uaine, and Cairn Toul, a magnificent view.
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| Braeriach, Sgor an Lochain Uaine, & Cairn Toul from Meallach Mhor |
From the summit I descended to the col with Meallach Bheag on a rough intermittent path. An ORV track crosses the col and here I met the only other walkers I saw all trip, a party of four backpackers who’d come from Glen Feshie. They were leaving their packs while they went up and down Meallach Mhor then descending the track into Glen Tromie. That track probably is the easiest route from Glen Tromie to Meallach Mhor, longer but undoubtedly less strenuous than my head-on, heather-bashing climb.
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| Croidh-la. The high point is the tiny summit on the horizon on the right |
The hills and the fine views continued over long Clach-mheall to Croidh-la. This is the lowest but most distinctive of the four tops on the east side of Glen Tromie and the only one with a trig point, though this isn’t on the very highest point. The slopes running down to Glen Tromie are very steep with some little crags and probably not a good place to descend. There’s a rough path on the hill anyway that leads gently downwards to Cadha Giorraid where it turns westwards and descends to Glen Tromie through regenerating native woodland.
