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- Setting out. Beinn Ghlas
I arrived at the National Trust Car Park at 9am and was relieved to find plenty of parking spaces after reading a report of someone finding it near full at 8.30am. It was a Monday, but a beautiful day at the start of the Easter Holidays. It recorded 1 deg C. en-route at one point similar to when out the week before at that time, but this time there was little wind. Last week the jacket was never off and high up even spells of hat and gloves.
Heading up I decided to take the path marked National Trust nature reserve. Distance wise it felt about the same but they don’t like you coming back through it as the path is narrow so I suppose if one way people don’t stray off the path. Hence, I did it going up. It was lovely and I was rewarded with some spring flowers, Primrose, Wood Anemone and Wood Sorrel. There were few flowers to be seen on the main path but a lot of coltsfoot in the car park, and some primrose and wood anemone. I was delighted to see a patch of purple saxifrage coming round the base of Beinn Ghlas coming back.
By 2 kilometres it was jacket off and never on again. It was a lovely dry ascent all the way and the paths are great. The National Trust have done a lot of work and I do give their mountain paths fund a donation every year. I’d a tea break on a flat bit at about 832m before the final ascent of Beinn Ghlas enjoying the view back towards Meall nan Tarmachan and beyond to Ben More and chatted with a couple with 2 young collies also having a break.
It was then onto Beinn Ghlas where I got the first and fantastic view of Ben Lawers and to the left of it, the Munros beyond of Creag an Fhithich, An Stuc and Meall Gharbh. Fithich, Ghadhlig for Raven, which as usual I did see and hear. You always just seem to see one at each mountain top. I wonder what they find to live off sometimes, but recently when at the summit of Ben Lomond in snow one was enjoying getting scraps from my and other’s lunch and was walking to within about 6 feet of me. It looked very territorial as it began making a lot of noise and jumping about. I realised another raven was passing by. I felt it was saying “This is my mountain, Go and find your own”.
Anyway, after another cup of tea it was on to Ben Lawers. I arrived at midday and for a while had the summit to myself. I’d only met 4 people so far. It was so nice, warm and calm that I spent 45 mins there and had lunch. I was amazed how many people appeared in that time. I think I met 40 to 50 people in the whole walk and about all but 10 were on the summit of Ben Lawers or on the way down to the bealach. Most people must have been setting out about 10am. It was nice to chat to many and there were about 3 children in total that all looked about 8 and they were all very enthusiastic looking. Unfortunately on the way back, only about 1K into the walk, I met 4 adults and a 2 children heading up and one child looked as if they’d had enough but the child did look pretty young, maybe about 5 or 6. Many walkers looked very comfortable in shorts and short sleeve shirts and that would have been unthinkable in the wind last week. The views from Ben Lawers were fantastic especially back to Beinn Ghlas. There was a haze in the distance though and I could just make out Glen Coe and Ben Nevis etc through the haze.
It was a lovely walk back round the base of Beinn Ghlas with just the sound of sheep, meadow pipits, skylarks, and I once heard some grouse and ascending Ben Lawers a Ptarmigan flashed by left to right about 10 yards in front of me.
I was back at the car park at 2.30pm and it was pretty full by this time but I sat and finished my flask of tea in the sunshine before heading home.
