Beinn Chabhair

[quagga64]

Today the aim was to ascend Beinn Chabhair (hill of the hog), for the second time as the first time I climbed it in September 2012 the weather was attrocious all day and I,d got soaked to the skin and had zero visibility from the summit and I had always had a mind to do a re-ascent in better weather, also if time permitted I wanted to see if I could find the Clach nam Breatann, an ancient boundary stone situated high up on the side of Glen Falloch. Got up at 5:30 and left the house at 6:30 drove up the M9 then up through Callander and along Glen Dochart to Crianlaraich then Southwards down the A82 through Glen Falloch to the Drovers Inn at Inverarnan arriving at 8 a.m. 74 miles. Got booted up and walked back Northwards up the roadside and crossed the River Falloch and up to Beinglas Farm campsite. Weather was supposed to be sunny everywhere in the UK but here it was quite dull and overcast and it drizzled for about the first half an hour of the walk but I hoped it would improve as the day went on. Behind the campsite it was steeply up the eroded path which climbs directly up the hillside beside the Ben Glas Burn at the top it opens out onto a large expanse of moorland and a boggy path which goes for about a mile and a half to reach Lochan Beinn Chabhair then ascends up Meall nan Tarmachan to gain the ridge, the top of Beinn Chabhair was still in mist as I travelled along the undulating ridge which winds round rocky knolls and passes a couple of tiny lochans. Met two young guys coming back the way and asked them if there were any views from the summit and they said no. I was still hopefull the sun would burn through sooner or later so I sat and had a bite to eat as I was determined to get some views from the summit this time. The last time I was here the mist was so thick I wasn,t even a hundred per cent satisfied Id been to the actual summit as there are two cairns on two separate high points and although I,d visited both I still had to check other peoples summit photos to compare the cairn. This time though the mountain gods finally smiled on me for as I neared the top the mist cleared quite a bit and there was decent views of An Caisteal and Beinn a'Chroin next door. The time was 11:50 so it had taken 3 hours 45 minutes to reach the summit. A guy was already at the top and we had a bleather for 15 minutes, he was 61 and from Carnoustie, had travelled across to a b&b at Crianlaraich the night before and said he,d set off walking at 7 a.m. this morning so someone who is even slower than me ! 😂. Told me his 58 year old wife had alzheimers and had been placed in a care home 3 weeks ago. He made his way off and I hung around for a while taking photos and videos and the sun even came out ! Got a text message from Christopher saying him and Kerrie were both positive for covid 19. Left the summit around 12:25 and headed back down the same way passing a few couples on their way up and passing my old friend from Carnoustie once I got down onto the moor. Got back to the car at 3 p.m. so only 2 and a half hours to make the descent.Then it was a 2 mile drive up the glen to search for Clach nam Breatann which is covered in a separate walk report.