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What? Beinn Lair and Meall Mheinidh
When? Saturday June 19th 2010
Weather? Sunshine a little cloud and a brisk wind
Distance? Cycling 12.2k Walking 26.8k
Height gained? Approx 3545 feet
Time taken? 13.5 hours (we are slow)
Who? Sgurr and R .
We had originally intended dragging a tent along the track, camping somewhere at the bottom of Beinn Lair, climbing it and the Graham the next day and then returning, but a helpful e-mail from Brown Willy saying that the trip had taken him 12 hours, made us think that a day trip was possible: possible in June when the days are at their longest. Brown Willy said, “I am not a fast walker.” BW, we are even less speedy.
We based ourselves at the Poolewe Hotel, and had a DIY breakfast before setting out early. We cycled through the wood, and beyond where Brown Willy had said he had left his bike abandoning ours about ½ a kilometre from where the path narrows outside the wood around NG910784. We could visualise ourselves at the end of the day finding the foot wide path not giving a wide enough margin of error for downhill cycling.
Anne3366 reports that she and essemm cycled to the rock-fall off Beinn Airigh Charr. For a confessed cycle-phobic she must be a very good mountain-biker.
The track along here is very well maintained, and a joy to walk after the sort of trackless wastes Corbett baggers so often encounter. Beinn Lair comes into view
Lochan
Rock-fall from Beinn Airigh Charr
We thought that the cloud was going to come lower, but it was a false alarm
Finally, we reached the small cairn where we had to climb to the bealach between the Corbett and the Graham. It had taken us two hours to get here.
From here we could see Carn Mor and Beinn Chasgeinn Mhor
Just above the bealach we could see a cloudy Loch Maree
On the ascent, we kept clear of the cliffs, as a strong breeze was blowing, and R had heard that gale force winds were predicted on the east, and we were inching eastwards.
Towards the top, through the swirling cloud, we saw another walker who had overtaken us along the cliff edge while we had sat down to fortify ourselves with a snack. I raced towards him at the top, mindful of the fact that this was R’s final Corbett, and asked if he could perhaps pretend to be the singing telegram I had ordered to celebrate the event. He was a bit taken aback (wouldn’t you be?) and was too embarrassed to sing, but extended a hand in congratulation. Here he is hiding in his hoodie.
It turned out that the other walker, a young engineer who had worked on wind and hydro projects lived in Inverness, and when R said “There are so many Dave’s living there on Scottishhills.com that call that Daveness !” burst out laughing, since he too was a Dave, but claimed that he knew of no other hillwalking Daves in Inverness. He was bagging across a wide range of hills and hopes to complete eventually on Skye in a triple compleation on Blaven, Glamaig and Belig. He hadn’t heard of fmck’s epic, so I hope wasn’t too disappointed to learn that someone else had triple (nay quadruple) completed before him.
Up on top of Beinn Lair there is room for several World Cup matches simultaneously as long as players aren’t bothered about a few stones and the gentle incline
We took some photos, but by far the better viewpoint was the cliff edge on our return, R heading off towards it
Photos below from various parts of the cliff edge
We made our way back down to the bealach and struck off up towards the summit of Meall Meinidh. Not such a milestone as Ben Lair, but it turned out that R had just 50 Grahams left to visit after it, with me needing a few more.
A lochan en-route
Towards the summit
From the summit
Beinn Lair from Beinn Mheinidh
We did consider traversing Meall Meinidh and saving ourselves a few kilometres, but didn’t want to prospect a precipitous descent when we were both feeling fairly tired, though we knew the other climber had left his mountain bike at the other end of the Graham intending to do just that, so we descended the way we had come. Below
Across the lochan
On the path we found some feckless frog mother had chosen a shallow puddle for her tadpoles, and they were struggling, in a fit of fellow-feeling , I gave them the contents of my water bottle and refilled it lower down.
We plodded back along the track. Below were the cliffs of Meall Meinidh, though we did see a possible descent route further on.
Saying goodbye to the Fisherfield for now
We were glad to get back to the bikes again, but R was less glad when he skidded off in the mud.
All the gates had been left openable, a contrast to our visit to Beinn Airgh Charr, when we had to lift the bikes over a stile.
We were back too late for an evening meal, so had to make do with instant soup and fruit, though I had brought R a cake.
R’s legs were aching, so he tried rubbing Ibuprofen gel onto them, but it was a supermarket’s own brand (the supermarket begins with T) which wouldn’t dry, so eventually he was so desperate to go to sleep that he just pulled on his pyjamas regardless, and next day woke up with navy blue legs. The Scottishhills.com site used to leave room for multiple choice questions, and at the end of my report I asked How long would you put up with navy-blue legs if it meant you have completed the Corbetts. A day, a week, a month or a year. Wouldn't be prepared to put up with it at all. ?
I was surprised to find that one person (presumably a hill-walker) wouldn’t be prepared to put up with it for a day...not even for the great prize of magically having completed the Corbetts, while one person said that it would be worth it for a year. R’s blue wore off in about four days.
The Poolewe hotel keeps crayons on its bistro tables so the kids can amuse themselves. Some adults have a go too. Below, a rather superior scene of a loch
And here my commemorative design for R’s compleation.
