Prior to driving home after five days spent on Skye, and a further week spent in and around Gairloch, I decided to ascend one further Marilyn that I had not ascended previously.
While most will have heard of Munros, perhaps Corbetts and possibly Fionas, Marilyns are somewhat less well known. So what is a Marilyn and how many of them are there?
A Marilyn is a hill within Great Britain with a prominence of 150 metres or more regardless of height. The Marilyns are an intentional pun referencing the better known Munros based on the film star Marilyn Munro who apparently had two prominent peaks! There are currently 1,556 Marilyns in Great Britain, 1,218 of which are in Scotland.
Anyone who climbs 600 or more Marilyns gets into the Marilyn Hall of Fame, anyone who climbs 1,000 or more Marilyns gets into the Upper Hall of Fame. Less than a dozen people have completed them all.
Completing all of the Marilyns is a mammoth lifetime undertaking. All Corbetts and all Fionas are Marilyns so to complete the Marilyns you have to complete all the Corbetts and all the Fionas. 202 of the 282 Munros are Marilyns so you have to ascend most of the Munros too. Then there are the Sub2000ft Marilyns of which there are many hundreds. To complete them you have to visit 58 islands which is a logistical challenge in itself!
Around a decade ago, I was rapidly bagging Marilyns with the intention of potentially becoming the first person to complete them all. However, once Rob Woodall and a handful of others completed them on a special trip to St. Kilda, I stopped ascending them to instead focus on a second round of Munros and a round of Munro Tops.
Meall an Doirein was my 1,139th Marilyn and thus far I have visited 38 of the 58 required islands. Do I still intend trying to complete them? Definitely, no.
So back to Meall an Doirein. I parked and started walking from about a mile outside Poolewe.
Hill: Meall an Doirein
Date: Sunday 11th September 2022
Company: Just myself
Distance: 9.3km, Ascent: 400m
Time: 2Hrs 40Mins
Route:
I started walking shortly after sunrise; the weather was lovely from the outset.
Early morning view from parking area:
After walking a short distance along the A832, I turned onto the path signposted Right of Way to Slattadale which I then followed for several kilometres.
Onto the Right of Way path leading to Slattadale:
The quality of the right of way path to Slattadale is outstanding. This seems to be well-maintained despite it not being used to access any Munros, Corbetts or Fionas. There is however a line of electricity posts through the glen so the path is possibly maintained to assist workers visiting the electricity posts which are currently in the process of being replaced. Despite setting off early on a Sunday morning, there were already two workers walking-in ahead.
Excellent path:
In typical Health & Safety fashion, the workers were wearing hard hats to walk along this wonderful path
.Walking along the right of way path:
On reaching a small pool, also adorned with health and safety signage, I took to the hillside.
Health and Safety signs littering the landscape:
I started off taking a fairly direct line towards Meall an Doirein before deciding instead to first ascend its neighbour Meall an Spardain. This would allow for a circuit instead of an out-and-back and would also allow me to ascend via a line of gneiss slabs.
View towards Meall an Doirein:
Meall an Doirein:
Ascending Meall an Spardain via some gneiss slabs:
On gaining some height, Loch Maree came into view. The views got better and better as more height was gained.
View towards Loch Maree:
Loch Maree:
Looking back towards Loch Ewe:
Ascending Meall an Spardain first was a good option as ascending the slabs missed out much of the wet grass.
Heading for the summit of Meall an Spardain:
At the summit of Meall an Spardain:
While Meall an Spardain provided a nice view of Loch Maree, I suspected given its location the views from Meall an Doirein would be even better.
Loch Maree from the summit of Meall an Spardain:
Heading from Meall an Spardain towards Meall an Doirein:
It didn't take long to reach the final ascent of Meall an Doirein which has an easy grassy ascent up through the rocks.
Final ascent of Meall an Doirein:
At the summit of Meall an Doirein:
The view towards Loch Maree from the summit of Meall an Doirein was fairly special. Many of the lower Marilyns are great viewpoints.
View from the summit of Meall an Doirein:
Wonderful view from the summit of Meall an Doirein:
From the summit of Meall an Doirein, I descended via the grassy coire which was not as pleasant underfoot as the nice slabs up Meall an Spardain. If I were to re-do this hill I would probably re-do Meall an Spardain on the walk out to descend via the slabs.
Looking back to Meall an Doirein:
Once back onto the excellent right of way path it didn't take long to walk back out to the van.
View from the A832:
A lovely short walk with great views from the summit.