B&B stay before tackling Geal-Charn & A'Mharconaich

[lisabradley]

After hiking Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas yesterday, I travelled a little further north and stayed in a beautiful air b&b called The Balsporran. After a shower and unpack of all my wet clothes, I settled in for a brilliant meal prepped by the owners and cuddled in next to the roaring fire in the lounge. I finally settled in my room for the night and got a greta nights rest.
Whilst here, I planned to tackle the four munros at Drumocher; Geal-Charn, A'Mharconaich, Beinn Udlamain and Sgairneach Mhor. I started the morning with a great breakfast, also courtesy of the hosts, and felt ready to take on the hills. I set out around 9 for the first hill, Geal-Charn. The initial climb up this hill follows a track road but quickly changes to a more open bog field, which was thankfully still quite frozen over from the cold temperatures the night before. It was on this ascent that I soon realised my legs were very sore from the hikes the day before and I might have to consider cutting the walk short after the second summit. I pushed on and removed a few layers and got some great photos on the way to the summit of the first munro. I didn't spend long before heading back down to the track leading up A'Mharconaich, a far more majestic looking hill compared to Geal-Charn, holding on to a lot more snow and ice. I misjudged the entry point to the next hill so had to trek up one of the steeper slopes, which wasn't great for the already fatigued legs 😅 almost at the plateau I had to decide whether to crack out the crampons. I probably could have done with putting them on, however, managed to make my way across the compacted snow with my ice axe in hand and taking it easy. The lengthy plateau to the summit of A'Mharconaich allows for incredible views on both sides of the hills so I took advantage of the lack of incline and took plenty of photos. Reaching the summit, I decided I should probably quit while I was ahead and descend to the car instead of cracking on towards the final two Munros.
The immediate descent off the summit was very steep and definitely required a lot of care, this then lead to the ridge which was stunning. The final slog of the hike I bumped into some nice guys, and we got chatting about our different adventures on the hills. We made our way through the bogs which had defrosted a bit to reveal some pretty sticky, mucky patches. Crossing the river at the end was a case of just diving in and accepting the fact wet feet were imminent. However, I was surprised to get back to the car to find my feet were completely dry and it was just the section above my boots that had gotten wet. Proves the importance of getting some decent kit 🙌🏼.
All in all I had a cracking time away this weekend, bagging 4 new munros, meeting some new friends and feeling as free as ever loving this new hobby in the hills 😍