The Fast, The Slow & The Mountains - The Brain!

[Meiklie Mist]

Another 4 in the bag .

I couldn’t help thinking that the route looked like the shape of a brain – is that just me?

I chose these 4 in Glen Lyon based on the weather forecast, length of route and available daylight hours, bearing in mind that I knew I would be walking some of it in the dark. Again, Meg (the fast) stayed at home as I slept in the van in the parking area the night before (it’s not a camper, just a small VW Caddy), so no room for a dog as well.

It’s about an hour’s drive after leaving the A9 before reaching Invervar along winding, often single track, roads. Apparently, Glen Lyon is very pretty, but unfortunately, I didn’t see any of it in daylight.

I arrived at the parking area at 23:00 and got straight into the sleeping bag for the night.
In the morning, I tried out my new Jackery and small fan heater and was grateful for them whilst making breakfast and getting ready for the day.

I left the van at 06:15 – it was dark but there was a full moon as I walked back to Invervar and headed off up the hill. It wasn’t long before the first light began to creep up over the hills behind me.

Looking east near the start of the walk.

As the sun started to come up, it appeared to be shaping up to be a good day!

There were 3 or 4 gates to go through on the initial section before coming onto the hydro track, then another gate where the route leaves the hydro track and crosses an old metal bridge. WH says don’t head for the gate, but instead go around the fence and cross the bridge that way. Perhaps because it was still not light, I couldn’t see a way around the fence from the track and so climbed over the gate (it was padlocked).

Looking back towards Glen Lyon shortly after crossing the metal bridge.

The path up to Càrn Gorm is well defined and easy to follow and the sun on the mountains was looking increasingly good!

Looking north-west shortly after crossing the metal bridge.

Looking south shortly after crossing the metal bridge.

At around 900m the ground levels out and I could clearly see Càrn Gorm ahead.

Whilst crossing this part, there was what looked like an ATV track heading off to the left, which could be confusing in poor weather.

Looking ahead at Càrn Gorm (a false summit!).

The summit turned out to be a false one and by the time I reached it, the cloud had descended, and visibility was very poor – there’s about 120m or so still to climb after the false summit.

When I reached the summit (09:25), having enjoyed the warm sun most of the way up, it was cold and wet and time to put my waterproof coat on!

The path away from the summit is clear and easy to follow, which was welcome, since there was very little visibility – down to about 100m.

Heading up to Meall Garbh the route meets an old fence line at about 910m, which leads up and over the summit. The last 25m of ascent is rocky and there’s a lot of old fencing lying around: bits of rusty wire and fence posts poking out all over the place. The rocks were slippery, so care was needed not to slip – I didn’t want to impale myself on any of the old wire!

Just before reaching the summit, with nothing else to see, I was looking at the rocks and spotted 2 giant “bums” half buried in the grass!

Giant “bums” near the summit of Meall Garbh.

I reached the summit of Meall Garbh just before 11:00 – there had been no views all the way up, but thankfully the path was clear, and the fence posts helped to point the way.

Meall Garbh summit cairn.

As I was sitting there eating a pork pie, the view suddenly cleared, but by the time I’d stood up to take a photo, it was gone again!

After leaving Meall Garbh, the line of old fence posts continues, but they are quite spaced out with many half-buried in the ground; in the mist I could see about one post ahead most of the time.

Apart from the very first part of this section, where it detours slightly to the left, the route follows the old fence line all the way to the Munro Top of Meall a’ Bhàrr and beyond to just before the final ascent of Càrn Mairg, where it takes a left turn and the route continues straight on.

Along the way, a view started to open up, but it was short lived.

Looking north during a brief break in the clouds.

Looking north-east at the route ahead.

The route from Meall Garbh to Càrn Mairg was easy-going, mostly on grass and some soft mud, but not boggy.

Shortly before the final ascent to Càrn Mairg, there is a rocky section (not steep, just unpleasant walking, unless you are particularly fond of rocks !) but there was a clear bypass path to the right, so I followed that.

Looking back at the rocky section.

There didn’t appear to be a path up the final 40m to Càrn Mairg, just a grassy slope, with the last few meters becoming rocky.

I reached the summit of Càrn Mairg at 13:00 – it was quite warm and there were some limited views, so I sat down for pork pie no.3 (mini ones )!

Looking south-east from Càrn Mairg.

Looking east from Càrn Mairg.

Looking south from Càrn Mairg.

WH says that care is needed to avoid the crags when descending Càrn Mairg, but it doesn’t mention that the descent is a steep boulderfield (very unpleasent), for about 100m down to rejoin the path.

Once down onto the path though, it was easy going to Meall na Aighean, with just a few rocks at the summit.

Looking ahead at the route up to Meall na Aighean.

By the time I reached Meall na Aighean it was about 15:00 and the summit was again covered in clag.

After some cheesy biscuits (by now I was bored with pork pies ), I started heading down, knowing that I was going to lose the light before I reached the bottom.

In the mist, I followed the wrong path on leaving Meall na Aighean, but soon realised my mistake and cut back across to the right one (I was headed up to the 974m point marked on the OS map).

Once on the path down, it was again clear and easy to follow.

Emerging below the cloud and the first glimpse of Glen Lyon.

Looking south-east on the way down.

A last look into Glen Lyon before losing the light.

Below 650m the path becomes quite steep in parts.

I made it down to the hydro track before having to use my headtorch again, from where it’s straightforward to get back to the road, although the path through the woodland was wet and slippery – ok going up in the morning, but trickier coming down in the dark (tree roots and slippery rocks).

The trek along the road back to the parking area seemed much longer than it did in the morning, but I eventually arrived at the van at 17:30. I was pleased that I had my super bright cycling headtorch, which also has a red light on the back – very useful on the road, as I did meet two or three vehicles.

Next came the long drive back to the A9 – dark again so I couldn’t appreciate Glen Lyon – and another 2½ hours or so to get home, before opting for an early night.

Bye for now!