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It was the second Monday of my Easter holidays but for some of my comrades, notably those in Fife and Dundee, today marked their return to the trenches. I still had a week of my leave to come though and therefore could head for the hills rather than the front.
I was on a fairly tight schedule and had spent the weekend mulling over my options. In the end, Sgiath Chuil jumped out of the crowd. I was looking for a reasonably short drive combined with a relatively short route. I had probably driven past this particular red flag more than any other but had always left it unclaimed. I always thought it would fit the bill for a short winter ascent from Glen Dochart across the frozen bogs but today looked like a fine day for it too. However, I opted for the more appealing looking ascent from Glen Lochay and therefore the long ascent up the ridge from the north.
There were 4 or 5 vehicles parked at the Meall Ghaordaidh sign when I drove past but only 2 in the parking area just shy of Kenknock. An older couple was just setting off from one of them and I was only 5 minutes or so behind them.
As I passed Kenknock, my sense of smell was overwhelmed by an array of seriously pungent agricultural aromas emanating from the fields and outbuildings. Combined with the spring sunshine and gentle breeze, this did the perfect job of clearing the head this fine Monday morn.
Up Glen Lochay from KenknockI was soon at the 4 way junction (which is now a real eyesore what with discarded bits of farming and construction gear scattered around) and then over the bridge across the River Lochay and onto the zig-zagging access track for the pipeline housing on the hillside.
MiddenBridge over the LochayRiver Lochay upstream from the bridgeWith each switchback, the views alternated from up the glen towards Beinn Challum to down the glen towards Meall Ghaordaidh. I was generating a fair bit of heat by now and the softshell was removed long before the stile and the end of the track at the pipe house.
Before the track steepens, across a lovely wee lochan towards Beinn ChallumClimbing above Glen Lochay - Challum and Creag Mhor aheadUp close to the pipelinePipeline running across Glen Lochay and up the hillside towards Glen LyonGaordaidh from the pipeline house and the end of the trackStile leading to the open hillsideFrom there I took a meandering line over fairly rough but not too boggy terrain towards the still fairly undefined north ridge of Sgiath Chuil, enjoying the views across upper Glen Lochay towards Creag Mhor and Beinn Heasgarnich, criss-crossing the Allt Innisdaimh several times before finally committing to the ridge. There were some fabulous examples of snow bridges across the stream at various locations and generally large patches of pristine looking snow that were almost too nice to spoil by putting big size 9 prints in them!
Up the Allt Innisdaimh - Meall a'Churain to the rightCreag Mhor and Beinn HeasgarnichMeall a'ChurainZoomed in on the big beast of HeasgarnichOne of many snow bridgesA lot of snow melt in the AlltCreag Mhor and HeasgarnichCreag MhorI found it very tough going from about 700 metres or so, the point where the ridge steepens for the climb up onto the northern top of Meall a'Churain, but my efforts were increasingly rewarded with views across Beinn Cheathaich and Meall Glas towards Ben Lui.
Across Glen Lochay and Meall nan Subh towards the Glen Lyon hillsTough going onto Meall a'ChurainEast across the coire and the outliersBeinn Cheathaich, Meal Glas, Beinn nan Imirean and a distant Ben LuiMeall Ghaordaidh and the Tarmachan and Lawers bunchEventually the unmistakable forms of Ben More and Stob Binnein appeared above my line of vision and the gradient eased for the final undulating kilometre or so from Meall a'Churain to the Munro summit of Sgiath Chuil.
Crianlarich MunrosAlong the ridge to the Munro summitThe Loch Earn Munros and a big sunken corniceCornice, summit and Crianlarich MunrosLui zoomedZoomed over the cornice to Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'ChroinAlmost there!Meall GhaordaidhBen More and Stob Binnien from the summitI could gladly have sat at the summit indefinitely and enjoyed the views, the cloud formations, the sunshine and the solitude, but time had marched on and I was aware of my deadline. So after a quick bite of lunch and a few photos it was back off down the ridge, more or less retracing my steps with a quick stop by the spectacular waterfall that I had missed on the way up.
It's been a long time turning blue!The other direction - towards ChallumThe view unspoilt by me this time - shame about the backpack!This was a bit of a surprise bonus on the descent