Beinn Heasgarnich & Creag Mhór

[joreidy]

I had been putting off doing these two for some time now (which seems like a common theme for the walk reports on this pair of munros ). However, I had a few days annual leave to play with and the weather was not looking particularly promising, therefore I decided to bag a few of the more reputedly mundane munros.

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Having eyed up these two munros from neighbouring Meall Glas a week previous, I decided on a bike/hike combination to save time (and my legs!). I rocked up at the car park at 11am and set off on the bike into a stiff breeze. After around 10 minutes I reached the cross roads before the pipe line and dumped the bike behind a rock. I then made my way up the meandering hydro track to the north and took a left across the pipeline. The track towering above Glen Lochay makes for good fast walking.

Looking across to Lubchurran cottage

I made my way through a number of gates along the track which look to be part of the regeneration of the ancient Forest of Mamlorn.

High track above Glen Lochay

Before Allt Bad Odhar, I came across what looks like a stalkers' hut I'm guessing?

Stalker's hut

After passing over the Allt, I turned right before the next gate and followed the deer fence up the grassy (but relatively dry) slope. I followed the deer fence until it diverted off to the west at which point, I made a bee line to the left of a small waterfall at Creag Bhuidhe.

Deer fence

Once over the brow of Creag Bhuidhe, I could now clearly see the bulk of the summit of Beinn Heasgarnich looming in the distance. There was no clear way up from here so I just made my way directly for the bealach between Stob an Fhir-Bhoga and Beinn Heasgarnich. After reaching the bealach, I swung a right and carried on to the summit of the first munro of the day.

Unfortunately at this point the cloud had set in and visibility was down to about 100m or so.

The summit of Beinn Heasgarnich in sight

It took 2.5 hours to reach the summit cairn. The rain had now set in for the rest of the afternoon so I didn't dwell on the top and made my way hastily towards Srón Tairbh ("the bull's nose").

The uninspiring summit cairn of Beinn Heasgarnich

I found shelter behind a crag halfway down Srón Tairbh for a quick lunch and made my way down to the boggy quagmire between the two munros. It was at this point that Loch Lyon introduced itself during a rare break in the clouds.

Loch Lyon

After meandering through the peat hags at a lowly 600m, it was now time for the long slog back up to Creag Mhór at 1047m. The going up this section was surprisingly steady and I made it to the summit cairn 1.5 hours after the 1st summit.

Creag Mhór summit cairn

With a strong wind on my back, I made good time trailing down towards Srón nan Eun ("the nose of the birds") before carefully negotiating the various crags at 600m.

The giant bulk of Beinn Heasgarnich

The deer fence was a welcome sight as it meant that the high track was to shortly follow.

The welcome sight of the Glen floor

I took the winding track down to the floor of the Glen and followed the river back to my start point. The walk took me 6 hr 15 minutes and the bike legs brought this up to a total of 6 hr 30 minutes. Having the bike for the last km brought a welcome reprieve!
All in all, this was a tough outing, particularly given the drop between the two munros and the large path less sections which made navigation difficult in the poor visibility. Another 2 down, just 112 to go

[joreidy]

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