May's Corbett Meanderings (1)

[old danensian]

Cnoc Coinnich
10k; 690m; 3h

Having continued to use a 2002 edition of the SMC’s Corbett guidebook for far too long, I’d unwittingly ignored Cnoc Coinnich, a hill that found itself promoted back in 2016. I’d done the neighbouring Brack back in 2015 and subsequently ignored this outlying corner of the Arrochar Alps.

In addition, life’s been hectic, opportunities thin on the ground and there have been times when I’ve felt my outdoor mojo flagging. May was a window in which I was determined to retrieve at least a modicum of momentum.

A steady track stretches ahead from above Coillessan on the Cowal Way

The Brack observes progress

Beyond Ardgartan, it helps that car parking after the cluster of cottages and buildings of Coillessan takes you well along the Cowal Way as a launch pad. After that, a lengthy gravel scrunch ends where a path climbs steeply to the right and through the woods. Emerging , after clambering over a fence, the remainder of the excursion fills the horizon to the left.

From a mercifully dry bealach Cnoc Coinnich looms in the south

Steady, steady, steady. Not gentle, but not tough. With legs well warmed up on the forest track below, it was a relaxing start to the day.

At the beginning of May the weather had been mercifully benign – not dry, but at least bealach could be described as springy rather than soggy. The top, soft and grassy with plenty of perches to admire the views and ponder the next challenge of the day.

The Arrochar Alps spread across the horizon from the summit of Cnoc Coinnich

The mojo was slowly being rekindled – but a diversion to revisit The Brack? No, it wasn’t blazing yet.

But there was another objective in mind.

Beinn a Bhuiridh
12k; 950m; 5h 30m

If Cnoc Coinnich had been the entrée, Beinn a Bhuiridh was to be the main course. Barely a dozen or so metres short of Munro status, and with a sea-level start, I already knew this wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park.

Striding out beyond the cattle

The short walk-in along the quarry track posed little difficulty, other than negotiating a herd of curious calves and their suspicious mothers. Once the track turned and the quarries appeared, a decision had to be made.

Up the Alt Coire Ghlais with Beinn a Bhuiridh above to the left and the slopes of Stob Diamh to the right

Having not set off until almost 3.00pm, the gentler stroll up by the Alt Coire Ghlais was likely to become shadier as the evening approached, and it offered little in the way of gradually emerging views. The east ridge, however, offered a steeper challenge but an evolving panorama that could prove to be distracting as legs and lungs tired.

And so it proved.

Once above the old quarries, the skyline beckons but the knoll of Monadh Driseig takes a long time to arrive. Finding the vestige of a path might have helped in the earlier stages, but as the trig point appeared things became a little more obvious.

At the trig point on Monadh Driseig

Beinn a Bhuiridh from Monadh Driseig - not looking a gentle stroll

From the trig point there is no doubt about where to go, as the top looks deceptively sharp and pointy. I prayed for the prospect being foreshortened and distorted, but no, it proved to be unrelenting and exactly what it said on the tin.

One of a selection of cairns on Beinn a Bhuiridh

In the evening sun the expansive top came as quite a surprise, not the pointy destination I’d expected. Instead, a variety of cairns are spread across a few hundred metres, each with spectacular views. Meandering between each, I made sure the proper top had been reached while enjoying the stillness of the evening – and what I hoped was going to be a long hot summer stretching ahead.

On the way down - north east and towards Ben Lui

If only.