Up and Down the Corriryairack
Minimum Time: 4hrs
Ascent: 1,300ft
Difficulty Level: 3 - Hard
Paths: Tracks, one vanished pathless section, 2 stiles
Landscape: Foothills of Monadhliath, birchwood hollows
Dog Friendliness: Off lead, unless passing sheep
Parking: Southern edge of Fort Augustus, signed lane leads off A82 to burial ground
Public Toilets: Fort Augustus
Description:
The most striking feature of Scotlandâs geography is the 2,000ft (610m) deep Great Glen. It runs perfectly straight from Fort William to Inverness as if a giant ploughshare had been dragged across the country. Scotlandâs San Andreas A round 400 million years ago, the northern part of Scotland slipped 65 miles (105km) to the left. Looking across from Corrieyairack youâd have seen ground thatâs now the Island of Mull. The Great Glen represents a tear-fault, similar to the San Andreas Fault in California, but no longer active, so that there isnât going to be any Fort Augustus Earthquake. Where two ground masses slide past each other, the rock where they touch is shattered. Rivers and glaciers have worn away this broken rock to make the striking valley.
Wadeâs Ways. After the uprising of 1715, General Wade became the military commander of Scotland. He constructed and repaired forts along the Great Glen at Fort William, Fort Augustus and Inverness, as well as at Ruthven on the present A9 and Glenelg (see Walk 31). To link them, he built 260 miles (418km) of roads across the Highlands. The most spectacular of these was the one through the Corrieyairack Pass, rising to 2,500ft (762m) to link the Great Glen with the Spey. The construction was little changed since Roman times. Large rocks were jammed together into a firm bed, up to 15ft (4.6m) wide, and then surfaced with smaller stones and gravel packed down. Modern path-builders know that however well you build it, if itâs got water running down it, it turns into a stream. Wade paid particula attention to drainage. The 500 soldiers working through the summer of 1731 got a bonus of 6d a day - about Â£5 in todayâs money - and celebrated its completion with a barbecue of six oxen. The chieftains worried that the roads would soften their people, making them unfit for raids across rough country. But they soon came to appreciate the convenience. âIf youâd seen these roads before they were made, Youâd lift up your hands and bless General Wade. And when Prince Charles Stuart landed 14 years later, it was the Jacobite army that marched triumphantly across the Corrieyairack. At the Speyside end of the pass, a small and ill-prepared force under General John Cope fled before him into England. And a new Wade rhyme was inserted, temporarily, into the National Anthem itself: âGod grant that Marshal Wade, May by Thy mighty aid, Victory bring, May he sedition hush, and like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush, God save the King.â
While you're there: You will find a rather specialised take on the life of the Highlanders at the Clansman Centre in Fort Augustus, which focuses on their techniques of doing away with one another. In a simulated turf house, staff will teach the âart of killing or maiming using ancient weaponsâ, and will even make the weapons.
What to look out for: Despite the roadâs preservation, you will see little of General Wadeâs work, apart from its ambitious uphill line preserved by the modern track on top. You may be more interested in the burial ground at the start of the walk. Here is buried âJohn Anderson, my Joâ, subject of a poem by Robert Burns; and Gilleasbuig MacDonald, bard of North Uist, who died on his way to his publisher in Inverness.
Where to eat and drink: The Lock Inn at Fort Augustus is not misspelled: its upstairs restaurant (April-October) overlooks the locks of the Caledonian Canal. Bar meals are served downstairs, year round. Children welcome, but not dogs.
Directions:
A track leads round to the left of the burial ground to meet a minor road. Turn right for about 0.25 mile (400m) to the foot of a rather rubbly track signposted for the Corrieyairack Pass. After some 50yds (46m) the track passes through a gate. It gets much easier at this point and, soon, the right of way joins a smoother track coming up from the pink- coloured Culachy House. 2 After another 0.25 mile (400m), a gate leads out on to the open hill. About 350yds (320m) further on, the track passes under high-tension wires. At once bear left across a grassy meadow. As this drops towards a stream, you will see a green track slanting down to the right. Bear left off the track to pass the corner of a deer fence, where a small path continues down to the stream. Cross and turn downstream on an old grassy track. It recrosses the stream and passes under the high power line to a bend with a sudden view across deep and wooded Glen Tarff. 3 Turn right across a high stone bridge. A disused track climbs through birch woods then, as a terraced shelf, crosses the high side of Glen Tarff. A side stream forms a wooded re-entrant ahead. The old track contours in to this and crosses below a narrow waterfall - the former bridge has now disappeared. 4 Contour out across the steep slope to pick up the old track as it restarts. It runs gently uphill to a gateless gateway in a fence. Turn up the fence to another gateway, 150yds (137m) above. Here turn left for 20yds (18m) to the brink of another stream hollow. (Its delightful Gaelic name - Sidhean Ceum na Goibhre - means âFairy Goat-stepâ.) Donât go into this, but turn uphill alongside it, through pathless bracken, to its top. A deer fence is just above; turn left alongside it to go through a nearby gate, then left beside the fence. When it turns downhill, a green path continues ahead, gently uphill through heather. Far ahead and above, pylons crossing the skyline mark the Corrieyairack Pass. The path bends right to join the Corrieyairack track just above. 5 Turn right. The track passes a knoll on the right and this heathery rise marks the highest point of this walk. It then descends in sweeping curves for 1.25 miles (2km). The pass is still technically a road, and it is now a scheduled ancient monument and protected by law. Any person found damaging it will be prosecuted. From here the track climbs gently to rejoin the upward route. At the final bend, a stile offers a short cut through (rather than round) the ancient burial ground.
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