Crianlarich Hills (III), grey day and Grey Height

[Bensc01t]

Coire Earb, with Beinn a' Chroin and An Caisteal, from the path up to Grey Height

In the third part of my quest to complete the Crianlarich seven, me and Theo were set to do Cruach Àrdrain and Beinn Tulaichean. Since there was not a car on our side this time, we could not do the main Walkhighlands route and instead aimed to do it from Crianlarich to get the bus in again, using the initial approach for An Caisteal and turning onto the ridge via Grey Height.

Cruach Àrdrain, from Grey Height

We dropped into Crianlarich midday and began our walk around 12:05, making our way down Glen Falloch and into Coire Earb before veering up the side of Grey Height. Making it atop Grey Height around 13:15, we picked up our pace as we made up the ridge towards Cruach Àrdrain, stopping to eat on the south east side of the Meall Dhamh top where we were sheltered from the wind. Winds were moderate, enough to cool me down if I stopped for too long as I was wearing one layer for the time being.

At the top of Cruach Àrdrain

Theo and I continued up the side of the munro and reached its summit at roughly 14:40. From the top, we had views of the rest of the Crianlarich seven, as well as Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin to the south east, Ben Lomond and the Arrochars to the south west, the Loch Awe munros in the west and up to Ben Dorain and the Glen Coe munros in the north. Beinn Tulaichean, was now visible to us as well, having been blocked by Cruach Àrdrain on the way.

The summit of Beinn Tulaichean

The two of us made our way down towards Beinn Tulaichean, making a quick pace between the two munros, making it to the second one around 15:20. At that point, I put my coat and gloves on as the wind chills had become too much for me. After some more food and view admiring, we made our way back towards Cruach Àrdrain, intent on locating a safe avenue towards Coire Earb in order to avoid traversing the first munro and the Grey Height ridge again.

Descending down to Coire Earb off piece

We soon found a pathless pass that took us between Cruach Àrdrain and the Stob Glas top. From there, we made our way down the grassy slope towards the main path at Coire Earb. Once at the bottom, we made a swift pace back to Glen Falloch, and to Crianlarich, where we finished our walk around 18:05, almost exactly 6 hours after we started.