Letterewe Corbetts - On the edge of Fisherfield

Letterewe and Fisherfield are two parts of Scotland I’d always understood to be owned by estates of the same name but as I researched this post I learnt they’re not. Rather, the area (which, combined, is managed as a large and, for Scotland, somewhat remote, deer forest) is owned by different estates including Letterewe plus Dundonell, Eilean Darach, Little Gruinard and Larachantivore. (Source: West Ross Deer management Group). The largest land-owner, I believe, with 43,000 acres of land, is the Letterewe estate, which shares on its website that is ‘protected from insensitive development and has no surfaced roads’.

There’s two common routes into Fisherfield / Letterewe, an area often labelled - I’d suggest erroneously - as ‘The Great Wilderness’ (although the ‘great’ part is definitely true). Corrie Hallie is one starting point on the A832 in the North-East for Fisherfield forest, with Poolewe for Letterewe in the North-West. I’ve also accessed Letterewe from the South-East, walking in along the north shore of Loch Maree before heading northwards over Bealach Mheinnidh towards Fionn Loch and Carnmore, plus I’ve climbed some of the the Fisherfield Munros from Incheril and the Heights of Kinlochewe. It’s also possible to access the hills from Gruinard Bay in the north. All of these routes involve long walk-ins, initially on tracks, then stalker’s paths that lead upwards onto grassy and rocky hillsides forming a landscape that hosts six of Scotland’s Munros (Slioch, Sgurr Ban, Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair, Beinn Tarsuinn, A’Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor), six Corbetts (Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, Beinn Dearg Mòr, Beinn Dearg Bheag, Beinn Lair, Beinn Airigh Charr and Beinn a' Chaisgein Mor) and two Grahams, which I’ll mention below.

The purpose of our visit to Letterewe was for a friend to finish all his Corbetts (which are 222 Scottish hills between 2,500 feet and 3,000 feet high). Joining him was myself, plus another friend who has completed all his Munros, Corbetts and Grahams (climbing his last one of each in 2024 over one weekend, which I’d propose is somewhat remarkable). I’m lacking behind both with only 254/282 Munros completed, and a paltry 77 Corbetts.

Our mini expedition started mid-morning on the shores of Loch Ewe, at Poolewe, near Gairloch. It was still early enough in the season to be cold in the shade - especially at night-time - but a stable, high-pressure weather window had brought sunshine and blessed us with perfect conditions for backpacking, enough so that I chose a bivvy bag over a tent, happy there was no risk of midges and a manageable risk of ticks.

We followed a great single-track path to start, passing Kernsary farm to reach Carnmore lodge and bothy before we double-backed on ourselves and climbed our first hill, the Graham, Beinn a' Chaisgein Beag. We’d walked 25km from our car. A boat or pack-raft would have been handy for crossing Fionn Loch (translation: the white loch) which the estate shares is full of brown trout. Just after 8.30pm, we stopped for the night on the bealach to the north of Beinn a' Chaisgein Mor (Grid Reference: NG983806). There were two small lochans nearby, one of which would have provided us with water, if we’d used a good filter, but we’d chosen to carry our liquid up.

The following morning, after a leisurely start, we climbed Beinn a' Chaisgein Mor, the rocky summit providing us with fine views of all the remaining hills we planned to ascend on our two-night, three-day trip. The Corbett count for my friend was now 220/222, so just two to go. Before then, we’d chosen an ascent of the north-west ridge of the Munro, A’Mhaighdean, which I’m recalling none of us had done this before but we’d all highly recommend it. There’s nothing difficult (although we did join further up) but there’s some mild clambering through crags with two squat, rocky pinnacles near the top that need some consideration to bypass, unless you’re carrying climbing equipment to descend / ascend them direct. (Tip - At the first bluff, if you’re facing towards the summit, reverse back slightly and descend left into a steep gully and take the first right). The summit of A’Mhaighdean is easily reached thereafter. And it has amazing views, often described as the best in Scotland.

A key goal of our trip was to visit another part of Letterewe that we hadn’t been to, which was Beinn Tharsuinn Chaol, a rocky ridge between the waters of Gorm Loch Mor and the remarkable cliffs of Beinn Lair. In the end, given the time of day, we traversed mostly underneath this ridge line on the south side, descending early to reach Bealach a' Chùirn and a welcome stalker’s path which led us neatly around to Bealach Mheinnidh, which we’d chosen for our second camp of the trip. After getting ourselves ready for the evening, we climbed Beinn Lair in really nice evening light and my friend’s Corbett count was now 221/222. Just one to go!

Our journey to our friend’s final Corbett, and the last hill of our trip, was characterised by steep ascents followed by even steeper descents, which thankfully were softened by fine views. We climbed 280m to the summit of the Graham, Meall Mheinnidh, and then made a punishing 460m descent and 540m ascent up to the summit of Beinn Airigh Charr. Corbett 222/222 was celebrated in style with a half-bottle of champagne before we reluctantly started our long walk back to Poolewe. Our spirits remained high throughout, as the view over Loch Maree towards Torridon and the Isle of Skye as we descended was amazing, as was the landscape looking out towards Poolewe.

Photography

The images below are all captured with either a Sony RX100 compact camera or my mobile phone. I’m looking forward to returning to Letterewe at some point with professional camera gear, after seeing lots of potential during the trip for fine art mountain landscape photography. If I’m correct, I’ll be able to illustrate unique views that I’ve not yet seen other photographers’ choose. There’s perhaps a reason for this but it’s always good to go and find out for yourself. Either way, I’m confident that it won’t be a wasted trip.