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Loch Lochry Munros - with the sun out, really enjoyable

Loch Lochry Munros - with the sun out, really enjoyable


Postby Milo12 » Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:16 pm

Route description: Loch Lochy Munros from Kilfinnan

Munros included on this walk: Meall na Teanga, Sròn a' Choire Ghairbh

Date walked: 07/08/2022

Time taken: 5 hours

Distance: 19 km

Ascent: 1240m

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Since my home playground was in for another rainy day, I thought I might as well look for a dry corner of Scotland to make use of a perfectly fine August day. The Loch Lochry munros looked like a nice day out and so I went.

The drive to the parking from Invergarry is on a very small single track road that comes with lots of blind summits. It also comes with quite nice views over the loch - not sure that's a very good combination in places ;-). I arrived at a nice little parking spot. Bit enought for some 4-5 cars. With nobody around, I changed into my hiking boots just to notice a small fox walking past my car. It hadn't noticed me and got the shock of its life when I grabbed my phone to take a picture and quickly run off. Tells you something about where you are when not even the foxes pay attention to their surrounds...

The first 3km are on an undulating forestry road. The only other person I met was a guy training his dog. He did his best trying to catch the dogs attention. Looking at the amount of treats he fed him until I had passed, I wonder if he had any left for the way back. Before long, however, a trail turns right into the woodlands. It is in excellent shape and quickly gains height. Once you leave the woodland the views over the loch and into the valley ahead open up. Both are very scenic. Somebody must have been fixing the trail lately as there were lots of loose rocks that hadn't quite settled yet.
The trail takes you all the way up the saddle between the two munros. Most of the time it was rocky and had turned into a little river. Only one section is boggy and takes a bit of care to navigate.

Since the sun had come out and the views from Meall na Teanga are supposed to be the better ones, I decided to go up there first. The trail from the saddle is very steep initially before it is levelling out a bit and turning very boggy for a while. You can see the munro ahead and it looks steep. And as I soon find out, it is very steep as well. The trail up is with scree on it does not make look forward to the way down (I should later find out that it wasn't an easy one to walk down on indeed. Certainly needed to take my time over it.). Before long however, I reached the top which actually has a little ridge even. The views are nice and I could clearly see Fort Williams in the distance (although Ben Nevis decided to hide in the clouds). The views in the other directions are also quite nice. Certainly worth the walk up!

Looking at the trail up the other munro, it did not look to bad. The zigzag did not look steep or long and the top was leveling out as well. The weather still looked good, so I decided to do the other munro still. Getting back to the saddle was quicker than I thought and the way up the zigzag was quick enough as well. Clearly I had not been quick enough though as the weather changed 10 min from the top into a solid cloud cover! So no views from the top from this munro clearly. On a good note, it was clouds only and no rain. So altogether the stay at the top and the way down were not too bad.

Once I reached the saddle, the clouds were lifting a bit and only covered the mountain tops. I even got a bit of sunshine again on the way down. with the views ahead, the trail is enjoyable to walk on and the stretch through the woodland before the forestry road is a realy treat. Nothing much to say about the 3km back on the forestry road though...At least you can fill up your water bottle from the various waterfalls along the road ;-).

Overall I really enjoyed this walk and the views along the way and from Meall na Teanga are definitely worth it. Nice one to do again if I am looking for something easy to do with friends or family.
Attachments
IMG_20220807_190710.jpg
The forestry road...
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Way up to the saddle
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View from the saddle ahead into the other valley
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View at the Meall na Teanga ridge and that of Sron a'Choire Gairbh
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View at Loch Lochry
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View towards Fort William and Ben Nevis (if it wasn't in the clouds...)
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Looking back at the way up Meall na Teanga (on the left)
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Not much to see at the top of Sron a'Choire Gairbh
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The clouds are lifting the closer I get to the saddle
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Looking back up to the saddle
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Nice views at the loch on the way back
Milo12
Walker
 
Posts: 73
Munros:25   Corbetts:13
Fionas:10   Donalds:6
Sub 2000:19   Hewitts:13
Wainwrights:8   Islands:3
Joined: Mar 20, 2022

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