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ROUTE 5

Sgurr Dhomhnuill Donald’s peak

Start	Ariundle National Nature Reserve car park (NM 82570 63300)
Distance	18km (11 miles)
Total ascent	910m (3000ft)
Difficulty	There is some rough boggy pasture to cross. The route is relatively easy in good weather, but the mountain is very rocky and in bad visibility it would be difficult to find the easy route described. The featured route is much easier than the alternative routes suggested below.
Time	5hr 10min
Summits	Sgurr Dhomhnuill (888m, 2914ft)
Maps	OS Landranger 40
Access	From the N of Strontian, take the minor road signed to Ariundle and park in the National Nature Reserve car park at the head of the public road.
Note	It would be possible to descend the S ridge, climbing Sgurr na h-Ighinn and descending its W ridge, Druim Leac a’ Sgiathain. The shortest approach to Sgurr Dhomhnuill is from the W, starting at the high point on the road from Strontian to Polloch. The main difficulty on this route, which traverses the Druim Garbh ridge, is the ascent of the rocky NW ridge of Sgurr Dhomhnuill which is fairly continuous scrambling. These ridges could be combined by starting at Ariundle and climbing Druim Garbh from the lead mines and descending the Druim Leac a’ Sgiathain ridge.

Sgurr Dhomhnuill is the highest peak in Ardgour and as such makes a good viewpoint. In common with other Ardgour peaks it is a rocky mountain with many crags and slabs limiting access to the mountain. The attractive approach through the Ariundle National Nature Reserve, one of the finest oak woodlands in Scotland, is the shortest of the easy routes up the mountain.

Sgurr Dhomhnuill

Mining in this area dates back to 1722, when Sir Alexander Murray discovered galena (lead sulphide) in the surrounding hills. Strontian was established in 1724 to provide homes for some of the 600 miners who worked in the mines in their heyday. Ariundle Woods provided timber for pit props and wood to make charcoal for the local lead smelters. Lead was required in large quantities for shot during the Napoleonic wars and, ironically, French prisoners of war were employed in the lead mines. You will see plenty of evidence of the lead mining industry on the route up Sgurr Dhomhnuill and the remains of charcoal burning platforms can still be seen in the woods.

Head up the good track through the Ariundle Nature Reserve, ignoring any side turns, to a fork immediately after a gate through the deer fence at the top of the nature reserve (120m, 84890 64850). Fork left, following the old miner’s track, which soon becomes an excellent path, eventually leaving the forest and passing through an area of old lead mines. Continue until the good miner’s path ends (1hr 10min, 280m, 86240 66700).

Continue along an intermittent, boggy path up the left-hand side of the unnamed burn heading for the obvious saddle between the Druim Garbh ridge and Sgurr Dhomhnuill. When the burn splits (565m, 88400 67850) a short distance below the saddle you can see a grassy ‘valley’ leading ESE to a pass high on the S ridge of Sgurr Dhomhnuill. Head for this saddle (765m, 88940 67610) and climb easily up grass slopes between the crags to the summit of Sgurr Dhomhnuill (2hr 55min, 888m, 88960 67880). The summit is topped by a massive cairn with a depression in the middle which looks as if it could have been an old burial mound. There is little left of the nearby trig point.

Return by the same route to the end of the miner’s track (4hr 5min) and the car park (5hr 10min).