Under leaden skies on The Stob - a most shy & elusive Graham

[Graeme D]

Last Friday saw me bag my first Graham in 5 months when I mounted a quick smash 'n' grab raid on Mount Blair. Keen to strike again while the iron was hot, so to speak, I spied an opportunity to get out again and do The Stob (a.k.a. Meall na Frean).

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I’d been trying to make the most of slack time in my teaching week on a Friday afternoon (with the senior pupils being on exam leave) to get out for a few walks – all part of my new revised attitude towards the old work/life balance conundrum. This had seen me do the less than spectacular Sub2k of Innerdouny Hill and the much more impressive Benarty Hill, as well as Mount Blair last Friday. But that had been my last opportunity, with the new timetable kicking off on Monday and my Friday afternoons now otherwise spoken for! However, with the new S1 classes not arriving until August, I still had some slack on a Wednesday afternoon. Not quite as appealing as a Friday afternoon it has to be said, but better than a slap in the face with a wet fish! All of these little windows of opportunity will soon close and there is no guarantee when they will open up again. “Il faut en profiter” as the French would say! In other words, “make hay while the sun shines”. Or as is the case today, while it doesn’t. Much. Besides, while I’ve been doing these walks, I’ve done a lot of work related thinking of a positive and creative nature, and the same was to be the case today. So it’s been time well spent.

I headed west along the well kent A85 through Methven, Crieff, Comrie and St Fillans. Then it was the usual, characteristically painful crawl along the north shore of Loch Earn before turning left at Lochearnhead and then onto the minor road to Balqhuidder and the parking area just beyond Tulloch Farm. There’s not a great deal of info out there about this hill – a fact alluded to in a report I had recently looked at in the name of research and planning for this trip. I recall reading the rather tongue-in-cheek comment that you had to get to this parking area nice and early to beat the crowds. I can’t imagine there would ever be crowds on this hill – as secretive a little hill as I have yet to come across, and considering it’s reasonable proximity to Stirling and the heart of the country, with a feeling of complete and utter isolation and remoteness. A “hill behind everything” the report had described it as. Just about sums it up.

Anyways, I quickly (too quickly as it would later transpire) gathered my stuff together and hit the track through the gate and up through the woods into Glen Crotha.

Start near Tulloch Farm

It’s a steady, fairly gentle climb as the track curves slowly round to the right and eventually emerges out of the trees to give views to the left of Creag nan Speireag and the Graham Top of Stob Caol. The 753m Graham that is The Stob itself is set further back and not visible yet.

Creag nan Speireag

Stob Caol

I tried to remember the report I had read and recalled something about ascending through an obvious firebreak – I could clearly see that off to the left. However, looking at the map, I decided to follow the track to the end and then on past the point where the section of forestry to my left ends in a very distinctive looking arrowhead shape, then whack straight up the hillside, emerging fairly close to the summit.

The track began to climb a bit more steeply as I approached the point where it bends round to the right and then back on itself at a junction.

Junction and big bend

It was also about this point that the sun began to burn through and I had to lose the gilet. A short distance further on, and the track did indeed end suddenly and rather unpleasantly in a bog of epic proportions.

End of track. Warning - serious bog incident ahead!

I could see a track descending through the forestry to my left and then climbing up the hillside on the other side of the glen, but it was not shown on my map and it was unclear where it was heading. In any case, it seemed to be largely taking me off my desired bearing, so I opted for the bogtrot. The new Brashers are well up to the job in hand after all!

Beyond the short boggy section, there is a rather confusing jumble of corrugated iron pens, deer fences, stiles and streams, and it took me a wee while to figure out the path of least resistance.

Ascent gully left of centre

Crossing this stile proved to be ultimately unnecessary

Cross here and follow the edge of the plantation

Once this was done, it was a case of walking up the side of the “arrowhead” plantation and then on up through the lung burstingly steep gully ahead before eventually stumbling, gasping and spluttering onto the flat(ter) summit plateau.

View back down the gully - "arrowhead" plantation in the top right corner

Getting there!

Back down Glen Crotha to Creag Mhor

Wind now back with a vengeance and sun long gone, it was back on with the gilet and some gloves for good measure. Ahead of me lay some unremittingly bleak, knobbly terrain, studded with peat hags and tussocks and not as much as a sniff of a path. Not even an animal track, never mind a tourist track! Yer on yer own up here!

Ben Ledi and Benvane behind Creag Mhor

I didn’t bother pulling out the map and compass – I knew that the summit would be off to my left somewhere on the higher ground, but I decided to take a circuitous route around to it so I could get a good handle on the layout of the surrounding hills. To my right were the Lochearnhead/Glen Ogle/Glen Dochart Corbetts of Creag Mac Raneach and Meall an t-Seallaidh, complete with jumble of associated subsidiary tops e.t.c. – no less bleak looking in that direction. Ahead across Glen Dochart in a broad sweep from left to right were Ben Challum, Beinn nan Imirean, Meall Glas and Sgiath Chuil. The Glen Lochay Munros were beyond those, and far right and in the distance was the Tarmachan Ridge and the Lawers lot. Behind me over Loch Voil and to the south were the popular Corbetts of Benvane and Ben Ledi, with a handful of lesser known and less-frequented Corbetts and Grahams scattered in the foreground and off to the south west in the general direction of Lochs Lomond and Katrine. And somewhere beyond my objective on the high ground to my west would be the Crianlarich Munros of Ben More and co.

Distant Sgiath Chuil

After a good 20 minutes or so of seemingly aimless wandering, I reached the small pile of stones that marks the summit of this shy, unassuming, “end of the world-like” Graham and plonked myself down for a late lunch. By now the sky was a threatening gun-metal grey colour and the wind was flecked with spots of rain. I still managed to sit for a good 15 minutes or so and have lunch while intermittently taking snaps and trying a few self-timed efforts, most of which were pretty rubbish to be honest.

East from the summit to Glen Ogle/Lochearnhead Corbetts

Under threatening skies

South west to Stob Bhreac and Stob a' Choin

North to the Glen Dochart and Glen Lochay hills

On leaving, I decided to head for the summit of Stob Caol, then to try and pick up the track I had seen earlier.

Looking back to the summit - perfectly framed by Sgiath Chuil

I hadn’t gone far when I took the opportunity of the shelter afforded by a large rock to stop and put on my waterproofs. Well, my jacket was in the pack but no sign of my trousers. Too much of a hurry to get away from the car! All my gear had been lying on the back seat where I had left it before Mount Blair on Friday in the blazing sun. Ooops, looks like I’m getting wet from the waist down!

The Stob from the bealach to the south

In the end the rain didn’t come to much more than a light drizzle, and it was really only from the knees down that I had a damp problem – more rising damp than anything else. What did happen though was that things got completely clagged in, and by the time I got to Stob Caol, I was in a right pea souper.

All clagged in on Stob Caol

The map was showing a steep drop off back down towards the glen, and visibility was minimal, so I proceeded gingerly on the wet grassy slopes (on one occasion I thought crampons might actually have come in handy!), changing course more than once to seek a less treacherous and steep route.

Steep descent off this one!

Loch Voil and the track out

In the end I made it through the clag and caught sight of the firebreak from earlier, and the big bend and junction in the track beyond. All that remained was to negotiate a further two deer fences - no sign of gates anywhere, but I did detour a little both times and found a broken down section in the first one and a hole at the bottom of the second one where I could get across without doing too much more damage.

Then it was back down the track to the car in the best of the afternoon as the sun emerged again!

Brightening up over Loch Voil - almost back at the car

Oddly enough I had this hill to myself – no sign of the aforementioned throng of baggers. I guess it was because it was a Wednesday. Probably can’t move on this hill at the weekend.

[rockhopper]

More paternity leave hillwalking Graeme - getting rather jealous having to be at work probably why the hill was quiet ! Your good wife needs to get you using that iron in the house and not striking it on the hills. Well done.

[gammy leg walker]

Another fine report G,you always seam to make even the small hills very interesting.