The Tyndrum Four

[ScottyBoy76]

The weather forecast was looking decent for this day Sunday 16th May so I decided to tackle all four of the Tyndrum munros after reading a few of the user reports on this site. The sun was shining when I left the car park at Dalrigh just after 7am and I set off for the first munro and the highest of the four, Ben Lui.

Long approach to Ben Lui.

It was a long approach walk to Ben Lui but on a decent surface. Nice warm up to the day ahead!

Ben Lui.

It was a steep old climb up Ben Lui but enjoyable in the conditions. I took the ridge line to the right hand side as you ascend (there is a path), and a bit of scrambling was required to reach the summit.

Heading up to the ridge.

Wee bit of scrambling required to get to the top.

Ben Lui summit with Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhcraig in the background.

There was very little wind and the views were superb from the summit of Ben Lui. I could easily see the other three Munros I was targeting and I only met two other people up there but I also met my stalker (see pic below)

Great views, with Beinn a’ Chleibh in the foreground and Loch Awe and Glencoe in the distance.

This rather large beast was stalking me all day. I saw it again on Beinn a’ Cleibh and later it was watching me on Beinn Dubhcraig!

Next up was Beinn a’ Cleibh which was a very straightforward descent down Ben Lui and ascent up the second Munro. Pretty easy to be honest and didn’t take too long.

Beinn a’ Cleibh summit.

I didn’t hang around on Beinn a’ Cleibh too long, I knew I had a fairly long and mostly pathless hike to get to Ben Oss. After heading back down I went back up Ben Lui about a fifth of the way before heading to the right and hugging the lower slopes all the way along to the foot of Ben Oss.

Heading to Ben Oss.

I spotted a Ptarmigan! Thanks to jmarkb for the help in identifying this.

There were one or two spots of rain as I began the ascent of Ben Oss. I was hoping that it wouldn’t come to much but alas about 200m from the summit the heavens opened so it was time to get the waterproofs on as it was pretty heavy. Fortunately it only lasted about 20 minutes and it started to clear up again after I reached the summit.

Ben Oss.

Rain incoming!

A wet Ben Oss summit, with Ben Lui in the background.

After a rest and a bite to eat it was time to hit number four for the day, Beinn Dubhcraig. A bit of a steep ‘down and up’ again to reach the final summit but nothing too difficult. I was greeted with more excellent views especially to the south.

Beinn Dubhcraig.

Ben Lomond in the distance and the Bonny Bonny Banks, as seen from Beinn Dubhcraig summit.

I knew I had a long hike back down to the car so after spending about ten minutes or so on the final summit it was time to go on what turned out to be a very long and very boggy descent.

Bog after bog after bog.

So after nearly a ten hour day I made it back to the car after what was a tiring but thoroughly enjoyable day out. If you have the time I would highly recommend doing the four in one day, you won’t regret it I’m sure!