free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I have to apologise that once again, I've gotten well behind with posting my WRs for this year
- this one is from back in late April! Anyway, here it is now, and hopefully I'll get some more written up over the next couple of weeks.
When I started doing Munros about 12 years or so ago, I honestly never expected that I'd get to the point of having less than fifty to go - but of course, they get harder as you get through the list; there tends to be a reason that you've never gotten round to that hill earlier in your round
! I initially had high (for which, read "unrealistic"
) hopes for 2023, in Munros terms, forgetting of course that I'm now an old fat bloke with a dodgy back ... So far, my tally of Munros for this year stands at a not-very-impressive Six, although I do hope to get a few more done at the end of this week so I might make it to ten in total for 2023, with the wind behind me. Fingers crossed
!
I did, however, get off to a good early start with this outing back in April. As usual, I was driving up north after a week at the NHS coalface and I'd left it a bit late to book accommodation for the Friday night, but thankfully I got one of the last beds at the Great Glen Hostel which has a good central location. The forecast was a bit iffy for the Saturday, but A' Ghlas-bheinn looked (on the face of it) to be a fairly easy hill that I hadn't done yet, so I though I'd have a look at it.
I got a good early start and managed to get parked at the Morvich Outdoor Centre (parking is a bit limited, so it's worth getting there early). The scarily jaggy end of the Beinn Fhada ridge was looking very impressive as I set off
!
The public road ends at the Outdoor Centre, and the start of the route goes on up the tarmacked private road beyond the Outdoor Centre and over the bridge where the tarmac ends; shortly after this, a signed path branches off right from the ongoing vehicle track.
This runs for quite a wee while through attractive regenerating broadleaf forest along the south bank of the Abhainn Chonaig. A' Ghlas-bheinn was ahead in the distance now, but had its head firmly in the Clag - for the day, by the looks of it!
The Walkhighlands route description includes a detour to the Falls of Glomach, and initially I'd hoped to tack that on after doing the Munro, but time, weather and fitness were all against me today! It's perfectly possible to visit the falls without climbing a Munro first, however: the signposted route branches off to the left soon after exiting the broadleaf forest.
The ongoing path up Gleann Choinneachain to the two Munros, A' Ghlas-bheinn and its companion hill Beinn Fhada, is the right- hand fork here. It's perfectly possible, given sufficient fitness and daylight, to bag the two hills in one day, but that definitely wasn't my plan for a dodgy-weather day this early in the year!
A bit higher up Gleann Choinneachain, which was starting to look impressively rocky, with a big forestry track looking tempting across on the other side of the glen. The track ends well short of the bealach however, so it isn't really any use as access to the hills.
Looking back down the forestry track:
A wee bit higher up again, with the scenery becoming steadily more impressive despite intermittent showers of rain, and with the Bealach an Sgairne coming into view in the distance:
Towards the head of the glen, the Allt Choinneachain has to be forded. This was the view of the river crossing on approach, with some nice wee waterfalls higher up the burn, and with Beinn Fhada's northwest ridge looking truly impressive from down here.
Almost at the burn now, and with the ongoing route up to the bealach thankfully looking obvious, with a wee rocky lump that would have to be crossed en route looking mildly intimidating from down here.
Thankfully the Abhainn proved to be easy enough to cross dryshod using boulders as stepping stones, despite today's somewhat wet weather. After crossing the river, the path ascends in a series of three zigzags and then splits, with the rightward branch heading for Beinn Fhada. I turned left for the bealach and for A' Ghlas-bheinn, however.
On the steep but straightforward ascent to the bealach, the Clag briefly lifted from Beinn Fhada's northern ridges, giving this truly stirring vista
:
It was quite a relief to reach the big cairn at the Bealach an Sgairne. The fairly large loch visible to the northeast is marked on the map as "Loch a' Bhealaich", logically enough
!
There was a fine view back down Gleann Choinneachain:
The ongoing ascent path up A' Ghlas-bheinn branches off left at the bealach, while the main stalkers' path heads off eastwards towards the intriguingly named Gleann Gniomhaidh. Although the start of the A' Ghlas-bheinn path was easily located, it was looking rather steep and rocky - I'd thought this was supposed to be an Easy Hill
!
A nice view down to Loch a' Bhealaich on ascent, shortly before the Clag descended and put paid to any further views:
The ongoing rocky ascent into the Clag - and also now with a bit of snow lying!
A last dramatic look down the narrow Gleann Choinneachain:
The weather was deteriorating steadily now, with fairly continuous sleet and with the wind picking up. The Munro's summit environs weren't looking terribly welcoming
...
Soon I came to a rocky steepening that looked decidedly intimidating in the Clag
! Thankfully however, the ongoing good path makes it relatively straightforward.
The final approach to the summit passes an attractive wee lochan, Lochan a' Chleirich, that must be an idyllic spot in better weather - it was looking decidedly parky today, though!
The summit cairn was located with considerable relief
!
A rather pained summit selfie - is that a forced smile or a grimace
?
By now, needless to say, all thoughts of the Falls of Glomach had been abandoned and I was just relieved to have gotten the thing bagged! I made my way down by exactly the same route that I'd taken up, with the Bealach an Sgairne being reached with some relief.
It's not as straightforward a hill as I'd expected, being in fact a rather rough and rocky wee brute, but it gave a fine outing to kick off the 2023 Munro season for me, all the same
.
