Hundreds of years ago, according to legend, the son of a Scottish nobleman journeyed through the mountains with a band of warriors at his side to stake a claim on the lands and great herring fisheries of Lochs Torridon and Shieldag in the far North West of Scotland.  The passes between the mountains now known as Beinn Dearg and Beinn Eighe were the final stretch of the journey, and the last leg of all, as Loch Torridon opened to view before their eyes, was the pass between Liathach and Beinn Alligin. That mountain pass, locally known as a corrie, is called Coire mhic Nobuil - the pass of the son of a nobleman.

The corrie offers a wonderful opportunity to walk comparatively safely in a mountain wilderness, and is a favourite walk of ours whenever we are in the Torridon area.  If you start off early enough, you can walk right around two sides of the mighty Liathach, starting from the road-side between Torridon (Fasag) and Diabaig, and finishing at the road that runs the length of Glen Torridon.  In the spring and summer months, you can even detour for an hour or two into the hidden Coire mhic Fhearchair (pass of Farquahar) with its own lochan and magnificent high rock buttresses, famous amongst walkers and climbers.

On an afternoon's walk in December however, when at around three-thirty the sun loses its fight to stay in the sky, to walk along the pass for an hour or so before retracing your steps back to the car, is an excellent way to get some time in the mountain wilderness.

We set off along a path that rises fairly gently up through the woodland with the deep and very impressive gorge and waterfall of the abhainn (river) coire mhic nobuil to our left.  Ten or fifteen minutes later and we left the woodland behind as we reached the typical mountain terrain that is found in this area, consisting of rocks, heather, bracken, bogs, bog myrtle, and patches of peat and sandstone.

There are sections of the route through these passes which are often very wet and boggy, but on this crisp December day most of the small pools and standing water on the track were well frozen.

We continued a criss-cross route alongside and over the river and after a while reached a junction, marked with a typical stone cairn.  The path straight-ahead leads around the north face of Beinn Alligin and beyond, so we turned right and continued our journey along the pass.

The river continued to run beside us.  To our left were the towering heights of the Horns of Alligin, to our right the ever dominant Liathach, and filling our view immediately ahead was the impressive bulk of Beinn Dearg.  All were snow topped and my throat tightened at the magnificent beauty which surrounded us.

Suddenly, heralded by the great noise of jet engines at full throttle, three fighter 'planes appeared at very high speed but low altitude from behind Beinn Alligin, seemingly involved in some military game of run and chase.  The tranquillity was momentarily destroyed, but there is a strange beauty and excitement to be found in seeing and hearing these powerful tools of war, even in this most peaceful of all places.

All too soon the time arrived to turn around.  Our consolation was to have our view dominated for most of the return journey to the car by the breathtakingly expansive vista of Loch Torridon far below and ahead of us. 

Back at the cottage with our tea and cake, we reflected that this is a walk which can be adjusted to suit all seasons and whatever time a walker might have available.  It is always impressive, often beautiful, and gives a walker a clear sense of being in the mountain wilderness.  We shall no doubt return time and again in the years ahead.