Tyndrum 4 - Trials and Tribulations

[Quicken]

INTRODUCTION
This walk was undertaken on day one of my first proper multi-day Munroing trip, using Crianlarich as a base with public transport links (no car). It had been a hot dry spell in the lead up to the trip, so I was expecting limited boggyness and opted for trail running shoes. It was Sunday 25th July 2021 and the weather was forecast to be dry with sunny spells, peaking at about 24 degrees. For my first walk, I had elected to follow the route described by Broggy1 in 2014, but starting and finishing at the bus stops in Tyndrum. This was to be my 7th 8th 9th and 10th Munro. I had travelled up by train from Edinburgh on the Saturday afternoon and was set to use my TNF Enduro 13 pack with its two 500ml water bottles on the hip belt. To carry more water, I visited an outdoor store in Glasgow between trains and picked up a Platypus 2L flexible bottle. This turned out not to be the best choice as we’ll see below. When I arrived in Crianlarich, there was a problem with my room which meant I couldn’t stay there the first night. While I was looking up when the last bus back to Glasgow left, the hotel boss was ringing round trying to find somewhere that could put me up for a night. She found a B&B nearby that could take me so I stayed there on Saturday night and returned to my original room after breakfast to make my sandwiches and pack my bag while the plumber was still working. The water was off. One problem here was that the Platypus bottle was too wide for my bag, with quite sharp corners. I managed to wrestle it into the bag, but it wasn’t in the hydration pouch and the corners were straining at the bag a bit. With all this going on, I forgot to pack my compass for the day. Not a great setup.

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EASY START
I took the 10:09 914 bus from Crianlarich to Tyndrum; arriving 10:17 and starting walking at 10:20. My return bus ticket was pre-booked for 18:15, giving me just under 8 hours. Starting out, I headed to the level crossing at Tyndrum lower station, and followed a broad track south and then south west gently up and down through the forest. Exiting the forest around 10:45, I joined the path heading west along the river Cononish and from there followed the route to the base of Ben Lui via Cononish Farm as described by Broggy1 and algorhythm. I am afraid of dogs, so any time I am passing a farm is a nervous time for me (more on that below). Thankfully there were no farm dogs out so on I walked. The weather in the morning was warm and deathly still, with a carpet of low, light cloud obscuring all the tops.

The level crossing at Tyndrum Lower station

Exiting the forest. A blanket of cloud

Approaching Cononish Farm

MORE HASTE, MORE DIFFICULTY
I crossed the stream at the foot of Ben Lui at 11:30, and started up the narrower trail ahead. Progress was initially good but I couldn’t see the bigger picture of the ridges up to Lui. Through a combination of haste, limited visibility, and failure to carefully check the map, I missed the path branching to the ridge on the right and ended up instead climbing up the central gully between the two ridges. Rookie error. This got very steep, loose and scrambly but I pushed on pig-headedly until I hit a bit of cliff to the ridge top. I believe this is a similar route described by algorhythm in 2014. What I should have done at this point was take my medicine, descend again and find the ridge path. Instead, I free climbed out to the comfortable ridge top very close to the Lui peak. That was tougher and much more technical than it should have been, and I would never recommend this route, but I arrived at the top of Ben Lui around 12:45.

Ben Lui ahead, shrouded in cloud

Looking back down the valley from the slopes of Ben Lui

View from Ben Lui. Blue skies above the clouds

Ben Lui cairn

HELP AND HINDRANCE
With my lack of compass, I was peering around trying to get my bearings from Ben Lui. A family with a compass helped identify the path to Beinn a'Chleibh and away I plodded. It was here I encountered my nemesis for the day in the form of a little terrier-type dog belonging to a woman going in the opposite direction. Having seen the dog was not on a lead, I proceeded to try to walk a broad arc around them. The dog headed straight for me, so I called to the owner that I didn’t like dogs as my fear rose. She tried to call it back but it ignored her and approached my ankles aggressively growling and barking. As I tried to back away, I tripped over a rock and suffered some nasty cuts and bruises, mainly on my right shin. Lucky really that I didn’t twist my ankle or crack my head. So here’s the thing: if you take your dog along on a hill walk, please please please keep it on a lead.

The state of my leg after the dog incident

COMPANY JOINED
I was really quite shaken after the dog incident, and hurried onwards towards Beinn a'Chleibh with my bloody shin. A bit further on, I got chatting with a friendly group of five guys around my age who were planning the same Tyndrum 4 route. Sorry guys – I am rubbish with names, but shout out if you see this report. After reaching the summit of Beinn a'Chleibh around 13:25, I visited all three cairns, ate my two round of sandwiches and met up with the same five guys at the bealach between Ben Lui and Beinn a’Chleibh just as they were preparing to head off on the traverse to Ben Oss. They seemed a gregarious bunch, and since we were heading in the same direction (also mindful of my lack of compass) I asked if I could join them for the next section. They were happy to team up so off we headed on the traverse with plenty of friendly chat. It was long and a bit awkward with the side slope and no path, but we reached the bealach at the foot of Ben Oss without any real difficulty.

Summit cairn on Beinn a'Chleibh

BEN OSS
At this point, I realised that my bag had split at the bottom corner (more problems). It could have been from when I fell earlier or just from the water container putting too much stress on the bag in general. I refilled my little water bottles, rearranged my remaining kit so nothing would fall out of the bag, emptied the platypus and folded it up. Meanwhile, one of the company had decided he didn’t fancy two more Munros (he said he thought they were just doing one) so he headed off back down the valley to Tyndrum (with map and compass). The rest of us headed on up the grassy slopes of Ben Oss. Visibility was improving now as the clouds cleared but it was hot and sunny. Some of the lads found this climb pretty tough and I started setting the pace. It was certainly thirsty work. I think we reached the peak around 15:30 took a well-earned breather. I took a photo of the four guys on one of their phones, with Ben Lui now revealed in the background. For some reason, I didn’t take a photo on my own phone here which is why the time is approximate. I think I was clock-watching with my bus in mind.

My companions on the way from Ben Oss to Beinn Dubchraig

BEINN DUBHCHRAIG
The descent to the last bealach and climb up Beinn Dubchraig was straightforward but a bit of tiredness was setting into everyone’s legs here. My companions elected to drop their bags at the point where the path back down into the valley branched off and we plodded up to the summit with me setting the pace. Fourth peak reached just after 16:30. The clouds had rolled away now so we were treated to some cracking views from the final Munro.

Reaching the summit of Beinn Dubchraig. With views!

Another view from Beinn Dubchraig

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubchraig

THE RETURN
I knew I needed to get a move on to catch my bus, so we said our goodbyes on the top of Beinn Dubchraig and I jogged off down the trail. When I reached the bag drop, another solo walker was sitting down nearby. It turned out he’d been following the same route and was unsure of taking on the last hill being short of water. I told him it was straightforward and I hope he made it. I pushed on with a mix of running and walking on the long return path to Tyndrum. It was dry, but plenty of tree roots required attention. After crossing the River Fillan at the White Bridge, I joined the West Highland Way at 17:51. This time check showed I was behind schedule so I sped up and ran quite hard for the last few km up the West Highland Way.

West Highland Way - the final stretch!

Exiting the West Highland Way across a little bridge by the Pine Trees Leisure Park, I arrived at the bus stop opposite pine trees at 18:12 or 18:13. Out of water and panting, I waited as my pulse rate dropped along with a couple heading for Glasgow. Then the bus didn’t turn up on time and it didn’t turn up after 5 minutes or 10 minutes. I checked the bus timetable and saw the next one was not for another 2 hours. I started looking up taxi numbers but couldn’t find one. I called citylink but they said they were not operating a phone line due to Covid 19. There is a public loo nearby where I could have got water, but I didn’t want to miss the bus so I sat down and continued to wait. Not good. The bus eventually turned up 25 minutes late. I refilled my water bottles in Crianlarich and headed back to the hotel for a longed-for shower and dinner. Battered, bloodied, but unbroken, I firmed up my plans to tackle another M4 the next day. Bring it on.