I deviated round a fenced woodland and began the steady climb up to the bealach. Eventually I joined a decent path, and within 2.5 hours, I was on my way up to An Socach. The views down into the glens of Affric are beautiful; it feels incredibly remote here. I could see Munros that I had done a couple of years ago and the high ridge, which connected them, Beinn Fionnlaidh and Mam Sodhail.
The dander up on to An Socach was simple enough but it was cold so I layered up and had some food. The return to the bealach saw Sgurr nan Ceathramhnan in all its glory, large snow patches still visible on its North face. It took a wee while to get to the top of this hill but the views over to Ben Attow and down back to Loch Cluanie were amazing.
I did consider leaving Mullach na Deiragain out as I didn't have much food left and knew that once out there, it was a long way back to the car over rough ground. However, it looked too good to miss out and I was keen to grab Munro 251. I could come back for Sgorr Gaorsaic another time, perhaps via A Ghlas Bheinn. I got caught in a short rain burst as I headed along the ridge but once out at the summit, this was as wild and remote as it can get. I took a moment and looked back to what had been. Rather than retrace steps back up and over, I descended into the glen a little and eventually dropped to the flat coire floor before the climb back up to the bealach between An Socach and SnC. Once there, it was a quick romp down to the SYHA, where I was able to re-load my food stores with crisps, chocolate and coke. Wonderful. Somewhat unwillingly, I began the walk/run back out to Cluanie and arrived back at the car within 7 hours of starting out. Not bad going for a 25-mile trip and 1700m ascent.
