free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
With Skye out of the equation now for at least another 4 weekends it is time to try and finish off Allison's non-Skye Tops, which are dotted around a bit. The challenge is to link them together rationally. I thought we might do Beinn a'Chuirn along with 3 Munros she still needs at Auch, then maybe head up to the Grey Corries....we'd see how the time went. I've wanted to do a walk around the upper end of Loch Lyon for ages, so this was an opportunity. Forecast for the weekend was showery, cold and moderate winds, although still big on Friday.
We headed up to Auch and parked in the forestry opening a little to the south of the opening to the Auch Estate, rather than leave the car on the verge overnight. It did mean we had to walk alongside the A82 for three-quarters of a kilometre which wasn't much fun. I remember when you could leave a car down the estate road itself, alas no longer. A lot of work has been going on in the years since we've ben here - a lot of new trees, new offices, quite a transformation. They haven't put any bridges in on the track up the glen, sadly, so it's still a tiptoe through the river. It had been raining heavily during the day, so the river levels were quite high - we kept to the right hand bank as we followed the Allt Kinglass along rather than crossing over to keep on the track. After about an hour the rain came on heavily, together with really strong gusty winds at our back. I wasn't sure where we'd pitch for the night - it was too late to go all the way up to Gleann Cailliche so stopping somewhere near where the track turns right towards the base of Mhanach seemed the best option. There was shelter behind the large barn, but hardstanding, not grass; we found a grassy, level spot beside the track a bit further on but couldn't actually pitch the tent as the wind was swinging round from every angle and blasting us...we walked on a bit further and found a semi-sheltered spot that some sheep were grazing in which we made use of - not ideal, but at least we had protection from the wind from certain angles. It was a very wet and wild night and precious little sleep was had.
New buildings at Auch Estates
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Al, on Flickr
The following morning was at least dry, with clag on the mountain tops. There had been no phone reception where we camped last night so I was eager to find a signal and discover what had happened with the election. We set off to climb Mhanach the standard way, to the right of the Allt a'Chuirn and we had to get to 750m elevation before the good news was able to be received. I have my doubts about SKS, but at least he has more decency than the entire Conservative cabinet combined. And it's encouraging to see some adults in cabinet posts after the incompetent, greedy, self-serving, dishonest human flotsam we have had to endure for the last 14 years. Disappointing to see Nigel and a few of his national front buddies gaining seats, also disappointing that there are still five Tories with seats in Scotland. But hopefully it will usher in a healthier time for British politics, not that this would be hard...
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Al, on Flickr
Anyway, we made the top of Mhanach in the clag and trotted over to its Top, Beinn a'Chuirn, then headed down the boundary line threading through some crags to make Lòn na Cailliche where we stopped for lunch. There are some peat hags to be crossed on the floor of the bealach, but these were firm and walkable on. Then up the astern shoulder of Beinn Achaladair til we met a proper path at the 1002m point.
Misty Mhanach
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Al, on Flickr
Looking across to Achaladair/A'Chreachain
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
One thing Allison has been looking forward to on our return to some bigger hills, is paths. And so we had paths to follow to the summit of Achaladair then along over Meall Buidhe to Beinn a'Chreachain. The wind wasn't too strong, and I was kept dry by my new jacket, which I'd bought after enduring being soaked last weekend in high wind and rain while wearing my Mountain Equipment Lhotse Pro-Goretex - while Allison kept dry in her (winter) Paramo Alto jacket. So I bought a Paramo Velez Adventure Smock...much much better. I did have a bit of difficulty getting my head around the term "smock" which reminds me of something Hambel would wear on Play School, and adding "Adventure" before "smock" just adds to the weirdness, but as usual Paramo dev=liver where Goretex fails. It might be a bit on the warm side for some of the hotter days, but with the current Scottish "summer" it's doing just fine.
Achaladair
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
A'Chreachan
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Al, on Flickr
We left our packs at the bealach between Meall Bhuidhe and a'Chreachain and powered up to the summit before descending the same way. Next we had to drop over 500m into Gleann Cailliche, which wasn't bad - wet grass and not too steep. We had a short distance to go along the river before we hit the track that runs along the glen. Down to our right we could make out Tigh nam Bodach, which I'd heard of previously but hadn't realised was here - for some reason I thought it was in Glen Lyon.
'The ancient pagan shrine of Tigh nam Bodach is located in Glen Cailliche (the Crooked Glen of the Stones), north of Loch Lyon. The shrine is made up of a modest stone structure that houses a family of three bell shaped water stones from the river bed of the Lyon. The largest represents the Cailleach (old woman), accompanied by the Bodach (old man) and their daughter, Nighean. In what is believed to be the oldest uninterrupted pre-Christian ritual in Britain, the water-worn figures from the River Lyon are taken out of their house every May and faced down the glen, and returned every November.
. from Highland Perthshire
The tiny house has a turf roof which is covered with offerings - skulls, seashells, bundles of bound herbs, wooden owls, an egg. The stones themselves were out facing down the glen. I found the above account a bit peculiar, as I've never heard of an old man/woman/daughter being venerated. It seems more likely that the three figures are all aspects of the goddess - there are many, many accounts of the goddess in triplicate in ancient lore, that the glen is actually Glen Cailleach and the house should be Tigh nam Cailleach rather than having any Bodach references, but what do I know. It was rather sweet, and left us wondering who does the bringing out at Beltane and putting away at Samhain.
Tigh nam Bodach
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Al, on Flickr
various offerings
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Al, on Flickr
The figures of the goddesses outside their house
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
We could have camped nearby, but this seemed disrespectful so we continued down to the head of the glen where we found a suitable spot near the Allt Meurain. A much more peaceful night was spent and we didn't get up early. We knew we had about 15k to walk back out to the car and decided that it would be better to leave the Grey Corries for when we had more time -we could head over to Ben Lawers which was nearby, so that A could get her Top of Creag an Fhithich. We were surprised to see a mountain biker appear as we were setting off. There are a couple of river crossings to do before the track around Beinn Mhanach is reached, and we enjoyed looking up Loch Lyon and identifying the various hills which looked different from this angle. We found another stone figure sitting looking over the loch too.
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Loch Lyon
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Al, on Flickr
Another figure
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
The water level had fallen as we walked back down teh glen towards Auch, so we were able to follow the track. Still took us quite a while. Off to Lawers, where we arrived just after 3pm. I had planned to high camp somewhere up on Lawers, with the wind being forecast to be modest overnight, but sadly clag was also forecast as well as temperatures just above freezing. A warm July night it was not to be. As it had been quite cold in the tent the last 2 nights at lower altitudes , we thought better of it. What to do then?
Meall nan Tarmachan was nearby and would be suitable for a quick up and down today - we could find somewhere to camp near the car park and do the Lawers lot tomorrow. Fine. Sunny when we set off, lots of wildflowers in the walk up to Tarmachan. Weather closed in somewhat as we neared the summit, with a brief shower and the usual clag. Back down the same way - we've done the ridge thrice and saw no point in doing it today. I had a look for spots to pitch the tent and found one we'd used before nearer to the dam. Pitched, a late dinner at 8pm and a fairly quiet night, surprisingly as we were near the road.
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Al, on Flickr
Tarmachan
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Al, on Flickr
Wild Angelica
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Al, on Flickr
Avens
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
I wasn't sure what we should do on Sunday. We'd go over Ghlas and Lawers to reach Fhithich, but what then? Neither of us could face the long plod back if we did An Stuc/Meall Garbh /Meall Greigh, but we might make the two northern Mealls. We set off about 8.30, a few other walkers ahead of us. Up through the nature trail, blueberries sweet and ready, then up towards Ghlas A small horde - a hordelette if you will - had set off about 10 minutes behind us and we were keen to reach the summit before they caught us up. The weather came down again and it was a chilly blast between Ghlas and Lawers. We continued north to Creag an Fhithich which has a drop of 19m to its name. Anyway, it is a MT, so Allison claimed it and we sat having lunch and thinking what to do. An Stuc looked quite near - although I hadn't quite factored in the 100m extra drop between Fhithich and the bealach before An Stuc....it would be a shame to leave it out and it's far easier to climb from the SW. We set off for that, I had wondered about doing Meall Greigh/Garbh and coming back over the way we'd gone out, but to tell the truth the thought of the 300m re-ascent to climb Lawers again - for nothing - stuck in my craw. Maybe we could head across to the other two Mealls from the bealach at An Stuc - it was a long way down, but...possible.
Beinn Ghlas
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Lawers
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Al, on Flickr
Fhithich
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Al, on Flickr
An Stuc
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Al, on Flickr
Looking over to Léith/Corrnaich
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Al, on Flickr
I caught up with Allison who'd been waiting at the top of An Stuc and told her my thoughts. She was slightly horrified. I decided to grin and bear it. So we dropped back down to Bealach Dubh and started the long grassy descent into the valley. We reached about 550m, crossed the river and started round into Coire Liath. The section from the bowl of the coire up to Meall a'Choire Lèith looked very steep, but it was grassy. I had hoped to find a nice animal track going right up into the coire but there were only patchy ones. We made good progress initially then paused beneath the green wall of the coire rim. 200 steep grassy metres. I pushed myself to just keep going up, and came out onto the path that skirts the lip of the coire with a feeling of relief. Allison took a bit longer to get up. We walked to the nearby top of Meall a'Choire Léith, had a look at the views then set off for the final hill of the day, Meall Corranaich. The forecast was for heavier showers from 3pm, but in fact it stayed dry for the rest of our afternoon, which was appreciated, and helped the walking. The bealach drops down to 775m, but the ascent to 1069m is so gradual, over a couple of kilometres, that it is a gentle pull. We passed a few folk coming the other way as we got to the top, at around 4.30.
Coire Liath
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Al, on Flickr
An Stuc/Fhithich/Lawers
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Al, on Flickr
Corranaich
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Léith
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Summit Corranaich
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Al, on Flickr
From here we faced a lengthy 7.5km back to the car, if we took the path along the fence-line that we'd used before. I did notice another path heading SW which looked like it might cut the distance by half - as long as it actually ended up going where we wanted it to go! But yes, it was fine, it brought us out just to the north of the cattle grid on the road beside the reservoir, for where it was a kilometre along the road to the car.
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Al, on Flickr
I can't remember the last time we did five Munros in one day, or nine in a weekend, but it was quite an enjoyable time.
