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Munros: Beinn Eibhinn, Aonach Beag.
Date: 19/03/2023.
Distance: 13km (cycling), 16.5km (walking).
Ascent: 180m (cycling), 990m (walking).
Time taken: 6 hours.
Weather: Grey, calm and mild.
Sunday was a chance to head a little further afield than usual, but I was too lazy to bother with an early start or late finish. So I found myself parked up in the same place as I had exactly a year ago, albeit to go up the hills on the other side of the road. I had been looking at various circuits on Beinn Eibhinn which would take in the tops of Mullach Coire nan Nead and Meall Glas Choire for a while. I might have preferred something a bit longer than what I ended up doing but well...the aforementioned laziness!
I had brought along my mountain bike to speed up the approach and I left the car at around 10:30am. The day looked grey but not at all unpleasant, and I cursed the badly adjusted gears on my bike as I climbed upwards towards Lochan na h-Earba.
Beinn a Chaorainn 
Lochan na h-Earba and Creag Pitridh I forked off to the right before Lochan na h-Earba and headed for the ruin of Lubvan. I was actually able to go a little further than expected, and if it hadn't been for my annoying gears and the fact that the track surface was soft after the recent thaw, I probably could have carried on most of the way to the end of the path.
Allt Cam Instead I ditched the bike and made the most of the well-surfaced path - the going would soon be a lot rougher! Gradually rounding the end of the western ridge of Beinn a' Chlachair, I enjoyed the increasing feeling of remoteness with nice views back to Binnein Shuas.
Binnein Shuas from Allt Cam 
Beinn a Chlachair 
Glen Spean 
Binnein Shuas and Binnein Shios As the Allt Cam headed east, I left the path just before it petered out (the good surface had finished a few minutes earlier) and crossed the river. This was just about possible dry-shod although it wouldn't be especially difficult in these conditions if you didn't mind getting wet feet. The going on the far side was rougher with some peat hags. As I climbed up gradually, Chno Dearg came into view looking much more interesting than I've previously given it credit for. I made a gradually rising traverse of the northern flank of Beinn Eibhinn, eventually passing through Coire na Cosaig. It was now time to stop messing around and get onto the ill-defined north ridge of Mullach Coire nan Nead. There were some pleasant rocky outcrops to dodge once on the ridge and the view of the day (across Loch Ossian) began to open up.
Beinn na Lap, Binnein Mor and Chno Dearg 
Carn Dearg and Loch Ossian looking through to the Black Mount 
Sgor Choinnich and Sgor Gaibhre I finally made it to the summit feeling a bit on the slow side. No matter - there was no real need to rush anyway. While the cloud was still sitting on Beinn Eibhinn and many of the other high summits, here at 921m I was clear of the cloud. The view across Loch Ossian and the Blackwater to the head of Glencoe, and also across to the east end of the Mamores was excellent - it probably ended up being the subject of half of my photos!
Summit of Mullach Coire nan Nead I stopped for a quick drink before moving onward to Meall Glas Choire. While it certainly wasn't warm, it was really calm and mild enough to be very pleasant. A descent to a mostly frozen lochan and a short, easy traverse took me to the next top where I decided to have a lunch break. These tops were annoying diversions last time I was on these hills so I didn't bother with them but they were the most enjoyable part of today's walk. Having moved further SE, there were now views across the back of Ben Alder to Schiehallion and Loch Ericht.
Frozen lochan 
Loch Ossian 
Ben Alder and Beinn a Chumhainn 
Schiehallion 
Glen Lyon hills in the far background 
It was now time to venture into the cloud, although it was up and down in areas. There was a bit of a path up Beinn Eibhinn and the going was straightforward. The summit had a large and rather melting cornice to the north but no real views just now, and shortly after starting my descent towards Aonach Beag I passed the first other person of the day. A long day out for him - he was traversing from Carn Dearg to Beinn Eibhinn having cycled into Culra and driven from Aberdeen. After a brief chat it was a quick down and up before I found myself on Aonach Beag. Still not much in the way of views but the ridge back to Beinn Eibhinn did intermittently appear from the cloud, looking quite epic.
Near the summit of Beinn Eibhinn 
Loch Ericht 
Mist clears on the ridge 
Beinn Eibhinn from Aonach Beag There were only two other ridges down from Aonach Beag aside from the one I had come up - I knew I wanted the one without the large path on it. Somewhere a couple of miles back the rock had changed from granite to quartz and this ridge was quite angular and slippery. Still not particularly bad underfoot though. Before long I dropped out of the cloud, and when I reached Meall Nathrach I stopped for another break. There had been more showery weather hanging to the west of the Great Glen but it looked like it was slowly moving in. Still dry for now though. There were some awkward crags to avoid before I reached the floor of the glen and crossed back over the Cam Allt again.
Coire a Charra Mhoir 
Beinn a Chlachair 
Beinn a Chaorainn and Creag Meagaidh From here is was an easy retrace of steps to the bike. I noticed the first drops of rain as I reached the bike although they were barely amounting to anything. It looked as if it may get worse so I aborted any thought of detouring to Lochan na h-Earba for a swim (I'd forgotten a towel anyway). The cycle was much more pleasing on the way back, being mostly downhill. I passed a couple of other walkers on my way down - I assume most people had been up the other trio of Munros from here (there were certainly plenty of cars in the layby).
Looking back to Beinn Eibhinn 
Ruin at Lubvan with weather coming inThere was a persistent drizzle by the time I got back to the car but it had been a lovely day out. I was particularly grateful that most of the previous week's snow had melted as it had been really hard going stuff!
