Sgùrr Thuilm and Sgùrr nan Coireachan

Sgùrr Thuilm and Sgùrr nan Coireachan are the two Munros at the head of Glen Finnan, just south of the Rough Bounds of Knoydart, and Walkhighlands says they share that country’s rugged and demanding character. Sgùrr Thuilm is the higher, its cairn at 963m; Sgùrr nan Coireachan, 956m at a cylindrical trig point, is in Walkhighlands’ view the better summit and the finer viewpoint. The round starts in Glenfinnan, across the road from the 1745 monument, and passes under the Glenfinnan Viaduct, 21 concrete arches that opened in 1901 and that Historic Environment Scotland lists as the longest concrete viaduct in Scotland.

Walkhighlands starts at the car park by the bridge over the River Finnan, which charges and which it warns is extremely busy in summer before a steam train is due. A path up the glen meets the private tarmac road at the foot of the viaduct, and about 3km on a track signed for Loch Arkaig reaches Corryhully, an old cottage the estate keeps as an open bothy for walkers outside the stalking season. Past a hydro intake the route climbs the Druim Coire a’ Bheithe ridge, boggy at first and steepest beside a burn, to a summit ridge that is fairly wide but has very steep drops on either side. From Sgùrr Thuilm a knobbly ridge of rocky bumps, Beinn Gharbh and Meall an Tarmachan among them, leads to Sgùrr nan Coireachan. Its southeast ridge drops very steeply, and an eroded path works round the drop to a well-graded stalkers’ path that zig-zags back to the track. Glenfinnan Estate recommends the round anticlockwise, the direction Walkhighlands takes, and calls it a serious walk that needs a full day.

Walkhighlands gives 23.5km and 1,428m of ascent in nine to twelve hours in summer conditions, with fairly easy cycling to just past Corryhully. Glenfinnan has a station and a bus service. From mid August to the end of January, Glenfinnan Estate asks hill walkers to check with it that no stalking is planned where they mean to walk. The horseshoe suits a fit party with the daylight for a long day who want two Munros in one round from a railway station. Nine to twelve hours rules it out for anyone with less, and from the same car park Walkhighlands’ 4km circuit of the Glenfinnan Viaduct climbs 128m to a knoll above Loch Shiel in one to two hours.