free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Previously in my three-week hillwalking adventure / binge, I had headed up to Glen Nevis to climb some Mamores for the first time ever, before taking in a Mànran gig in Fort William.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=120238 I woke up on the Sunday morning feeling better for the sleep (and I hadn't drunk anything at the gig, as I had to drive back to the hostel in Glen Nevis), so I was ready for the next trip. The forecast had been very mixed, but let's just give it another check to see that this is still a goer.
Oh for the love of.........
My original plan of Creag Meagaidh had already been kiboshed, due to the sudden arrival of thunder and lightning to the forecast. I was looking back along the A82 to the Ben Starav / Stob Ghabhar group, but not only was the Met Office predicting lightning there as well, it was predicting...... sleet? In July? With temperature records being broken in every country (and even under the sea)? Seriously???
This calls for a Premier Inn breakfast to calm the situation.
Ok I'm calm now.
I had a bit of a scare leaving the Premier Inn (well, Brewer's Fayre). This car is still new, after winning a legal dispute with A****d C***k in May, so I can't really remember the registration number. But Brewer's Fayre ask for you to input your number when you arrive, and it was only when I was leaving that I started to doubt that I'd entered the correct number. I ran back in (during yet another shower) and told the staff, but they were very helpful in calming me, and I re-entered my number (correctly this time). I never got a threatening letter, so either I put the right number first time or they vetoed the letter. Cracking breakfast, 9/10 frankly.
Plan B took me towards Dalwhinnie, the forecast wasn't too bad for the two Munros on the East side of the Pass of Drumochter. Unfortunately this meant passing Creag Meagaidh, where the weather was smashing.
Thunder and lighting? Hmmmmmm, maybe later. Can't take any chances on such a long / high walk.
19.97km; 784m ascent; 5hrs 29mins.
Pictorial evidence that it rained *quite* a lot this weekend.
I left the lay-by just before 12:30pm. These two Munros are technically reachable by bus (the "Dalwhinnie" stop is actually just a few hundred yards from the start of the track, at another lay-by), and I agonised over whether to delay this walk for a future bus trip. Partly for planet reasons, but mainly because I've had horrible experiences with cars over the winter, and want to cut out any drives I can. But unfortunately Citylink's prices from Glasgow to Dalwhinnie are extortionate (usually around £42 from memory) - well over double the price I paid to go to Cairndow for Beinn Bhuidhe. And I'd put these hills off for too long as well. It was time to climb the 'dynamic duo' of Càrn na Caim and A' Bhuidheanach Bheag.
There they are. Well don't all rush at once!
To be honest I'm one of the box-ticking geeks who actually really appreciates having some more straightforward Munros to tackle, so these hills were a godsend. As was the massive big track that helped me up to the quarry in no time, in spite of the infintite passing showers.
Don't worry, most of the track isn't this muddy, bit of an anomaly here.
Pretty much exactly 1hr 15mins after leaving the lay-by, I was at the South Top of Càrn na Caim. It's only my 17th Top, but it was my fourth of the week, and definitely the most trouble-free. Not much of a cairn though, so be careful you don't miss it (it's where the fence turns right).
Ok, the weather might be picking up here? The walk is characterised by a really spacious feel and some mid-range glimspes to other hills over the brow of the plateau.
And erm some more passing showers.
The WalkHighlands route went further North than I was expecting, and I briefly got a little lost, before cutting right and heading past some peat bogs in an attempt to find the path again.
The final approach to Càrn na Caim is often confused with Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mòr.
Made it. 1hr 50mins from the A9 to here.
Yeah, bit of a theme developing here with the showers...
Oh wait it's gone again. There was a great view over Coire Cam to the North, just a minute or so from the summit, so this made a good lunch spot.
I look old, but it's been a long weekend (in fact it's been a long decade so far, for different reasons).
There's a route back towards the South Top that's slightly more direct than the WalkHighlands route, and follows the track & fence, so I went this way.
I picked up four of the biggest stones I could find, stuffed them in my pockets and added them to the cairn when I returned to the South Top. I don't normally add to cairns, but I think this was only promoted to Top status recently and, as a result, the cairn is so small some folk could miss it. It really weighed down my pockets, mind you. Not keen on repeating this elsewhere...
A very, very Dalwhinnie view.
I missed the wee shortcut in the WalkHighlands route, and ended up back at the junction to the West at about 895m, but it didn't add much time on.
This bit added some time, though. I overshot the left turn on A' Bhuidheanach (which, bizarrely, is lower than A' Bhuidheanach Bheag) at a massive cairn, and ended up having to cut down a pathless hillside to the col. And the weather was looking grim, again.
The proper track ends here, but Munro-baggers have carved out a rough path straight up the hill towards the summit of A' Bhuidheanach Bheag.
I mean it's somewhere up there. The new WalkHighlands app is a saviour for walks like these. At least there's no doubt I'm still on the right path.
Yaaaaaasssss! #67 (2/3 of a century - never though I'd see the day), just under 3hrs 30mins from the A9.
Update: it raining.
The hills were just under the cloud level in no more, which made for some interesting views - a random mixture of green grass, dark overhanging grey cloud and bright sunny land on the horizon.
A few months ago I started a thread on WalkHighlands asking if anyone had visited the "secret summit" on A' Bhuidheanach Bheag (the other 936m summit that seems to be unmarked)
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=117334&p=482062&hilit=secret+summit#p482062. Now I can finally vote Yes on that poll, and it's ended up at 48% / 52% (a cursed ratio?
) I don't think I saw a proper cairn, but there is a turn in the fence at around 936m. However, people on the thread have confirmed that the Official Summit is actually about 60cm higher, after extensive surveys.
Spot the mountain hare (sorry, the best photo I could get at that distance). There was a fair bit of wildlife on these hills - there was quite a distinctive bird sound I kept hearing, and there were some frogs kicking about too.
On that previous thread, Sunset Tripper had recommended the North-West ridge as a descent route, and when I checked Bing Aerial there did seem to be a good clear track / path down to the access track for the pylons in the glen.
Pictorial evidence of there being frogs (or toads?)
However, around here the path seemed to completely disappear, and it was quite rough for the last few minutes down to the Pass of Drumochter. A later check of the maps & aerial photos would show that the track actually swings left halfway down the ridge, and heads due West to meet the main track. Woops...
As a result, it was a big relief to meet the main track at a wee bridge, just under 5hrs after leaving.
I had another thought kicking around my head as I walked along the pylon track back to the lay-by. I had now climbed nine mountains so far this year, but I was really wanting to reach double figures this weekend. In all my years I'd never climbed a mountain then driven onto a completely different place and climbed another one in the same day (it's happened with site visits for work, but only with small hills). It was genuinely something on my bucket list, and surely I'd never get a better chance than today - mid-summer, #ThreeWeeksOfFreedom, four or five hours until sunset. But which hill? And did I have enough energy left?
Bidding farewell to the Drumochter / Dalwhinnie Hills, for now. I've already climbed the four Munros on the other side, so just Meall Chuaich left (and a hatful of Corbetts / Fionas). They don't have the best reputation but would be ideal for people trying to get up to speed with Munro-bagging.
I could go for the Corbett of Meall na Leitreach, to the South of Drumochter, but the weather was still not great around here. And would it really be sensible to start out on a Corbett climb after 6pm. I reached the lay-by just before 5:30pm (so just under 5hrs 30mins for the round trip), and had another think. If Corbetts are too ambitious now...what about Fionas?
7.22km; 330m; 1hr 56mins.
We're here!
I arrived at the Blath Bhalg lay-by just before 7pm, to be greeted by brilliant sunshine for the first time today. The weather seemed much calmer round here. When I'd checked the forecast on the Met Office app at Dalwhinnie, it said Pitlochry would be attracting showers, but it was nothing of the sort when I arrived here.
A couple in a camper-van watched in a state of confusion as I clambered out of the car, grabbed the walking poles and lumbered up the track. I think I went rucksack-less as well (to avoid being weighed down), and had a rare double limp by now. But there were still three hours of daylight left, so no time like the present.
The track gives up after a couple of minutes, but a thin path weaved its way up the hillside towards Dalnacarn Craig. This is one of the highest starts for any hillwalk (c.375m) and one of the lowest Fionas (641m), so I was looking at about 270m all in (well, plus the extra down-and-up - Blath Bhalg has three summits and the true summit is the one at the back).
I had read ages ago on someone else's report that Blath Bhalg has a path all the way to the summit, but had then subsequently forgotten about it. Or maybe I hadn't - maybe it subconsciously entered my long-term memory? Who knows? It certainly felt like going on a wing and a prayer climbing this hill, as it was very last-minute, and would have been tricky without a path this late in the day. But we are where we are, and there's a path, so we go on.
Views started to open up towards Lawers and Schiehallion. I think Schiehallion was visible from Dalwhinnie (in between a million showers), so it was nice to have that link to the first walk.
Cracking views towards Ben Vrackie and Beinn a' Ghlo from a different angle.
19 minutes in, and I had reached Dalnacarn Craig to be greeted with a view of the triple summit of Blath Bhalg (well, two of the summits - the true one is still hidden). This is doable from here, as long as the weather holds up.
The path was very thin heading up to Dalnacarn Craig and took quite a random meandering route (I felt like I might lose the thing if I had one lapse in concentration), but became clearer heading towards the fence.
The path thinned again at the fence, but it was just a case of following the fence from here.
Just under 45mins in, and I've reached the 637m top to be greeted by one of the biggest and best rainbows I've ever seen.
No rain though, which was a bit of an odd twist.
And finally I could see the true 641m summit.
There was a wee bit of down-and-up between the three tops, some of which was steep, but only for short stretches.
57mins after leaving the lay-by, I'm here. Amazingly, it's the first time I've climbed 10 mountains in a year since 2017, and the first time I've ever done the climb-a-hill-then-drive-somewhere-else-and-climb-another-hill thing. So this was joyful: much more joyful than your average climb of Blath Bhalg.
I didn't bring my proper zoom camera up Blath Bhalg, annoyingly (either worried about the weight of it or the rain), but here is a camera-phone zoom of the Lomond Hills. Is that the Pentlands behind?
It was tough to tear myself away from the summit, but I still had a long drive ahead of me (and a week's shopping to buy, and a takeaway dinner to scoff).
Beinn a' Ghlo, hiding a bit.
Just under 2hrs later, and with the time approaching 9pm, I was relieved to reach the lay-by again.
N.B.Strava said 286m ascent for this, but that's literally impossible from looking at the contours, so I've gone for 330m. The three mini-peaks of Blath Bhalg had some down-and-up, which added to things.
I was struggling to find dinner in Pitlochry (everywhere was starting to close when I arrived), so this place was a life-saver, and cheap.
Thank you Khan Baba's.
After grabbing next week's shopping in a Tesco in Perth, I was transfixed by the brightness of the Moon heading South towards Stirling (I was heading South, not the Moon). I took a detour through Bridge of Allan for a quick photo-op at the Dumyat car park using the proper camera (when in Rome, see the view).
I thought the Moon would line up closer to the Wallace Monument for a classic photo, but in the end I just zoomed into both of them separately.
As the cloud started to roll in front of the Moon, I finally Hit The Wall post-adrenaline, and started to feel exhausted from the antics of this weekend. I got home at about half past midnight and had a classic sleep, before starting another full week of work (I couldn't take any annual leave for these hillwalks because trips to Jakarta use up most of the holidays, so I was shoehorning them into the weekends). I would hope to climb Corserine with my uncle next Sunday, and maybe go on a bonus evening walk somewhere, energy permitting. But this weekend was the centrepiece of it, and if I couldn't reach 10 Munros for the year, at least I'd reached 10 mountains overall.
(I never did find out if Creag Meagaidh got lightning or Stob Ghabhar got sleet......
)
To Be Continued...... #ThreeWeeksOfFreedom
Windlestraw-Man Argument:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=120615