| Date | 2 May 2026 |
| Route | Link to Route |
| Distance | 30.43km / 18.91miles |
| Ascent | 1501.14m / 4925.00ft |
| Enjoyable | |
| Difficulty | |
| Conditions | Dry and warm all day, but rain for last quarter hour |
| Summits | ✔ (T) An Cearcallach ✔ (M) Stob Poite Coire Ardair ✔ (T) Sron Coire a' Chriochairein ✔ (T) Meall an t-Snaim ✔ (M) Carn Liath ✔ (T) Stob Coire Dubh |
Ailidh still in exam mode, so off for another hike by myself, this time decided to stay at the Aviemore Youth Hostel to save myself a few hours drive in the morning. Got a decent sleep and out early for the drive to Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve, starting my hike at 7:30am.
Last time we were here, we went anti-clockwise, so decided to go clockwise and get the most distant westerly Munro Top first. Heading up past the Nature Reserve buildings the path winds up the hill for a couple of kilometers until you reach a path off to the right with well made steps, this would be the return path later on, so kept straight on.
After a while the slope eases off as it follows the valley, much further on the path drops down a bit before climbing back up to reach Lochan a'Choire, all the time my view of the Coire Ardair and the window slowly appearing as the clouds lifted. After a brief pause at the Lochan I started to make my way up the steep window, the path easy enough to follow, but the scree a little slippy in places, glad to be heading up, wouldn't fancy coming down it!
Towards the top of the window, there was fair a bit of snow, the lower section being quite icy, so required care today. Once at the top, I headed up the south path, but as I wasn't including Mad Meg's cairn or Creag Meagaidh today, I stuck to the easternmost path onto to the plateau and kept almost due south towards Moy Corrie, over some strips of snow on the south side.
From here it took around half an hour to reach the summit of my first Munro Top of the day, An Cearcallach. Here I had lunch taking in the great views, unfortunately the Ben in cloud today. I retracted my steps to Moy Corrie, but struck up to the plateau a little to the west to avoid most of the snow.
Once back at the top of the window, I struck up to the top of my first Munro of the day, Stob Poite Coire Ardair. The path along the ridge starts by following a line of fence posts which disappear before the short climb up to the Munro Top, Sron Coire a' Chriochairein. I had forgotten about the drop down into Uinneas Min Choire from before and today there was a snow cornice in the way. I could see where some had walked up it, even though it was a small section it didn't look appealing to head down, so took the steeper rocky section to the west instead to rejoin the path at the bottom of the trench.
Following the path back up onto the wide plateau, over the Munro Top Meall an t-Snaim, I eventually reached the last Munro of the day, Carn Liath, where I had another well deserved break. I could make out the far Munro Top, which looked ok from this side, but I knew there was a good 100 plus metres dip to negotiate each way.
Once over the rocky section of Carn Liath, I picked up an atv track at the end of a line of old metal fence posts, which turn out run all the way to the Munro Top. At the cliffs of Coire nan Gall I spotted a Golden Eagle lower down and by the time I got my phone out, it was soaring overhead, a fantastic sight to behold!
After that it it didn't take long to reach the Munro Top of Stob Coire Dubh. The way back to Carn Liath felt a bit never ending, but was only around an hour and forty minutes there and back, including some sightseeing stops.
The descent off Carn Liath starts off quite steep and you have to negotiate a few short bouldery sections, but is eases off towards Na Cnapanan, which wasn't nearly so boggy as last time. Towards the treeline you pick up the start of the stone path section I saw in the morning, which my feet protested about by the time I got to the fork. After a stop at the Nature Reserve buildings, I was soon back at the car.
After having a brew I headed home, but not without a drop in past Joes Chippy on the corner in Kingussie for supper.
