Long distance walking and camping
Hiking and wild Camping in Scotland
Walking the West Highland Way
Great Glen way holidays
Southern Upland Way trips

Our Walk of The Great Glen Way, with Meall na Teanga and Sron a' Choire Ghairbh

  1. Fort William to Gairlochy
  2. Gairlochy to Kilfinnan and then Cam Bhealach
  3. Meall na Teanga and Sron a' Choire Ghairbh (Munros beside Great Glen Way)
  4. Kilfinnan to Loch Oich
  5. Loch Oich to 4 miles past Fort Augustus
  6. 4 miles past Fort Augustus to Grotaig
  7. Grotaig to Abriachan
  8. Abriachan to Inverness

Wednesday 4th January:
Meall na Teanga and Sron a' Choire Ghairbh


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sunrise on the way up Meall na Teanga Can you see the three red deer? A gorgeous sunrise seen while climbing our first munro of the day.

We woke up at 8am to a frosty morning. Much to our suprise, the frost had spread onto our tent, freezing the lower half of the zips closed! We decide to leave our tent pitched while we climb the munro Meall na Teanga, and pack up when return to the beallach before climbing Sron A'Choire Ghairbh. The lighter load makes a big difference as we start to climb the shoulder of our first munro of the day. 

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Looking back from the summit of Meall na Teanga down into the valley of Cam Bealach, with snow topped mountains in the distance. View from Meall na Teanga of Aonach Mor, Carn mor Dearg and Ben Nevis On the top of Meall na Teanga
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Alan gets his picture taken next to a dwarfed Ben Nevis. Looking across to our next Munro Sron a Choire Ghairbh Looking towards Loch Linnhe

As we come round the shoulder of Meall Dubh, we spot three red deer, who having spied out our movement evade our path by climbing higher up slopes of the munro. As the suns rays start peaking over the mountains to the east, we are rewarded with perfect sunrise views over the valley and other mountain ranges. After a steep hot, but quick climb up the cone of Meall na Teanga, we are rewarded by breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains in clear winter morning sky with blazing sunshine. To the East can be seen what must be one of the best views of the top of Ben Nevis, with a frosting of snow. Loch Linnie lies below marking where we started at Fort William.  Down the slopes from us lies Loch Lochy, which we walked the shores of yesteray, and which is overshadowed by mountain ranges. Looking ahead we glimpse Loch Ness in the distance near to where the Great Glen way ends.  

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The sun always shines in Scotland - its just usually hidden by a few clouds.
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Snow topped peaks to the North A cairn on top of Meall na Teanga
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Near the summit of Sron a' Choire Ghairbh The steep NE side of Sron a' Choire Ghairbh A view from near the top of Sron a' Choire Ghairbh

The exhilarating views from the top of the munro are soon replaced by the chill in the air, which forces us to head back to our campsite and out of the chill wind. After a quick decent, we eat lunch before breaking camp for the day and heading up the steep switchbacks to munro number two. Following the switchbacks, the path starts to disappear into many scars of eroded earth. We take a bearing on our compass to keep us in the right direction until the summit becomes obvious.  

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Resting on the summit cairn out of the wind. Very cold - need to wrap up warm. The sun peeks over the top of Meall na Teanga
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Looking from the summit of Sron A Choire Ghairbh down into the steep sided Coire Glas, with views of Loch Ness to the left in the distance.

Some amazing views of white topped mountains greet us again with Meall na Teanga and Ben Nevis. An additional reward to climbing this second munro is the view down into a corrie far below - looking a bit like a satellite photo. This peak also offers better views of Loch Ness, and also there's an easy but fun looking ridge walk off the second summit parallel with loch lochy. Tempting though the ridge walked seemed, we did not have a map which went beyond the munros, and the  high winds and cold temperature had caused the ridge to become dangerous and icy. We return back to the valley and back down to the Great Glen Way in high spirits. It's getting colder but the decent is fun.

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Frost on the lip of Coire Glas. Alan is proud to have climbed another munro Looking down towards Loch Lochy.
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We can see for miles!