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This outing followed hot on the heels of our trip west, we couldn't let our colleague Martin climb two days on his own. Martin had done a wee bit of homework and invited us to tackle these two as he knew I still had to visit them second time around. One thing for sure I take my hat off to Parminder for joining us as they were repeats for him.
I did these two over 20 years ago and remember absolutely nothing about them and once we got back to the car I could see why.
I suggested to my colleagues we have an early meet as parking was very limited and as it was Sunday all the "Central Belt" hills will be busy.
Parminder was meeting me in Inverkeithing and dumping his car at the Park & Ride and we arranged to meet Martin at Stirling Services at 5.45am with a view to leaving his car there. That was a good plan, however Stirling Council only allow a vehicle to park for 2 hours, so Martin came up with plan B - leave his car in a layby before we reach Callander.
We arrived at the small parking area and were welcomed by the local insects who wanted their breakfast, it was on with the midgie nets and we were soon on our way.
River Dochart
Looking the other way
The way ahead
Looking back - bit grotty
The long grass was soaking wet and it was like being in a sauna
Looking back - photo a bit blurry
Low cloud lingering
Looking back
Water feature
Not much water
Dochart version of the Fairy Pools
Bridge made of railway sleepers that weren't up to scratch
One of the smallest dams you will see
Not much water being released
Not sure what we are looking at, headgear won't be catching on any time soon
Mr Gilmour playing at being a teenager
The way ahead, not very inviting
A brief view of the glen below
Very different ascending styles, Parminder trying to fly uphill
Angle of ascent up Sgiath Chuil
Martin striding out
Great views behind my colleagues
We are traversing a wee bit as the cloud is starting to lift a bit
To make the day more interesting I opted for the difficult route to the summit of Sgiath Chuil, about 10m of hands on scrambling
Martin opted for the easy walk round my little scrambly bit
Parminder first on the summit having opted for the other easy walk round my scrambly bit
Summit shot of Sgiath Chuil
Martin doing Martin things
We followed the path off the summit a bit too far west and had to double back
Different descending techniques
Views starting appear - looking eastish
Still a bit more descending to do
Loving the descent
I must be getting quicker at descending - learning from George
Doesn't look very inviting down there
Descent starting to level out
View to the west
Peat hags to avoid when we reach the bottom of the glen
Heather and webs
Different coloured heather
Peat hags
Views at last - looking back at what we came down and the summit of Sgiath Chuil
The fun and struggle has begun
Looking east and the angle of ascent
Heads down and loving it
Westish
Getting there slowly
Angle of ascent - still fairly steep
Parminder still loving his new style headgear
The trig on the summit of Beinn Cheathaich
Looking across to Meall Glas
Getting ready for the final push to the final summit
The big neighbours Ben More & Stob Binnien
Summit cairn of Meall Glas with Sgiath Chuil in the background
Ben More again
Looking back up Meall Glas on our final descent - nae path
Sgiath Chuil from low down
Time for a quick breather, warming up now temperature wise
We were the only car when we arrived, not sure where all these folk are
I want to give a shout to a female we met as we were on the latter stages of our final descent, she was heading for a Corbett and was walking barefoot. She said it was exhilarating, I did notice a plaster on one of her feet, looking on the bright side it saves spending hundreds of pounds on boots!
An enjoyable day even though I definitely won't be returning. How can 2 munro's not have even faint paths, when you think there have been literally thousands of pairs of boots tackling the two.
Next outing is going to this Friday in the far NW to tackle the least popular hills on here Lurg Mhor and Cheesecake - with bikes,