Glen Affric and Kintail

Details for: Glen Affric and Kintail

The rough peaks of Knoydart give way to the less wild and rocky, but no less steep peaks of Kintail, and further north in Glen Affric the character of the mountains is very different, many of them being higher and more expansive, with broad ridges and relatively gentle slopes.

The Five Sisters of Kintail, of which only three are Munros, are splendid peaks in the south-west corner of this area, rising in a single sweep above Loch Duich and the foot of Glen Shiel. To their east, and forming a continuation of the same high ridge, are three more Munros - Saileag, Sgurr a'Bhealaich Dheirg and Aonach Meadhoin - which together with the Five Sisters form a chain of peaks which is at least the equal of the South Glen Shiel ridge on the opposite side of the glen.

There is another similar range on the north side of Loch Cluanie. Ciste Dhubh is an isolated peak, to its east a'Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-choire form a high ridge above Cluanie Inn and further east Sgurr nan Conbhairean and its two neighbours, Sail Chaorainn and Carn Ghluasaid, lie in a semicircle round the head of the River Doe. The mountains on the north side of Glen Affric start in the east with the modest Toll Creagach and its more impressive neighbour Tom a'Choinich.

A few kilometres west are the great twin mountains, Mam Sodhail and Carn Eighe, which are the highest north of the Great Glen, with their outliers Beinn Fhionnlaidh and An Socach. At the head of Glen Affric, Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan is one of the biggest mountains in Scotland, in terms of its area if not its height. It is a sprawling massif of many ridges, corries and peaks, including its outlying Munro, Mullach na Dheiragain. Finally, between the head of Glen Affric and Loch Duich is Beinn Fhada, well named the long hill, and its northern satellite a'Ghlas-bheinn.