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After 5 weeks off looking after Mrs GLW who had just been through open heart surgery to repair a blocked artery in her heart,it was now time to get back out and see how my old legs would be.Me and stretch had been keeping in touch over the 5 weeks and we arranged to meet at Crianlairach and then take one car down to Glen Etive,and on the way we could work out what to climb.After a wee discussion stretch took pity on me and agreed on this wee hill.
We managed to find a small parking area near where you enter the forest and were on our way along the track shortly after 9am,even though the day was a little cloudy the view over the tree line to Ben Starav was not to shabby
- Ben Starav
We made our way on a good track through the forest where we got our first view of our target for today
- Beinn Fhionnlaidh in the clouds
The track made for easy going,and after approx 50min we cleared the tree line where we took a sharp left and dropped down a fairly boggy track towards the small and very old bridge that leads across the burn
- A rather old bridge
.So here we had to make a choice,try and cross by the bridge and risk it collapsing and us getting wet,or try and cross on stones and maybe falling in and getting wet(for this answer I"m afraid you will need to read the report stretch will post in due course)all I will say is one did and one did not
Once on the other side this was where the climbing begins up grassy slopes to start with following a small burn,then the path becomes more defined.At this stage the weather was holding up rather nicely and giving us some nice views all around
- Cloud passing by
- Ben Cruachan in distance(poor quality)sorry
- Ben Starav with head in the clouds
.With the spell of mild weather in the last few days I had taken the decision to leave the ice-axe in the car and just carry my crampons,this proved to be the right one today as there was only the odd patch of snow around
- Small patch of snow,and our target
.I was now starting to feel the burn in my legs from my 5 week lay off and stretch was having to slow down and wait while I tried to keep the legs pumping as we made our way to the bealach between Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Meall nan Gobhar.
With all that had been going on in the last few weeks it was really good to get back out, as we climbed up to the bealach all the worries seamed to start to drift away, and even though the legs were telling me different,I was really enjoying myself with not a care in the world.I eventully got too the bealach where stretch was waiting.
- Stretch waiting for glw
After a 5 min break here to recover we only had the last push to the summit,where stretch would see what I always seam see at the top
- Last push
This last push was great with some soft snow patches where you could push or kick your boot in to get a good grip,and a nice simple scramble before you walk the last few yards to the trig point
- Trig point and the view I always seam to get
We now had a well errand break here and settled down and had our lunch,where stretch now sprung a surprise on me and produced his famous beefy jerky(sorry big fella an aquiered taste)
- Coffee "n" beefy jerkey
- Gammy and summit trig
All too soon it was time to head back down,but not before we spoke to two walkers who had reached the top shortly before us,and we found out for one of them this was his 100th Munro
Must admit the drop down from the top was a bit of a slog with my enforced lay off now starting to take it"s toll on my gammy knee and ankle so I only managed too get one or two pics on the way down
- Small gap in clag
- Cloud now clearing
- Nearly at car
- Nearly at car
This is the first time I have been down Glen Etive,but it will not be the last,an amazing part of the country and cat wait till next time when Ben Starav and it"s neighbours will be my next target,on the way back home we stopped in at Bridge of Orchy Hotel for a well errand pint,a great end too a great day once again in your comany stretch,roll on next Sat where ever we may end up