Quinag Path Upgraded

© John Muir Trust

This winter, path repairs have been carried out on Quinag by landowners the John Muir Trust. The spectacular three-Corbett mountain, which forms the centrepiece of the Trust's 3500+ hectare property in this part of Sutherland, has suffered from erosion thanks to its well deserved popularity.

Work underway on Quinag  © John Muir Trust
Work underway on Quinag
© John Muir Trust

To fix some of the worst of it, the Trust's footpath officer Chris Goodman and local contractor MMA have upgraded a 600m section of the standard path running up to the mountain's main bealach. It's a heavily used route, but a real cracker (see this UKH Route Card).

Before...  © John Muir Trust
Before...
© John Muir Trust

...After  © John Muir Trust
...After
© John Muir Trust

 

Chris thanked MMA's Martin Callus and Andy Leslie for their hard work:

'The path here was starting to turn into a number of parallel path lines, with vegetation showing visible signs of being trampled and dying off - resulting in it becoming wider, peatier and less pleasant.'

'The work involved putting in drainage features to protect the path from surface run-off as well as steps where the gradient steepened. Our aim was to protect the landscape, views and enjoyment of the walk without over engineering the path and detracting from the sense of adventure that you get up there.'

'MMA’s work was been excellent, with the team blending the path into the landscape and naturalising the built work as much as possible - and all this while putting up with gale force winds, rain and occasionally snow.'

'The repairs have arrested the development of parallel paths (or braids) at an early stage. By blocking these braids and improving the original path line slightly to ensure walkers use it, the trampled ground either side will recover more quickly and we have been able to keep repair work relatively low key.'


The path on Quinag is likely to need more attention in the future, say the Trust. For more abuot their work see the JMT website
 


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