The Glen Lyon 4

[martin1909]

We set off early doors, 05:15 to be precise, in the hope that we would find a space at the small car park at Invervar. We got there and needless to say, the five or six cars that had beat us to it had filled up the car park. I had worried that this would be the case despite our early departure so I had planned that we would park in the layby just west should that be needed. We found a space there no bother, parked up, booted up and got underway.

A ten minute, if that, walk brought us to the gated path leading up to the lint mill heralding the start of the walk as described on here. We walked through the gate, through the beautiful, wooded area past the lint mill and passed through another gate into an area of felled woodland. It was interesting to see a sign on this fence from the estate urging walkers to consider going elsewhere as there was management work ongoing. We didn’t see any the whole day and owing to the estates historical conflicts with access rights you'd think they'd know better. Nonetheless we continued up through the felled area to a third gate. Passing though this we had a decision to make, would we head up in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. We decided to head up anti-clockwise.

Walking along the road from the layby

The first gate at the main road heading up to the Lint Mill

The camouflaged Lint Mill

Looking back over the area of felled woodland between gates two and three

Heading anti-clockwise, we followed the land rover track left from the third gate for about 50 metres and came across two cairns which marked the path which would take us up our first mountain of the day, Meall nan Aighean. This was to be a long ascent and not too steep for the main part, despite a few sections of fairly steep walking on the way. As we made the initial climb, there was not a breath of wind and we approached the base of some low cloud which was lingering in the glen, I was hopeful that we would pass through it before it burnt off so we would get a wee inversion, but this wasn’t to be. As we approached the base it began to burn off at an incredible rate, revealing the beautiful Glen Lyon below us. Now that the sun was out it was time to apply the sun cream and then continue up the mountain. The walk up was gradual with a few steeper sections and was a very enjoyable walk. I can’t remember seeing so much wildlife up a mountain, in particular the vast amount of varying insect species which seemed to be everywhere (not too many midges thankfully), not something to complain about. We saw various species of bird and a few frogs on the way up. After some time, I didn’t keep track of it, we reached the top and marked off Munro number one of the day.

The two cairns marking the start, or end of the mountain path

In the cloud for a brief time

The cloud burning off and thinning out

And just like that, the majority of the cloud was gone

First views of the mighty Schiehallion

The first summit in sight

Meall nan Aighean summit

Looking over to Ben MacDui (unless I have muddled my photos up, took so many of distant mountains lol)

After lapping up the endless views available to us we left the summit and began the walk towards Munro number two, Carn Mairg. We backtracked for about 5 minutes before leaving the path that took us up Meall nan Aighean and headed over towards the dip between Meall nan Aighean and Carn Mairg. This was a fairly easy and short part of the walk, when reaching the base of the dip there was a rather large peat hag which marked the start of the climb up Carn Mairg. This walk started fairly shallow and continued so until about 950 metres. From here, the final 91 metres to the summit was short but very steep. At the base of the steep part, we began the climb up over some large rocks and up a few steep grassy sections. This climb, although short was relentless but after about 25 minutes we were at the top and had reached the summit of Munro number two, Carn Mairg. It was about 12:00 when we reached it so we decided that after the mandatory summit pictures and mandatory taking in of the views, we would have lunch. The views up here were stunning and the range of visibility was easily the best I have witnessed up the hills. You could see Ben MacDui and Braeriach to the east, Ben Lomond and Ben Ime to the southwest, Ben Nevis and Aonach Beag to the northwest and Meall Chuaich to the north.

The peat hagg

Carn Mairg

Looking back, with the Lawers range in good sight

The summit & Schiehallion

Gill and I at the summit

Cracking views all round

Ben Nevis, probably not a good day to be up there if you dislike crowds...

After Lunch it was time to crack on towards the third Munro of the day, Meall Garbh. The walk from Carn Mairg to Meall Garbh was brilliant. In bad conditions yes this would be a seemingly never ending trudge with carefull navigation required but today it was fantastic. It's a long, undulating walk between Carn Mairg and the Munro Top, Meall a' Bharr. We hit the summit of this Munro top, but this was the only top we did on this round. From this top to Meall Garbh however the terrain is a bit steeper but still nothing you could call challenging. There is a small lochan between Meall a' Bharr top and Meall Garbh which we stopped at for another snack and some water. It’s a nice wee spot to stop and, today anyway, was sheltered from the breeze which had grown stronger over the course of the day. From the lochan we then done the last bit of climbing and after about 20 minutes, if that, reached the summit of Munro number three, Meall Garbh. By this point there was no reason for us to linger so we took a picture or two and then continued on our round.

Looking back towards Carn Mairg

Following the fence line west

Looking over the Lawers range

Meall a' Bharr top

A good view of Ben Alder as we depart the Meall a' Bharr top

Ben Lomond peeking though a gap in the mountains

The small lochan as you near Meall Garbh

Approaching the summit of Meall Garbh

The Summit

At the summit of Meall Garbh, our final Munro, Carn Gorm and it's subsidiary top An Sgorr were in full unobstructed view. We set off to claim our fourth summit. It was a short walk down to 850 metres and the path that skirted around An Sgorr and would lead us up Carn Gorm. We descended and followed the path round, taking in the cracking views of Rannoch Moor. The climb up Carn Gorm was quick and not to steep which as this point of the day was welcome. We huffed and puffed up the northern slopes until we reached the top. It was interesting to see that the trig point near the summit was lying on it's side. Must have taken some force to drag it up from it's foundations and tip it over. Passing the fallen trig point we walked slightly farther on to reach the actual summit which lies 1 meter higher than the point with the trig point at it.

Carn Gorm and An Sgorr

Following the path around An Sgorr

The trig point

Meall Buidhe

The short walk from the trig point to the true summit

And with the fourth Munro in the bag, it was time to begin our descent down into the glen and back to the car. The sun was still beating down and patches of red skin were appearing where the sun cream hadn't reached. The descent from Carn Gorm varied from shallow long sections to short and steep sections. After stopping for a snack half way down we eventually reached the wooded area. Upon reaching this woodland the path skirted the woods and took a steep decline down to the river which was crossed by a very rusty and very sketchy looking bridge. Carefully and one by one we crossed with no issue. From here, headed back down through the area of felled woodland, past the Lint Mill and back to the lay-by where we had parked.

Looking back over towards Meall na Aighean, Carn Mairg and Schiehallion

Heading down

Approaching the woods

The path skirting the woodland

The rickety bridge crossing the river

Passing the Lint Mill on the way down

And 10 hours 48 minutes since leaving the car we were back. A long day out that could have been shortened but we were in no hurry to do so. It was brilliant to see so many Munros in the distance and we could not have asked for a better day.

Onto the next one!

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