free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Whilst on my second round of Munro's, I have been chipping away at the 282, I have decided not to make all walk reports "live" - the only reports I make available to all are ones that I think would be useful to fellow walkers. There are umpteen reports for Beinn na Lap, but only a handful that include the Corbett Leum Uilleim. I am not sure if anyone else has tried the route that we opted for, hopefully someone will give it a go.
I am sure plenty of fellow walkers have looked at ways to tackle the hills from Corrour Railway Station?
In the 'olden' days before Covid was ever invented you could catch the Sleeper train north and that would give you about a 9 hour window - plenty of time to tackle the 3 Munro's. Now that Covid has invaded our shores and is used an excuse for just about everything and anything, Scotrail have adjusted the timetable. So for anyone thinking of tackling any of the collection of hills from Corrour you now have a 7 hour window. The train coming from the south arrives at Corrour at 11.21am and the last one leaving Corrour heading south is at 18.25pm. A small group of us tackled the 2 Munro's south of Loch Ossian in June and it took us a shade over 6 hours, so including Beinn na Lap was not an option.
For this expedition George was unavailable so I suggested to Parminder that rather than spend a whole day just on Beinn na Lap (which isn't that exciting) why not head west across the railway line & include Leum Uilleim - which was featured in the film "Trainspotting". I worked out each hill would take us about 3 hours so we should manage it.
As we didn't have to be in Crianlarich until after 10ish we met up at 8am and as the roads were quiet we arrived in Crianlarich with plenty of time to spare, so we tried out the wee cafe at the station and had a coffee. The train when it arrived on time wasn't as busy as our last trip but still had quite a few passengers on board.
The train emptying, must have been in excess of 30 folk
Beinn na Lap not quite visible
Leum Uilleim also not quite visible, folk still sorting out what and where they are going
See you in 7 hours, in the background you can see the ridge that goes from right to left that take you to the summit of LU
Walkers getting well spread out
Loch Ossian coming into view
Weather looking rather changeable
Not sure where everyone went, we only met 2 other couples, one in front and one behind
It was a wee bit further along the track that I realised we should have turned right at the junction - my excuse is that the last time I was up BnL I tackled it from the other direction
Rather than double back, with a bit of descent we opted to head across the damp long grass to rejoin the path
Parminder loving the extra challenge
The western end of Ossian, the Youth Hostel nestled in amongst the trees
Looking back to the station with LU in the distance
The middle part of Loch Ossian with Carn Dearg on the other side of the Loch
Parminder looking tired already, he obviously enjoyed the slight diversion - we are now back on track
Ossian again from much higher up
Looking across to LU
Atmospheric shot of the cloud swirling around
What a surprise - blue sky on the summit of Beinn na Lap
Eastern end of Ossian, looking towards Ben Alder and all the other hills out that way
Ossian from the summit
Carn Dearg across the Loch
It was shortly after leaving the summit of Beinn na Lap I suggested to Parminder that rather than walk down to the track and then back to the station - why don't we try the direct route. There are no crags or cliffs, just an odd peat hag, long grass and a few minor undulations and it looked very doable. So we agreed and is it turned out it was a very easy descent and George would have loved it and been miles ahead.
LU still quite a distance away
We don't have much more descending to do
We crossed the track that apparently heads to Kinlochleven
Next was the railway line, so after looking left, right & left again we went for it
We opted for another direct route, which would take us across to the ATV track that winds it's way up the shoulder
The path we picked up after crossing the railway line, we followed it briefly heading back towards Corrour and then 'went for it'
There is plenty of old timber that is being reused to assist ATV's up the hillside
Looking back to Beinn na Lap and as you can see not a difficult descent - may be different after a prolonged wet spell
A low level look back to Corrour before we start to gain height
The route to the summit of Leum Uilleim, we would ascend and then go from right to left
The ATV track can be seen quite clearly and is easy to follow
Looking back again
Loch Treig now visible
The showers seem to be more frequent as the afternoon progresses
The summit of LU has now disappeared, let's hope the cloud moves on
Loch Treig again, Beinn na Lap on the right with a few shadows on the shoulder
Maybe one day I will get the hang of this selfie stuff
The last 400m or so to the summit you have to leave the luxury of the ATV track and trudge on tufty grass and rocks, the summit cairn appearing out of the gloom
Big cairn but the shelter would be a tight squeeze for more than one walker
One of Parminder's better photo's
The path down the ridge is quite good and easy to follow, which was just as well as visibility was pretty poor and then we suddenly saw where we were heading
As you can see the weather is pretty miserable now and was going to get worse, much worse
We were still following the path down, however once the grassy slope is reached the path disappears so once again it was the direct route for Corrour
Rainbow (partial)
The rainbow was there for a few minutes and was the warning that the rain was going to get really heavy
The rain finally stopped, so a photo of Corrour close up
We discussed what we should do dinner wise, the original plan was to eat in Crianlarich but as it wouldn't be 7.30pm I suggested we try the eating place right next to the station in Corrour. We arrived at the hotel absolutely soaked, well I was, my jacket has obviously lost it's waterproofness and we made the mistake of not donning our waterproof trousers and the water was seeping down inside my gaiters into my boots - not pleasant. As we entered the hotel it was already fairly full with fellow travellers with 2 vacant tables left so we made it just in time. As you would expect the food is slightly more expensive, it was freshly cooked and was hard earned and very welcome. Parminder did comment on the puddles of water we left under our table!!
Parminder's dinner in the Corrour Station Hotel
My half chicken
To sum up, another cracking day - apart from the soaking at the end, thanks to Parminder for driving and his company. I also have to say that Loch Ossian is one of my favourite loch's, very picturesque.
