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Y'know... This was meant to be quick and easy... Looking at the map, I was almost certain... Let this be a lesson I won't forget...
Dayrider bus tickets are awesome. Doesn't matter where I start the walk and where I end it, doesn't matter how many times I change buses, the one ticket I buy in the morning when boarding the first bus covers it all.
Wanting to make the most of mine, I let myself be carried as far as possible, alighting in St Fillans, where I was greeted by the hills around Loch Earn twice, the loch providing an unmarred reflection of everything above it.
- Across the mirror of Loch Earn
- Ben Vorlich and Ben Our, the boats being the only thing not really present on the slopes of the latter
- Good moo-rning
I started by heading off west along the A85, but left it for a track close to the sailing club on the picture above. After the initial S-bend up a steeper section, the track levelled off, following Glentarken Burn, although from quite a distance. Believing I had more than enough time for what I had planned, I even made a short detour to a bridge over the burn before returning to the main track. As I headed up the track, stone walls on either side, Glen Tarken started opening up in front of me.
- Looking back towards St Fillans and the eastern end of Loch Earn
- The track ahead
- My first target: Creag Each
Not much to be said about the ascent of Creag Each. Granted, I'm writing this almost 3 years after the walk, but the fact that the ascent hasn't really stuck in my memory says something too. Like the picture above suggests, it was a simple, relatively short ascent. Some 45 minutes later, I was on the summit, crossing some broken-up, peaty land once the main ascent section was completed.
- Ben Vorlich from a different angle now
- Looking W, Stob Binnein sticking out as it keeps hanging onto its snow, which has largely melted off of the neighbouring Ben More
- Ben Lawers piercing the clouds - something I wouldn't have to worry about on my next target, Creag Gharbh
- Loch Earn, St Fillans, and Perthshire beyond
The same peaty land was also crossed on the way back, but from the 640-metre top, I did not follow the same route to the track anymore; instead, I headed for Clach Mhor Na h-Airigh Leithe, the Glen Tarken Stone, joining the track there. Completing the loop around Glen Tarken, I came across a quarry, where I headed diagonally up the hillside, crossing Allt Eas Domhain once the ground had mostly levelled off, and aiming for Creag Ruadh and the seemingly random slab of rock on its summit - although it was joined by smaller companions all around. This ascent, and the eastern side of Glen Tarken in general, seemed much wetter and squelchier than the western side and Creag Each.
- Clach Mhor Na h-Airigh Leithe
- The quarry
- Creag Each across Glen Tarken
- Down Glen Tarken, towards Mor Bheinn and Beinn Fuath
- Views N/W from Creag Ruadh to Ben Lawers, Ben More, and everything nearby and in between
- Views S/E from Creag Ruadh: Creag Uchdag and Ben Chonzie on one side, Ben Vuirich on the other, and hill-less land in the middle
- Lochan na Creige Ruaidhe down below the summit
Up to this point, I'd pretty much followed
bobble_hat_kenny's route, which I'd read before, and which had given me the inspiration to come here in the first place. His report is also much more detailed, describing the Creag Each ascent etc, so if you're reading this in the hope of finding out how to tackle the two Grahams, like I had, the primary source material would serve you better.
From Creag Ruadh on, however, I was not following the route anymore, heading for Killin instead of making a circular and returning to Loch Earn. So I headed NW, and after a short descent past some snow (well, it was May and the northern side of the hill, so it could be forgiven
) and some re-ascent, I made it to Meall Daimh and its lochans.
- Solid water forming tunnels over running water
- Meall Daimh lochan #1
- Meall Daimh lochan #2
- Meall Daimh lochan #3
- Meall Daimh lochan #... nah, Loch Tay doesn't really 'deserve' a diminutive :D
My next target was Creag Gharbh. Seeing nothing that would tell me otherwise, I drew a straight line between the two, and started to follow it. No problem. Well, initially. And that 'initially' didn't last long, at all.
From ~530 metres, the contour lines on the NW side of Meall Daimh start to separate. Like,
a lot. And as they did, the terrain under my feet got more and more saturated. I don't know when I started having to backtrack as the terrain in front of me just wasn't passable, but it was pretty far up. (Well, figuratively, as the elevation didn't change much; pretty close to Meall Daimh, I should probably say.) So I wasn't sure what things would be like once I made it to the flattest part. And they got pretty bad, but I still made it through, albeit slowly. So all that I had left was a short ascent and I'd make it to a track, right?
I mean... essentially, but what I hadn't accounted for was Lochan a' Chaorainn, which my line had led me right to. Word of advice (which no one with a working brain should need): when you're in a flat, boggy area, maybe try not to head for a lochan?
Trying to skirt around it, I found myself on a sort-of peninsula, with bog and the lochan all around (hard to say where one ended and the other began), and unless I wanted to backtrack quite a lot, I'd have to jump across the boggy parts where they
seemed thinnest onto what
seemed like solid ground. Remember how I'd started this walk thinking I had loads of time? On Creag Ruadh, I'd already been behind my schedule a little, but only by a few minutes, nothing serious. But after the slow, jagged, loopy descent from Meall Daimh, it
was serious, so I chose to jump. And the result: well, no matter how waterproof shoes advertise they are, that doesn't mean much when the water comes from above...
It's a shame I hadn't read
malky_c's report too. He'd joined the two Creags on a route following the pipeline. His report features a picture of the track running by the pipeline.
The map shows a path running by the pipeline. I just... For whatever reason, I was so afraid to approach the pipeline, I wanted to avoid it at all costs. And went for a splash instead. Well done.
Rather disgruntled, I made it to the track, following the Rob Roy Way until a sharp left turn under Creag Gharbh, where I headed up the slope - steeper and more technically challenging for a change - arriving at the summit of the Graham to beautiful views.
- 'Majestic.' That's the word the sight of Ben Lawers across Loch Tay immediately invoked in me.
- Looking back SW; Ben Vuirich with Stuc a' Chroin, and Ben More with Stob Binnein, the two Munro couples I'd been seeing throughout the walk, on the horizon yet again
Seemingly off-topic: May is when the ice hockey world championships, which I follow, tend to occur. The way I'd originally imagined it, I'd reach Killin before the match started, and track my team's progress on the phone. But that time had already passed, and I was only on Creag Gharbh. Desperate times call for desperate measures... so I started searching for the radio station broadcasting the match. A short while later, I was treated to the commentators' voices. Feeling cheered up, I headed back down to the Rob Roy Way, choosing a slightly more western route this time. I wasn't
late for the bus I had to catch, but the comfortable time cushion I thought I'd have was completely gone, so once I reached the track, I had to keep moving. Past Lochan Breaclaich (so this one
is small enough to warrant a diminutive?), towards the forest, into it, and to Killin. Fortunately, the track provided no obstructions and easy walking throughout.
- Lochan Breaclaich; Ben More and Stob Binnein looking like the pointy ears of Am Bacan's 527-metre top (or maybe that's just me)
In terms of the bus, I made it, even without having to run. This bus actually ran under a different operator, but from Crieff, where I got off, I could use my dayrider ticket again. So I stand by what I said; dayriders are awesome
And in terms of the match... the moment I left the summit, I lost all signal. I regained it momentarily around the lochan, but once I entered the forest, there was no chance of that happening again. No luck, then. But judging by how the game ended, perhaps I don't have to regret missing it that much.
Besides... for whatever such an accomplishment is worth, I'd be really surprised if I wasn't the first person in history to listen to RTVS on Creag Gharbh.