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I left Leia to plan this weekends activities and she came up with these 2.
We left Dundee around 8 and were in Crianlarich around 10 where we stopped for a bacon roll and coffee before heading off to the layby to start the walk.
We were parked pretty much next to the stile and hopped over, only to be welcomed by ankle deep bog.
When we hit the track, we followed it through the underpass and followed it up, we ignored the obvious path heading up and followed the track round as per the WH route before heading on to the hill, the intial ascent was boggy and pathless before we eventually hitting the path up. as we gained height, looking back we both thought that maybe we should have followed the initial path that we saw. The going up is pretty relentless but we finally made on to Sron Garbh, where; 1. The path improved & 2. The going got far far easier.
Leia coming over Sron Garbh
P1180534 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
We followed the path up and we hit a rocky outcrop, 2 options, up and over or follow the path round, we followed the path round, had a wee scramble up and were pretty soon on the summit of out 1st objective, An Caisteal, however, despite being clear the whole way up, the clag rolled in just as we were approaching the summit, so no views
Leia on the summit of An Caisteal
P1180539 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
We had a break up here behind a boulder to sit and have lunch before heading off
Leia surveying the way ahead
P1180540 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
The going down was good, despite a few big steps
Leia coming down to the bealach
P1180543 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
At this point the rain decided to come on and wind picked up, nevertheless we followed the path up the side of Beinn a'Chroin until we hit a bit of a wall, now when I'm by myself I can be a bit more foolhardy but with Leia, I like to make sure everything is a bit safer, due to it being a bit wet and windy and not knowing what was ahead I headed back down down to find the bypass (which I found) however Leia decided stuff this and scrambled up. We met up on the summit plateau and heading over to the summit.
Leia on the summit of Beinn a'Chroin
P1180544 by
GaryE1872, on Flickr
All that was left was the descent & walk out, the descent, compared to most isn't too bad, following the crest of the hills as it winds its way down. we passed a guy who was struggling a wee bit with his knees and I commented to Leia that we'll hang back once we're at the car to make sure he gets back ok. Once on the glen floor the real fun begins, its impossible to lose the "path" but by god is it a bogfest, I lost count of the amount of times the bog was up over my ankles, this continued for the next mile or so where I had a little jig as we finally reached the track, being blocked by cows, we detoured round them and continued on our way, finally reaching the bogfest to get back to the car.
There were only 2 cars left when we got back to the layby, mine and what turned out to be the guy we has passed earlier. While we were getting changed, the other guy came through the underpass, so all was good.
a pretty enjoyable day except for the bogfest that is the walk out.
