free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Thought I would get in with the Fifer jokes in the title before anyone else got there in the comments!
It was set to be a scorcher. Leaving Dunfermline the thick har made the coast cold but the further inland we got the clearer the skies got and the temperature dial on the car just kept climbing. When we arrived at the carpark the temperature reading had reached 24c and it was only 1030!!!
We set off at about 1045 after spending a solid 15mins applying suncream. My friends frequently think it's funny to refer to me as a vampire due to my pasty white complexion (I prefer the term porcelain), my complete inability to hold a tan and my usual fear of sitting out in the sun in case I turn to dust.
I'd heard the river/railway crossing could be an issue so we had packed flip flops in case the river needed waded. We set off down the path to the river and crossed the river immediately (found out later the path on the side of the car park is better) and followed an overgrown path to the railway bridge. Going under the bridge definitely needs a spare pair of shoes/flip flops. The shallow part comes well over the top of your boots and the deeper part was almost up to my knees!
The heat was relentless and the humidity in the forest was horrible. I said more than once to my friend "I can't see us making this today" but we decided to plod on at a slow pace, taking plenty of breaks rather than using the usual romp up approach. The path branches right and crosses a small river which needed very little care crossing. In spate conditions I would assume this to be a tricky one because someone has tied a rope between two trees to assist crossing. I'm not so sure getting there in spate would be all that easy either due to the previous river crossing and railway crossing!
The path became increasingly muddy and boggy and the odd fallen tree and overgrown section was ALWAYS over the boggiest part to make things nice and easy for us.... Crossing the forestry road there is a cairn marking the path to the hills. The path (if possible) gets boggier and walking poles were invaluable for prodding and testing the footholds. Some parts were almost thigh deep! At some points further up, old fence posts have been laid down to assist crossing particularly bad bits but some of these sink the moment you put your foot on them. My confidence in completing the walk we had planned today was very low. Immediately after the road crossing the small river starts pooling nicely beneath a small waterfall. Why I never took a picture I don't know. My friend said at this point that he could just picture Peter Andre singing in it.... I think this says a lot about him!
Finally the path emerges from the forestry. A path sort of follows the fence for a bit but is soon lost. By this point it was so hot that I was taking ten paces and stopping, ten paces and stopping. The hill doesn't look steep from the forestry opening.... It is A LOT steeper than it looks and I did consider giving up. The hill will always be there and there is a nice river I could go and sit in all day instead? But we plodded on.
We could see one other person behind us making similarly slow progress. It made me feel a lot better to see that the other walker wasn't catching up too quickly until he got into better view and we could see he was carrying a mountain bike!!!!! A MOUNTAIN BIKE!
He embarrassingly caught us up on the ridge and told us he was going to ride back down the same way and film it. I struggled to carry my rucksack up in that heat never mind a bike. He ditched his bike at the mildy scrambly bit and tanked on ahead of us to the summit where we met him again. We sat on the summit for ages and had lunch. We reapplied the sunscreen in copious amounts and enjoyed the views. The number of black flies up there was horrible but at least they don't bite. I tried smidging them but they didn't seem phased. By now the concoction of suncream, mud, smidge and sweat was quite unpleasant and the stream at the car seemed very invitingt.
When we began to descend to the bealach I said "there's no way I can make it up Beinn a'Chleibh. I'm dying in this heat" but by the time we reached the bealach and looked at the map and saw how little ascent was really involved my mind was changed. Taking a looooooong drink of water before ditching my bag at the bealach we set off for Beinn a'Chleibh. We were at the top in no time. It's amazing how much easier it is without a pack. We visited all three cairns before deciding the first was the highest. The views across to the coast here must be great on a very clear day but the haze was just a bit to thick for it to be brilliant today. Ben Lui did look huge and the climb to Lui which didn't look steep from the forest looked STEEP! We sat up the top for a while before dedscending.
The descent was surprisingly pleasant despite the bog. I think this was probably due to the fact that a nice coverage of white cloud had bubbled up making it a fair bit cooler. Before we knew it we were back at the railway for what was the best bath I've ever had! Boots tied to our bags, the flip flops came out and into the water we went. The suncream/smidge/sweat/mud concoction was soon washed off and we spent ages playing the the pool under the railway. It was so refreshingly cool that we really didn't want to leave. I already got there with the joke about Fifers needing a bath but I'm sure someone will have some further joke to make! Hopefully the photos give some idea as to the depth of the water under the railway. Definitely a change of footwear job!
Now we were squeaky clean we didn't want to walk back through the overgrowth and end up covered in bits of plant and bugs so we kept our flip flops on and just waded all the way back to the car along the river. The river was much warmer than the railway pool and it was one of these experiences that will, cheesily as it sounds, stay with me forever. It's not often warm enough to be wearing shorts and t shirts, whilst voluntarily wading through a river in Scotland! It was terrific.
On arriving back at the car I took a selfie. When I looked at how it had turned out I realised I was no longer wearing my sunglasses. Yes! I had left them at the railway! They were an expensive Ralph Lauren pair so I had to go back for them! On returning to the river I noticed a path on the carpark side which I followed. It was much nicer than the one on the other side we had followed that morning and is probably why the WH route follows it (OOPS). The better path meant I retrieved the shades within 5mins and was back at the car in no time.
All in all it was a great day even though the heat dragged it out to eight hours!
Some more photos from the day taken by my friend Stuart who is a much more talented photographer than me:
Sundews
Beinn a'Chleibh from Ben Lui
Ben Lui Pano
