04/05/2026
A day out on the Corbetts An Dun and A'Chaoirnich today from Dalnacardoch.
These are 2 exceptionally steep hills, a good test for the quads! An Dun translates as "The Fort" and it certainly felt like I was climbing up the battlements with the ascent.
The second hill though, A'Chaoirnich is the one steeped in history. The pass between the 2 hills is part of the old Comyns Road, a 13th century pass linking Atholl to Badenoch.
Flowing down the side of A'Chaoirnich is a burn, the Allt a'Chaoirnich, which is said to have had a well known section where people would leap over the burn. Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, had travelled to the area in 1258 to find a route through to Atholl. The story goes that his horse lept over the burn but knocked Comyn from the saddle, his foot getting caught in the stirrup. The horse fled back to Badenoch, by the time it arrived only Comyn's foot was left in the stirrup. His body was later found being eaten by eagles.
To the north of the mountain is the location of the Loss of Gaick memorial, a plaque commemorating an avalanche which struck a hunting lodge and killed 4 people in 1800, one of them said to have had a pact with the devil.
Needless to say no devil worshipping or burn jumping were on the cards today.
