Get Lost Mountaineering

Meallach Mhor from Glen Tromie

Start/Finish

Verge parking on the B970 about 300 m W of Tromie Bridge corner which is about 4 km E of Kingussie.

Distance/Time

24 km (bike 20 km, walk 4 km)      Approx 6 hours

Peaks

Meallach Mhor, 769 m, NN 776 909.       OS sheet 35.

Introduction

This Corbett isset in very remote country at the N end of the Gaick Pass which connects Dalnacardoch (S of Dalwhinnie on the A9) with Drumguish, and thence Aviemore. Apart from the first few hundred metres at Tromie Bridge which is a rough track, almost all of the track is an almost level (private) tarmac road. A small section near Meallach Mhor was washed away during the floods of 2009 and, at the time of writing, a temporary track was installed for a few hundred metres. On a clear day Meallach Mhor is a good view point for the surrounding hills.

Route

(1) From Tromie Bridge, cycle about 10 km S up Glen Tromie past Lynaberack Lodge (looks like a council house) then Bhran Cottage to a weir (after which the road crosses the river). The hill immediately E of the weir is Meallach Mhor. Leave cycles here. Head E/ENE up the steep hillside. A rough track may be useful until it levels off and heads S. Continue E/ENE, aiming for grassy areas or where the heather is bare or short. As the angle eases, a path appears from the N side of the hill and continues over a subsidiary top (not shown on OS 1:50000 map) and onto the substantial summit cairn of Meallach Mhor, 769 m.

(2) Return by the same route or follow an intermittent path down NW to a cairn, large enough to be seen from the road at the weir. (It looks more like a boulder from below). This cairn sits on the NW ridge above a lochan which is not shown on the map. From here, pick your way back to the road, finishing slightly N of the start. Lots of faint paths seem to contour this hill and can be followed as one wishes.

Notes

(a) This walk took place on 17^th September, 2009.