Saturday 16 May 2026 - Cnap Cruinn

Paul and Jeanette left early to do a parkrun at Oban before going home. That left just five of us to enjoy Sue's scrambled egg and smoked salmon breakfast. 

Then Tom, Julie and Roger set off for home. Sue and I said goodbye to the excellent house at Taigh Mor then we headed to Fersit, just beyond Roybridge.

Sue nipped up the two Easain Munros whilst I drove back towards Inverlair, from where a track leads to the foot of Cnap Cruinn.

After a gentle ascent through woodland, serenaded by cuckoos and woodpeckers, Cnap Cruinn appeared as a brown lump on my horizon.

Other, higher, mountains were poking through the gaps.

Just beyond the last plantation, after an easy 5 km walk, I left the track and started a steep slog up to the broad summit. It was squishy underfoot but my trail shoes proved a match for that. My pace dropped from 4 kph to just 1 kph.

The 742 metre summit is marked by a small cairn, next to a comfortable and nicely sheltered rock seat on which I enjoyed my lunch. Meanwhile, Sue was enjoying her own lunch on her second summit - in the centre of the next picture.

Several pictures were taken before I left to descend via an easier gradient.

Wood anemone flowers accompanied me all the way down.

 

Inverlair is a small hamlet with nice houses and bullfinches in residence.

I was soon back at the car and chatting to a couple of chaps in the Fersit car park, to which Sue soon returned.

There was noone else on Cnap Cruinn today, nor any sign of a path to the summit, whereas Sue had paths all the way and encountered twenty or so people.

Here's my route - 15.3 km with 645 metres ascent, taking over 5 hours.

Then we adjourned to Craiglea Cottage, on the outskirts of Fort William, our home for the next few days.