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Beinn Sgulaird has been on our to-do list for a while, I'd read a lot of the walk reports and the walk description each suggesting this is a good walk for the views and would be best kept for a good weather day. Well, for us, at least one day during our holiday was going to be a belter so this Munro went straight to the top of said to-do list. So, with eager eyes, we paid close attention to the forecast, Thursday was going to be our day
The forecast was spot on when Thursday dawned so, after a good breakfast and a rather enthusiastic chucking of gear into the car, we set off for the layby on the road alongside Loch Creran.
The drive down from Gairlochy to the layby at NN009451 takes about an hour, luckily there was just one other car parked up so we got one of the good spaces
I can imagine it could get a bit interesting or disappointing later on especially on a day like ours, warm, sunny and not a breath of wind, a slight breeze would have been nice, but, I suppose you can't have it all
The hungry ones struck when we were putting our boots on, not the usual clouds we get when it's humid but enough of them to make it a hasty operation, making sure we had everything we set off through the estate gate and up the well made track.
About half an hour later we reached the little cairn marking the spot where you leave the track and start on the path uphill towards the 485m spot height. The view towards Loch Creran was starting to improve
And the morning mist was lifting off the mountains
It's a nice steady climb, initially through ferns which were quite tall even this early on in the summer. once clear of the ferns and gaining height the views were getting better especially down Loch Creran.
The path travels to the right of the 485m spot above the crags and then drops in a zig zag to the fence in the bealach below. Once over the fence the climb up the other side zig zags before reaching an easier incline, this is where the ascent, in my opinion, became really enjoyable, not too steep and height is gained quickly, surprisingly it wasn't tiring even in the heat.
The views were opening up to the hills close by
When we reached the first top at 856m we could see Meall Garbh with Beinn Sgulaird beyond, it looked a long way off, to be honest, and we had one up and two downs to go before we got to the climb to the summit, we had all day so we took our time and enjoyed our surroundings.
The views were getting even better
When we arrived in the bealach between Meall Garbh and Beinn Sgulaird the climb up to the summit looked like it could be a bit of a stamina test, so we stopped, had a drink of water and a short rest then set off. We plodded, nice and steady, half an hour later we were at the summit cairn, the first new Munro for both Denise and I since August last year and what a fantastic spot to be.
We could see Tuesday's Munro Sgorr Dhonuill, Ben Nevis etc and most of the Etive hills, I think we could make out Ben More and Stob Binnein and the mountains above Crianlarich, Ben Lui etc, Ben Cruachan and around to Ben More on Mull, oooo and not forgetting the sea, it truly is a fantastic viewpoint.
We had a bit to eat and were joined by a couple from Ayr, they'd been behind us in the distance since setting off from the layby, they too were taking their time enjoying the day.
But, what goes up must come down so we started the long descent not forgetting the ups and downs along the ridge, looking from the summit we knew we had a fair way to go, we were not looking forward the two re-ascents on the way especially now we knew what they entailed, couldn't help thinking it was going to be fun climbing over the boulders
anyway off we went.
With a last look from our fantastic viewpoint
To be honest, it wasn't at all bad, nothing we haven't done in the past in fact we quite enjoyed ambling along
We stopped for a longer lunch where it starts to level off about a km from the bealach where the fence is, we met a couple on their way up, they looked a bit tired so we didn't want to say too much about the ups and downs to come
When we reached the fence we went down to the track on the WH route, we had toyed with the idea of going back via the 485m spot height but naa, too warm
Back on the track it's a steady walk back to the car, I think this was the most tiring section of the walk, the track has loose stones on it and we found ourselves rolling around on them, tired legs I think.
This is a lovely day in the hills, the weather made it for us so we were lucky, when we were back at the car we had a sit down in the sunshine for ten minutes or so, it was a nice end to a great day out
