The Fannichs: A Remote Northwest Round

South of Ullapool, in the great empty quarter between Garve and Dundonnell, lies one of the most satisfying groups of hills in the northwest: the Fannichs. Nine Munros stand here in a broad, rolling range, their summits relatively gentle by Highland standards but their sheer remoteness anything but. This is big-country bagging — long walk-ins, huge horizons, and the very real sense of being a long way from anywhere. It is a group best tackled by walkers who are fit, self-reliant and comfortable with a map and compass.

The shape of the range

The Fannichs sprawl in a rough arc around the head of Loch Fannich. At the heart of it stands Sgùrr Mòr, the highest of the group at 1,110m and the natural high point of any round. Radiating out from it are the others: the elegant Sgùrr nan Clach Geala with its fine east-facing crags, Sgùrr nan Each, Meall a'Chrasgaidh, and away to the southeast the trio of Meall Gorm, An Coileachan and, back near the centre, Beinn Liath Mhòr Fannaich. Standing slightly apart to the northwest is A'Chailleach, often paired with its neighbour on a shorter day. It is a big spread of hill: from the highest tops you look out over a huge sweep of the northwest, from An Teallach and the Fisherfield peaks to the distant hills of Torridon, and the sense of scale is a large part of why walkers make the long journey to get here in the first place.

Gentle tops, serious ground

The Fannichs have a reputation as rounded, grassy, straightforward hills, and there is truth in it — the walking underfoot is rarely technical, and the broad ridges link naturally from one summit to the next. But that gentleness is deceptive. The tops are wide and featureless, exactly the sort of terrain where navigation goes wrong in cloud, and Sgùrr nan Clach Geala in particular hides steep crags on its eastern side. Add the distance from any road and you have hills that demand solid navigation skills and proper mountain judgement, mild-looking contours notwithstanding.

The saving grace is that the ridges connecting the summits are broad and forgiving, so once you are up on the high ground the linking is more a matter of stamina than of care — until the mist comes down. Sgùrr nan Clach Geala, the "peak of the white stones", is widely reckoned the finest of the group, a shapely mountain with a genuine mountaineering feel on its craggy face, and it is the one summit here that repays a clear day above all others. The rest are honest, rolling Munros: not dramatic, but with an airy, spacious quality that comes from the sheer emptiness all around.

The classic big rounds

Because the summits sit so close together, the Fannichs lend themselves to long multi-Munro days — this is a range where fit parties routinely bag five, six or even more tops in a single outing. The classic is the great central round taking in Sgùrr Mòr and its immediate neighbours from the south side, a huge but hugely rewarding day. The southeastern trio of Meall Gorm, An Coileachan and Beinn Liath Mhòr Fannaich make a natural cluster of their own, while A'Chailleach and Sgùrr Breac at the western end form the standard shorter round. Strong walkers with an early start, or a camp thrown in, string the lot together into one of the great expeditions of the northwest. A wild camp high in the range, or beside one of the lochans, splits the mileage and gives you the summits at dawn with the whole place to yourself — well worth the extra weight for anyone comfortable carrying it.

The long approaches

There is no quick way into the Fannichs, and that is part of their appeal. Most rounds start from the A835, the Ullapool road, either near Loch Droma to the north or from the layby at the Nest of Fannich track further east. Either way you are looking at a substantial walk in before the climbing begins — often several miles of moor and track, and a river crossing or two that can be awkward after heavy rain. From the south, the approach along Loch Fannich is longer still and rarely used. The reward for all that effort is genuine solitude: even in summer, you can traverse the whole range and see barely another soul.

How you break the range up is really a question of ambition. A'Chailleach and Sgùrr Breac make a tidy pair at the western end for a shorter day. The great central horseshoe over Sgùrr Mòr, Sgùrr nan Clach Geala, Sgùrr nan Each and Meall a'Chrasgaidh is the heart of the range and a full day in itself. The southeastern outliers — Meall Gorm, An Coileachan and Beinn Liath Mhòr Fannaich — sit far enough round that many people save them for a separate visit rather than tacking them onto an already-long round. Plan the day to the summits you actually want, rather than trying to force all nine into one heroic march unless you are genuinely fit and fast.

Wild country: come prepared

Treat the Fannichs with the respect any remote range deserves. Escape routes are long, shelter is scarce, and if the weather closes in you may have hours of walking to reach the road. Carry enough food, warm layers and emergency kit for a day that runs long, and never rely on phone signal, which is patchy to non-existent. The broad, featureless summits make a compass and the confidence to trust it non-negotiable — GPS is a fine backup, but a flat battery in the wrong place here is a serious matter, so know how to navigate the old way as well.

In winter the range becomes a serious undertaking — snow, short days and long approaches combining into a full winter mountaineering proposition, with those gentle-looking slopes holding snow and building cornices along the eastern edges. The sheer length of the days here means winter often leaves you finishing in the dark whatever your pace. For a first visit, choose a settled spell and a generous weather window, and save the range for a day when you can actually see the country you have come so far to walk.

Making the most of a wild range

The scale and remoteness of the Fannichs make planning everything. Decide before you go exactly which summits you are aiming for and how they link, where you will start and finish, and what your bad-weather plan is. Store the routes and offline maps for the whole group in the Munros app so you can follow your line across those broad, cloud-prone tops and tick each hard-earned Munro as you cross it. Browse the full Munro list to see where the Fannichs sit within a round, and plan the day that finally brings you out to this quiet corner of the northwest.

Related guides

• Munro bagging in the Northwest Highlands — the wider region
• Navigation skills for Scottish mountains — essential on these broad tops
• Best multi-day Munro routes — for the full traverse