Loch Maree to Loch Broom

The country between Loch Maree and Loch Broom is one of the finest wilderness areas in the Highlands. This is the land of the Letterewe and Fisherfield forests, a land of mountains and lochs but almost totally devoid of human habitation. It is an area highly prized by mountaineers and walkers, for the mountains at its heart are among the most remote in Scotland, and those who penetrate into this wild land should do so with respect for one of the finest unspoiled landscapes in the Highlands. Slioch is the prominent and much-admired mountain at its southern edge, rising above Loch Maree in great buttresses of Torridonian sandstone. To is north, in the centre of the Letterewe forest, are the six peaks which collectively are the remotest in the Highlands, and consequently most highly prized by hill climbers. a'Mhaighdean is the queen, its south face rising steeply from lonely Gorm Loch Mor to the tapering summit buttress. To its north, Ruadh Stac Mor is an equally remote peak, typically Torridonian in character with its ramparts of sandstone cliffs. To the east of these two, Beinn Tarsuinn, Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair, Sgurr Ban and Beinn a'Chlaidheimh form a long ridge between Gleann na Muice and Loch an Nid. These are very rugged peaks with Cambrian quartzite mixed with Torridonian sandstone which gives hard walking, and Sgurr Ban is unique in having a great expanse of quartzite slabs on its east face. To the north of the Letterewe Forest is An Teallach, which despite being some distance north of Torridon might be regarded as the supreme Torridonian mountain. Its twin summits - Bidein a'Ghlas Thuill and Sgurr Fiona - are at the centre of a splendid array of corries, ridges, pinnacles and cliffs. To the east of the Letterewe Forest are the Fannaichs, an extensive group of mountains between Loch Fannich and Loch Glascarnoch. Sgurr Mor is the highest of these, right at the centre of the range, with four ridges radiating from it: south-east to Meall Gorm and An Coileachan, north-east to Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich, north-west to Meall a'Chrasgaidh and south-west to Sgurr nan Clach Geala and Sgurr nan Each. Of these, Sgurr nan Clach Geala is the finest, a splendid peak with impressive cliffs on its east face. The remaining Fannaichs, Sgurr Breac and a'Chailleach, lie rather apart from the others to their west, and to the south of Loch Fannich is the isolated and rather undistinguished hill, Fionn Bheinn, which rises in long grassy slopes above the village of Achnasheen.

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