Walkhighlands

Today marked the last of the Munros at Crianlarich getting the 'blue flag' on my Walkhighlands map, with a walk up Beinn Chabhair. Somewhere on the way up, i thought I should do my very first walk report. I really enjoy the reports our community write, its about time I had a go. So here it is - be gentle!
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Decided yesterday to definitely take today as leave. Weather looked really good on the forecasts, let's do it. Time was tight for this afternoon, so had a look over a couple of single hills close to home. Nearly went for Ben Challum, but decided to finish off the Crianlarich set and go for Beinn Chabhair.

Alarm off at 5.10am. I really should try a holiday with a long lie sometime! Out the house at 6am, my first ice-scrape of the windscreen this year. Joys of working at home, don't see to need to do this at the moment. Arrived at the Drovers Inn around 7, and set-off from the car at 7.10am.

Weather was mild, but cloud around 1000-1500ft. I hoped it would clear up. Few hundred feet up, got the first photo in.



After the first pull, the route reaches a plateau. The cloud was starting to clear, and the bog started to appear!



That said, its a very enjoyable walk, plenty to see along the way as you hop from one squelchy bit to another!



It really was a wonderful atmosphere with the lifting cloud and the low sun



After a lot more bog-hopping, Lochan Beinn Chabhair appears.



After the lochan, the ascent starts again. In my mind it was shorter than it actually was! At one point, the view north suddenly appeared. Beinn Dorain was clear - always think it looks like a huge traffic cone!



The views just kept coming.



After a couple of times thinking I was at the cairn (I actually love false summits) I was pretty sure I saw the peak.



It really was a fantastic morning. Wind was low, sun was out, sky was blue, I was at the top of a hill rather than behind a desk. Nothing like it.



I believe every hill has its day when nothing can beat it. Hard to argue that Beinn Chabhair was having a good one!



So #73 done. On the walk back, I wondered if this was a brocken spectre. I have only read about this. I tried to snap a pic as quickly as I could... it was disappearing as i took it. Thoughts welcome!



Had a quick walk down back to the car. Passed a dozen or so walkers on the way up. Arrived back at the car a few minutes before 12 o clock. Garmin says 4hrs 43 mins, with 3,537ft of climb.

And yes, it was wet on the plateau. But compared to Ben Lui or the Monadliath-3 walks I did this year, it was nowhere close to those!

If I was to do all these hills again, I would definitely tag Beinn Chabhair onto the walk of An Caisteal and Beinn a'Chroin. But it was a cracking day.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my first report!

Congrats on your 1st walk report and some great photos of your day.

I probably should do this hill again, all I remember is bog, bog and more bog followed by clag at the summit (still enjoyed it though).

Well done
One of the few hills I've been up for which I can't find the photos but do have a record of the trip
Better photos than my first report. More interesting than my first report. More words than my first report. - cheers

Thank you both, much appreciated

Really was a great day. Hope we get a few more like that before the end of the year

Stunning photos and useful report - this is still one of my red balloons, but will probably stay that way for this year, but your photos will be really helpful when we do get round to it, so thanks for a great 1st report.

Well, you certainly chose a great day for a walk to write your first report on! Well done. But if the route was anything like as boggy as I remember it (which you indicate it was), then perhaps not the best route .

I walked it the other way round (ie from An Caisteal) but it was still very boggy .

Did you consider a route via the ridge (Meall Mor nan Eag, Stob Creag an Fhithich, Meall nan Tarmachan) as an alternative to the path? I remember thinking as I got near the bottom of the bog-path that this might have been a better route...

Thank you Huff_n_Puff and Alteknacker

I did think about the route from Derrydarroch farm and coming from there. From OS there looks a path of sorts for a good part of the way. Not much mention on the forum about that route, so decided just to go with the WH suggestion.

Nice report - good to see someone not moaning about this hill for a change!

The approach from Derrydarroch is a reasonable option and certainly less boggy - there is a newish, but thankfully not too ugly, hydro track that leads to the stream junction at NN357196. From here, follow the burn and open grassy gully above (no path but reasonable going) to join the normal route at the col just E of Meall nan Tarmachan. This route makes it easier to add on An Caisteal (and Beinn a' Chroin) with a descent down the very enjoyable NW ridge of An Caisteal. If doing this, it is best to head S for a couple of hundred metres when leaving the top of Beinn Chabhair, before starting the descent to the col.

Alteknacker wrote:Did you consider a route via the ridge (Meall Mor nan Eag, Stob Creag an Fhithich, Meall nan Tarmachan) as an alternative to the path? I remember thinking as I got near the bottom of the bog-path that this might have been a better route...

This is quite rough going with a lot of small ups and downs - scenically interesting (Lochain a' Chaisteil
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1336806 is a lovely spot), but needing a fairly positive mental attitude to make it enjoyable, and potentially very confusing in poor vis!

jmarkb that's interesting, if I should ever do these hills again, I will definitely try that route. Thank you.

And your photo of Lochain a' Chaisteil is fantastic 👌

Congratulations to your 1st report !
I had no problem with bogs on my route a few years ago, just pathless descending from the last one to conect WHW back to the start point: https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52044

Many more happy trips, safe returns and more oncoming reports ! I see you are "town mate"

jmarkb wrote:... This is quite rough going with a lot of small ups and downs - scenically interesting (Lochain a' Chaisteil
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1336806 is a lovely spot), but needing a fairly positive mental attitude to make it enjoyable, and potentially very confusing in poor vis!

I can see from the map that it would be confusing in poor vis - but it also suggests that it would be "scenically interesting", and this is the impression I had looking up from the linear bog path. As you say, the pic in geograph shows Lochain a' Chaisteil to be a lovely spot indeed.