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Driving down to Tyndrum we stopped for a coffee at Kingshouse and came face to face with this young fellow.
Surprising who you meet down by the duck pond
His relaxed attitude about being up close and personal with a human would have been even more surprising if we'd been anywhere else. But Kingshouse has a tradition of happy-to-pose red deer wandering about the car park looking for tourists to feed them in return for a quick photo of or two.
When he saw I had no food for him he nonchantly got back to munching his salad greens, while I snapped away like any other over excited tourist.
With the magnificent backdrop of Buachaille Etive Mor
Our cottage in Tyndrum was right on the West Highland Way opposite Brodie's Mini Market with a view of Beinn Odhar almost from the front door. The morning after I'd taken Pete on a walk which turned out to be an unpleasantly waterlogged one along the shore of Loch Etive, he insisted he wanted a quiet morning in with his book and if I wanted to go off and climb a hill that was fine with him.
So after breakfast I set off with the dog along the WHW, which I'd walked in completeness 4 years earlier, but that time with a different dog. Those memories will always be mixed for me. We had Callie only 5 fun-filled months before losing her, and there's a poignancy about some of the comments following my report of that day, which I've just reread for the first time.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=83141Back to 2022 and Beinn Odhar from WHW
Looking south and Keira having a good sniff
North to Beinn Dorain peeking through
Just over a kilometre along the track took us to a bridge over the railway line. After crossing the bridge we went through a gate on our right and followed a faint path in the grass leading to the low ridge above the west side of the Crom Allt.
Following west side of the Crom Allt
Looking back to the bridge
SW to Dubhchraig, Oss and Lui
Higher up the path became less distinct, then developed into zig zags which helped to ease the ascent. At the end of the zig zags I didn't see the remains of an old mine by a crag as had followed a line a bit further to the east, which didn't matter as it led us to the summit anyway.
The way up
East to Ben Challum
South to Ben Lui
A quick stop to catch our breath
Beinn Odhar summit 901m
Faithful hound
North to Glen Orchy and Beinn Dorain
Keira investigating another smell in front of the Orchy Munros
East to Creag Mhor and Ben Challum
Ben Lui group from summit cairn
After taking in the views and a snack for me and dog we took a more central line than on the way up, a faint path in the grass that was more obvious on the descent.
Start of the descent
The first person I saw on the hill was a man near the lochan on his way up, but we didn't pass near enough to speak.
Steeply down to snow filled lochan
Below the shoulder with the lochan we were back on to the zig zags and rounding a corner came face to face with someone carrying a large pack on her back. She wasn't wearing a hat (which sometimes Keira takes exception to) so I can only conclude it was the large pack she wasn't keen on. Anyway she barked. So I put her on the lead and apologised for strange canine behaviour, which was the start of us talking. She was off to climb 3 Corbetts, camp overnight and climb another the next day. We talked about routes and I mentioned Walkhighlands being helpful for that. We talked about the huge benefit to mental health of getting into the hills and how we feel twitchy when we haven't been for a while. Then I found out she writes for WH, not in the way most of us do, writing up walk reports, but with proper articles, one of which I'd recently read.
Sarah Jane Douglas
Sarah has an amazing story, which I won't attempt to relate here as much better to get her book "Just another Mountain" and hear it in her own words. I discovered she lives in a village I knew as a child, visiting my father's greatly esteemed Auntie Mary and where I now regularly go to walk the dog. It was lovely to meet Sarah and I only hope our chatting didn't delay her too much from her 3 Corbetts and summit camp!
Towards the bottom of the zig zags I noticed eyes fixed on us and in case Keira felt the urge to do something about it I put her on the lead.
We were being watched
She won't even let me look at them!
Moving away from where sheep were scattered we went directly down to the Crom Allt before pretty much following it back to the bridge.
The Crom Allt
We were soon on the WHW and back at the cottage in time for lunch, which must be a first for me!
Two sheep doing the WHW
