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What are the most impressive rocky corries or cwms you know of in the UK which a) contain a lake, loch or lochan and b) don't contain one ?
In reply to IPPurewater:
a Coire Mhic Fhearchair (Beinn Eighe), Garbh Coire (Braeriach)
b Coire Lagan (Skye), Coir' a' Ghrunnda (Skye)
Perhaps somewhere around Liathach or An Teallach as well.
7
In reply to IPPurewater:
a) I love Cwm Idwal (like many on here probably). I have been there several times when there is NO-ONE else in the whole cwm and that is really something
4
3
In reply to IPPurewater:
Obviously the biggest and best are in Scotland, but two wonderful lakeless Lakeland ones are Birkness Combe and Little Narrowcove. They don't have the scale of grand Scottish Corries, but they're fantastic places all the same. I haven't camped in either, but they'd make places to spend a summer's night.
2
In reply to profitofdoom:
My favourite welsh corrie is Cwm Glas Mawr, surrounded by ridges with Cyrn Las beetling overhead and so much exposed rock you could almost be in the Cuillin.
5
In reply to IPPurewater:
Cwm caseg (with its small lake, Ffynnon caseg) is quite impressive; small but surrounded on 3 sides by towering slopes and 3000ft peaks you get an amazing feeling of isolation and enclosure.
Post edited at 12:34
4
In reply to IPPurewater:
Choire Ghranda east of Being Dearg is worth a mention.
6
In reply to IPPurewater:
The other Coire Mhic Fhearcchair (Mullach Coire Mhic Fearchair),
the unnamed one, north from Beinn Tarsuinn, and
Coire a' Chaorachain - east of the view point at the Pass of the Cattle
but there are lots of other great ones.
Dave
In reply to IPPurewater:
Coire na Poite - Beinn Bhan
6
In reply to pasbury:
> My favourite welsh corrie is Cwm Glas Mawr, surrounded by ridges with Cyrn Las beetling overhead and so much exposed rock
I love that place too, it is magical. And it is quieter than Cwm Idwal on otherwise busy days in North Wales
In reply to pasbury:
> My favourite welsh corrie is Cwm Glas Mawr, surrounded by ridges with Cyrn Las beetling overhead and so much exposed rock you could almost be in the Cuillin.
It's an impressive place, but I much prefer the upper cwm. It's quiet, still rocky, and Llyn Glas is an idyllic place to be. Cwm Caseg as suggested by Ron is also a favourite. Further south, I'd vote Cwm Cau on Cadair Idris, and Llyn y Fan Fach on Mynydd Du.
1
In reply to jonathandavey:
Coire Lagan has a Lochan.
In reply to IPPurewater:
Garbh Choire Daidh in the Cairngorms. Has a couple of wee pools, but nothing you could call a lochan.
Coire an Dubh Lochan on Beinn a Bhuird. As you might guess, it has a lochan.
In reply to IPPurewater:
Coire Dhorchaill, Knoydart. Coire Ardair, Creag Meagaidh. Coire na Caime, Liathach.
In reply to David Gainor:
This.
Also Coire Mhic Fherchair on Beinn Eighe, An Teallach and Coire Lagan in the Cuillin.
and Corrie of Lochnagar, An Garbh Coire on Braeriach, Coire Dhorrcail on Ladhar Bheinn... the list could go on and on!
Post edited at 15:07
1
In reply to IPPurewater:
Coire na Ciche, on the south side of Sgurr na Ciche just behind Sourlies Bothy. There's not a lochan there now but there once was, you can still see where the water breached the moraine wall.
1
In reply to Mike Peacock:
yes I was sort of conflating the two in my mind.
In reply to jonathandavey:
> a Coire Mhic Fhearchair (Beinn Eighe)
Another vote for this. And though they are by comparison not more than tiddlers, I've always liked the combes on the east side of High Street containing Blea Water and Small Water.
> Perhaps somewhere around Liathach or An Teallach as well.
I'd vote for somewhere north of An Teallach if I could only find the map to tell me what it was called...
T.
In reply to IPPurewater:
Seana Bhraigh
1
In reply to IPPurewater:
High Cup Nick in the Pennines is impressive for its perfect glaciated symmetry.
4
In reply to IPPurewater:
Loch Toll an Lochan- An Teallach
Loch Toll an Lochan- Beinn Dearg Mor, Fisherfields (the finest of the Fisherfields)
Coire Mhic Fhearchair- Beinn Eighe
Loch Coire an Ruadh Staic- Below Maol Chean-dearg, particularly stunning when on the bike.
A general North West bias from me.
2
In reply to IPPurewater:
Loads of good ones mentioned. Coire Lagan is stunning, and the round amongst the best days in our mountains. Ghrunnda is a remarkable place, almost an alien landscape.
Toll an Lochan on An Teallach had a similar impact on me, when the weather stopped me and my dad doing the ridge, but instead working our way, not without considerable effort, into the corrie below these amazing rock walls.
One of my favourites is Coire Lair, though its more of a glen than a corrie really, but such a wonderful spot.
An unexpected find, on the "boring" lump of Maoile Lunndaidh, is Fuar-Tholl Mor, the Big Cold Hole (namesake of the mountain above Achnashellach but far less known). This is a triple-layered corrie, each more forbidding than the last, as you work your way up rough, trackless, terrain. We exited via the backwall, up steep broken ground, where at one point we found ourselves trying to cross a 2m ledge covered in hard water-ice, which necessitated the shortest crampon wearing ever after much faffing about trying to work around it without getting into dodgier ground. A hidden jewel.
All the Applecross corries are superb, but I particularly enjoyed Coire a Chaorachain, and getting eye to eye with a golden eagle as it gave us a close fly past as we climbed up the back.
I would like to visit Glas-Choire Ghranda, behind Foinaven, and Coire Duail below it, but its flippin' miles away from anywhere!
Snowdonia has some of the UK's best other corries, well, Cwms I guess.
I do like a corrie/cwm/combe/coombe etc, etc.
4
In reply to IPPurewater:
Probably Coire Mhic Fhearchair (Beinn Eighe ) but have a soft spot for Coire an Lochain on Braeriach
In reply to IPPurewater:
It must be the Lost Valley (Glen Coe) for me. It's just beautiful.
2
In reply to PPP:
Yes a magical place.
In reply to IPPurewater:
Fuar-tholl Mor on Maoile Lunndaidh is really interesting particularly its fine paternoster lakes.
In reply to IPPurewater:
Some additional (obvious) Scottish ones - Coire na Ciste on the Ben (small lochan), Corie Ardair (Creag Meagaidh) which perhaps rivals some of the NW ones mentioned above in scale, Coire an Lochan (Braeriach), and last but not least Loch A'an and its surrounding cliffs in the Cairngorms.
1
In reply to David Gainor:
Not sure why only one person has mentioned this. I've visited most of those mentioned (in Scotland) and na poite blew me away.
In reply to Roberttaylor:
> Not sure why only one person has mentioned this. I've visited most of those mentioned (in Scotland) and na poite blew me away.
Completely agree and there are several in the Cuillin not yet mentioned that are on an even grander scale. Does no one stray beyond Coire Lagan?
Try the magnificent Harta and Lota Coires from Sligachan returning via the Bealach na Lice and Coire a Bhasteir (just to keep the theme going).
Coire a Mhaidhadh with its Amphitheatre is a stunning start to the traverse of the 4 tops of Mhaidhadh
And hidden Coire an Lochain above Coruisk is the most idyllic alpine coire in the land. Just keep that quiet, though it's so hard to locate there's no risk of overcrowding. Combine it with the ascent of Sgurr Coire an Lochain for a taste of history. It's the last peak claimed in the UK.
Post edited at 07:56
In reply to IPPurewater:
Funnily enough we did an article on this a while back...
Too Stormy for Tops? Britain's Best Cwm and Corrie Walks: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/destinations/too_stormy_for_tops_bri...
2
In reply to minstrel:
Seana Bhraig is mountain, not a corrie. Guess you mean a corrie on one of its sides. Which one?
In reply to profitofdoom:
> a) I love Cwm Idwal (like many on here probably). I have been there several times when there is NO-ONE else in the whole cwm and that is really something
Plus 1 for Cwm Idwal.
Also Stickle Tarn under Pavey Ark,
Both very popular and easily accessible, and probably known to many on UKC, but that doesn't detract the grandeur of their settings. Then there are hundreds of remote Cwms/Corries throughout the UK, some of which are rarely visited. For me it's a little tarn or lake against a towering back wall of cliffs that sets off a corrie well and enhances the setting, as it gradually comes into view as you approach from below, as though you have found a special "secret" place.....
Cwm Idwal is a particularly poignant place for me because twice during the last decade I have taken terminally ill close family members there for what turned out in each case to be their final walk in the mountains. I am so grateful to the Park Authorities for having made it so accessible for the infirm and ill.yet still away from traffic.
Post edited at 13:29
3
In reply to Chris_Mellor:
North-east, the Luchd Coire -
http://www.streapadair.com/Scottish-mountain-landscape/Northern-Highlands/i...
2
In reply to IPPurewater:
> That is a fine gallery Strepadair !
That is a fine collection of shorts he is wearing!
In reply to Mal Grey:
> I would like to visit Glas-Choire Ghranda, behind Foinaven, and Coire Duail below it, but its flippin' miles away from anywhere!
The upper corrie is a stunning spot (despite meaning Ugly Corrie), and not all that inaccessible (2.5/3 hrs from the road). Take the Dionard track for 4 miles to a little quarry, then a deer path just beyond it to some easy angled slabs left of Cnoc a' Mhadaidh, then from the top of these slant up to the RH side of Coire Ghranda. Either Ganu Mor Slabs (sustained grade 3) or the much easier slabs up left from the lochan are better ways onto the tops than the scree on the headwall. By far the best way up Foinaven, avoiding all the mega bog, and one of my half dozen favourite places.
Post edited at 22:02
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