free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I was in Aberdeen meeting my wife's friends for the weekend, but had a pre-existing engagement to climb Meall nan Tarmachan with my friends. The only thing for it was a mad dash back West to Loch Tay on the Saturday morning, returning to Aberdeen in the evening. It ended up being a great day, as I finally climbed my 100th mountain (Munro, Corbett or Graham).
Quite an auspicious start as I left Aberdeen...but the forecast was better towards Loch Tay.
First time I've ever stopped at Forfar on the way to a hillwalk, which gave the day even more of a bespoke feel.
Loch Tay looking braw at Kenmore.
The path starts near the Ben Lawers car park, and is obvious for the whole route to the summit.
The path crosses a track at 460m and heads up towards the 923m top.
Height was gained quickly as we headed onto the ridge.
Two of my friends are already there!
The path switches back on the final ridge to head towards the summit.
Made it! And a nice view towards Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers, the scene of an erm interesting(!) climb the last year.
After lunch we decided to head along the ridge (I think two of these are Tops), as it was apparently an entertaining add-on to the day.
Either I zoomed in a lot or this was an absolute giant.
A folk album cover pose on one of the Tops (Meall Garbh, I think).
Maybe this is the descent that WalkHighlands describes as a Grade 1 rock climb? It was straightforward enough in this weather. It could possibly be bypassed(?) but the ground is very steep either way.
Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin.
In comes the cloud! Luckily we got all the grandstand views from the summit.
HE GOT A SMILEY FACE!!!
After Beinn nan Eachan a cairn marks the start of the pathless descent to the quarry. A friend is doing a WWE-style pose here, for a lark.
I thought the last hill (Creag na Caillich) was also a Top (turns out it's not - maybe it's 914m rather than the magic 914.4m?) but this would involve a lot of doubling back so we just headed straight down.
I managed to pick out a straight enough route which landed us right by the turn of the track near the quarry.
All that remained as the long walk back along the track, which gently descends as it heads round the hillside. There's always a great feeling if you land up on a track like this on the descent. Not 'job done' but 'job kind of nearly done'.
The track improved after a while.
After turning right at the original path the route leads back down towards the Lawers car park.
It was only the one hill with a high start, but it was a great climb. I usually much prefer to walk alone but it was good company, and a nice landmark to finally reach 100 mountains (I take the Corbett/Graham lists almost as seriously as the Munros, for some reason).
Clothes on my car?! I can't actually remember if this was randomly blown over in the wind or a light-hearted 'jape' by one of my friends...
