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From the time I came back from the islands, and all through August, all the weekends seemed to be booked up for something - birthday parties, family visits, not going on the Waverley because she was injured again, actually going on the Waverley - so when a Canadian cousin decided she wasn't dashing up to Scotland on a trip to London after all, and the only dry day in a long run of wet ones somehow fell on that weekend, I ran for the hills before anything else could happen.
I wanted to head west - I'd been in Perthshire or up at Drumochter quite a bit earlier in the year, and I wanted to save the far side of Drumochter for some future day when it was wet in the west. So having ruled out Beinn Chabhair and Ben Lui because I knew the ground was sodden and they were wet at the best of times, and Cruachan because I was saving it for an epic some day, I had a look at its neighbours, which I'd never really considered before.
The other advantage of heading over that way was that the first Oban bus wasn't until 8:30, so I didn't have to feel guilty about not having a ridiculously early start. I've been through Inveraray a hundred times, but I could only remember once going through the arches and up the Glen Aray road, so the journey was a nice adventure - stunning views over to Cruachan as the road came back down towards the loch.
After a detour into Dalmally I was put off at the little junction before Lochawe to walk up the minor road to the start of the track - I'd read a few reports which talked about highland cows on the track, and was pleased to discover that they were all tidily in fields for the moment.
- Sunny morning
The clouds were still just touching the tops of the hills as I arrived, but it was a glorious day, and only going to get warmer. I'd decided that if I might meet lads wearing shorts and nothing else, it was perfectly reasonable for me to go walking in a sleeveless dress, although I did put cycling shorts underneath for decency's sake while climbing (bought cheap from M+S's school section - I used to do much the same in P7 for decency's sake when doing headstands in the playground...). An unconventional hill walking costume, but it turned out to be quite a practical one.
The little road already had good views - Beinn Mhic-Mhonaidh looking surprisingly attractive near at hand, and a glimpse of Ben Lui back along the main road.
- View from the minor road
The route starts as a gently climbing track, the slopes of Beinn Eunaich on the right, and the Dalmally horseshoe side of Stob Daimh on the other, looking so stunning that I immediately gave up the idea of the Cruachan epic and put it on my shortlist - now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the Cruachan tops...
- Dalmally horseshoe
The track climbs on and climbs on - you have to walk all the way past Beinn Eunaich in order to start by climbing Beinn a' Chochuill beyond it, although there are some lovely views up to the head of the pass beyond.
- Rising track
The track dropped slightly to cross the stream between the two hills, and then began to climb again to a junction with a second track. I sat down on a rock here to put on sun tan lotion, which fascinated a sheep so much that it not only stopped to look at me funny, but moved closer twice to look at me even funnier.
- Disapproving sheep
This distracted me enough that I forgot to take a picture of a digger, or of the burn in the gap between the hills, but never mind. From the second track I was looking for what the description described rather ominously as the 'least steep' part of the slope, where a tiny path led uphill - it was easy enough to follow, but the hillside was a good bit wetter than I had expected it to be given the steepness - some very squelchy climbing.
- Climbing
I was following two people and a dog - one of the people was wearing very red socks, which I vaguely remembered a famous writer from the olden days recommending, although I couldn't think who - it made me feel a bit underdressed, anyway. Up and up, and I almost caught them up as they stopped to talk to someone coming down, and then did pass them as they stopped to rest - the dog was having a very sad day as she'd lost her stick, and there were no sticks on the hill.
Further up the path curved round the edge of the hill for a bit, with good views up the pass again.
- View through the pass
Beyond that I was climbing a more definite ridge. I was determined not to stop for lunch until I was at the point where I could see over the other side, but it was a long way away.
- Becoming a ridge
Eventually things started to flatten off a bit - it was quite windy up here, which took the edge off the heat of the day.
- Nearing the top
I finally reached the little dip in the ridge about quarter past two, and sat down just on the Glen Kinglass side to get out of the wind - stunning views, but quite a drop below my feet. This was another place where I hadn't quite joined up the view in my mind - the most striking thing in it turned out to be Ben Starav, which made sense when I realised how close I'd come to the end of Loch Etive at Taynuilt.
- Northern view
On the other side the tops of the hills around Loch Lomond were just showing above the lower hills in between.
- Loch Lomond view
After a while the man and dog from before came and sat down just along from me - they were nice company, but I decided that I better get a move on, as it was still quite a long way to the real summit of the hill, although it turned out a much nicer walk than I expected, a pleasant wander along a bumpy ridge rather than a toil uphill.
- Along to the summit
At the summit I met up again with the woman with the red socks - she (apparently German) was Munro bagging, but her husband (definitely Irish) had climbed them all before and wasn't bothered about reaching the summits again, and the dog (presumably Scottish) wasn't bothered about reaching them for a first time.
I seemed to have come surprisingly close now to the hills on the other side of the valley, a whole range of very pointy tops.
- Beinn a' Chochuill summit
The best view, however, was from just beyond the summit, looking over Loch Etive as it headed for the sea.
- Loch Etive view
I didn't hang around for long, anyway, because there was still a whole other hill to come. The joining ridge looked lovely from up here, and there was a good view of the opposite slope, so that I could learn some landmarks for later. It had cooled down quite a bit now in the wind - fleece weather, although I still had bare legs.
- Across the join
It was a good path down, much drier on this side of the hill, and then a steady climb up. I knew I was at least a third of the way when I turned a corner, and then the next marker was coming into stony ground.
- Climbing again
It was a slightly odd mix, some worn grey stones, and some new looking pinkish ones - you sometimes get that where stones have been brought in to make a path, but there didn't seem to be any reason for that here.
- Through the stones
I lost the main path a bit finding a way through the stones and then found it again, heading up to the summit where the cairn was also a mix of pink and grey.
- Beinn Eunaich summit
According to the walk description, this hill had a better view of Cruachan, but I'd preferred the close up one - the view back along the ridge of Beinn a' Chochuill was quite good, though.
- View along Beinn a' Chochuill
The descent was supposed to be a game of two halves - first a walk down the long slope which was descending fairly gently towards Loch Awe, and then quite a sudden drop off the side of it, somewhere down there. But it was a nice walk at first, through the other side of the rocky patch, and then down a grassy path.
- Stony descent
Further down everything flattened off a bit - it was interesting how definitely the slope was leading out of the hills and towards the valley, and from up here there didn't really seem to be any reason why the path couldn't just keep going.
- Down the slope
These hadn't been very botanical hills, but I did get a nice reminder that it was August now.
- Bluebell
As I came onto the flatter stretch I was feeling more and more nervous about the promised 'unpleasantly steep' descent, but although definitely steep, it was a long way from the most unpleasant descent I've met. The top part was stony, and a bit loose and scrambly in places, but below that it was a beautiful path, curving back and forward so that it was never impossibly steep, and fitting so well into the hillside that it was quite difficult to spot from anywhere else.
- The steep path
I stopped at the bottom to take a picture looking back up, and found I had a whole crowd of sheep looking at me funny, as they obviously didn't think there was anything interesting about the hillside.
Although the descent was less of a strain than I expected, it was unexpectedly difficult for my legs to adjust back to walking on the flat - they had to manage it, however, because there was still more than a mile back to the road. Once again my walk had expanded to fit the time available - I'd hoped to get down to the pub in Lochawe to get some dinner, but there wasn't going to be time for that, although I'd have a while to wait for the bus.
Even with the wind it had been a warm day, and my hands were quite swollen, so I held them above my head for a bit and was rewarded by being looked at disapprovingly by sheep for the third time that day.
The cows were still hanging about looking scenic in the fields at the start of the track - I always feel like they know they're a tourist attraction, but the youngsters are very cute. Further along there were good views of the castle, and then I spent a while sitting on the verge in the sunshine before the bus turned up to take me back to Glasgow.
- Scenic cows
