Beinn Dearg Mhor, Loch Toll an Lochain and Loch na Sealga Loop

This is a long, committing mountain circuit in the Fisherfield wilderness of Wester Ross, taking in Beinn Dearg Mòr, the dramatic corrie of Loch Toll an Lochain, and the long return beside Loch na Sealga. Although your stated figures of around 28 km and 1,600 m suggest a tough but manageable mountain day, most established descriptions of the Gruinard approach put the outing closer to 35.25 km / 22 miles with about 1,450 m / 4,757 ft of ascent, so it is best planned as a very strenuous full-day expedition rather than a mid-range hillwalk. (walkhighlands.co.uk)

The route begins near the bridge over the Gruinard River on the A832, west of Gruinard Bay, near Laide and Dundonnell in Wester Ross, with the start commonly identified at grid reference NG961911. There is limited verge parking beside the point where the estate track leaves the A832 on the west side of the bridge. Public transport does not serve the trailhead directly, so most hikers arrive by car; the nearest practical bases for supplies and accommodation are usually Ullapool to the north-east and settlements around Laide, Aultbea, and Dundonnell along the A832. Walkhighlands specifically notes no public transport to the start. (walkhighlands.co.uk)

The first part of the day is deceptive. For roughly 9 km / 5.6 miles you follow a rough estate track up the Gruinard River toward Loch na Sealga, gaining only modest height at first but steadily using time and energy. The surface is stony and can feel relentless underfoot, though it gives fast progress in dry conditions. Along this approach the landscape opens gradually into one of Scotland’s great wild interiors, with the Beinn Deargs visible ahead for much of the walk. The track passes a wooden arch sculpture, then an area of regenerating woodland, before crossing the Allt Loch Ghiubhsachain by a concrete bridge at about 7.5 km / 4.7 miles. Another 1.5 km / 0.9 miles brings you to the foot of Loch na Sealga. (walkhighlands.co.uk)

Along Loch na Sealga

From the loch, the character changes completely. The estate track ends and a much rougher path continues along the south side of Loch na Sealga, one of the defining landscape features of the route. This section is remote, quieter, and more intricate underfoot, with narrow trods, wet patches, rockier steps, and occasional bog. After about 1 km / 0.6 miles, the path climbs above the shore to bypass a rocky buttress, then undulates across rough ground with huge views across the water to An Teallach, whose serrated profile dominates the skyline opposite. Farther on, the path passes a ruined shieling, a reminder of older seasonal pastoral use in these glens. (walkhighlands.co.uk)

This lochside stretch is one of the most atmospheric parts of the day. The terrain feels ancient and sparsely inhabited, and that impression is not misleading: the wider Strath na Sealga landscape has a long record of medieval and later settlement, with shieling culture and seasonal grazing woven into the history of the region. The area now sits within the broader Fisherfield-Letterewe wild land of northwest Scotland, valued for its remoteness, complex mountain forms, lochans, and very limited modern development. (nature.scot)

Climbing into Coire Toll an Lochain

After roughly 4 km / 2.5 miles along the lochside path, near the Allt Doir’ a Mhadaidh, the route leaves the clearer trod and heads south across moorland toward the burn of Allt an Doire Gaineumhaich, which is followed into **