An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:03 pmI was hungry, and little hills and corbetts hadn`t filled me up. I needed a munro or two to take away the emptyness inside me. The sky was grey, but i didn`t care. I was on my own, but i couldn`t be held. I was off, bag packed, route planned, pedal to the metal, heading north. Bone fide hill nut. Before i left i checked the weather. Glasgow-rain. Arrochar-rain. Oban-rain. Crianlarich-sunshine 
. As i drove along , Rolling Stones belting out on the stereo, I could see the sky ever so gradually changing from grey to white to blue 
and then back to white again 
By the time i reached Crianlarich it was bright and sunny, but of course i had to turn around and head back to the start of the walk, it was white, with a hint of blue 
Once suited and booted i made to climb the stile over the fence but the field was so muddy i walked along a bit to the cowgate, climbed that and headed over the less soggy parts using stones and grassy stumps to avoid an early mudbath, that could, and would wait till later. There is a road that goes right round to the sheep creep from the car park if you don`t fancy the hop skip and jump. Once under the railway line i walked along the track looking for a path up the hill towards An Caisteal. When i came to a gate in line with the end of the treeline on the other side of the river i noticed a faint path of trodden grass meandering up the hillside. I knew to head off at this point after reading the WH guide but expected the path to be more obvious, thought twice about it but decided to use my gut instinct and go for it throught the dewy grass. The faint walkway kinda followed a little mountain stream and past a strange little tree.
As you make your way up onto Sron Garbh a more obvious path appears with different routes sprouting out of it, luckily some clever bugger had taken up some white painted canes and stuck them in the ground marking the way to go.
Three or four of these sticks helped me up onto the ridge and just as well, as for the past fifteen minutes or so, the cloud had been coming down on me even at this low level. However despite making this sound quite bleak it was actually quite warm and i was only wearing shorts and tshirt and the cloud lifted for a good while as i walked towards twistin hill,
, giving me a sneak peak of the Bealach Buide linking the two munros. I couldn`t believe Beinn a`Chroin was as close.
You basically walk up the ridge until you reach near the top where there`s a couple of little scrambles and by this time I was surrounded in cloud and it would stay like this until i started to descend Beinn aChroin.
It was quite atmospheric with all the clouds making shadows of the surrounding rocks as i made my way down the rocky, steep path towards my second munro of the day. Across the bealach and up onto aChroin with a helping hand pointing the way.
I was soon meeting other walkers who were doing the route in the opposite direction, the last of whom informed me i was almost at the summit. They were quite glad too i think, to learn i had only taken an hour to get there from summit of An Caisteal. By the way there is one dodgy wee scramble here if you don`t like them, but easy enough if you like to get you hands dirty.
I didn`t stay at the top long and soon moved off down the other side which is quite steep where you come across another peak rising up, you can either go over this or around it onto the path. I went over and only then did the clouds clear and i started to get good views either side of me as i descended down the long ridge. Once i canme to the river i followed it back down the glen occasinaly crossing the river back and forth before i eventually found a path. I wish i hadn`t, it was just a bogfest, at one point i was in it on all fours up to my elbows in mud.
It took me 3 hours to make both summits but the long walk down the ridge and through the bogs took another 3, but i`d had fun and i was full up.
. As i drove along , Rolling Stones belting out on the stereo, I could see the sky ever so gradually changing from grey to white to blue and then back to white again By the time i reached Crianlarich it was bright and sunny, but of course i had to turn around and head back to the start of the walk, it was white, with a hint of blue Once suited and booted i made to climb the stile over the fence but the field was so muddy i walked along a bit to the cowgate, climbed that and headed over the less soggy parts using stones and grassy stumps to avoid an early mudbath, that could, and would wait till later. There is a road that goes right round to the sheep creep from the car park if you don`t fancy the hop skip and jump. Once under the railway line i walked along the track looking for a path up the hill towards An Caisteal. When i came to a gate in line with the end of the treeline on the other side of the river i noticed a faint path of trodden grass meandering up the hillside. I knew to head off at this point after reading the WH guide but expected the path to be more obvious, thought twice about it but decided to use my gut instinct and go for it throught the dewy grass. The faint walkway kinda followed a little mountain stream and past a strange little tree. - strange tree means you`re on the right track
As you make your way up onto Sron Garbh a more obvious path appears with different routes sprouting out of it, luckily some clever bugger had taken up some white painted canes and stuck them in the ground marking the way to go.
Three or four of these sticks helped me up onto the ridge and just as well, as for the past fifteen minutes or so, the cloud had been coming down on me even at this low level. However despite making this sound quite bleak it was actually quite warm and i was only wearing shorts and tshirt and the cloud lifted for a good while as i walked towards twistin hill,- twistin hill
- bealach between the hills
You basically walk up the ridge until you reach near the top where there`s a couple of little scrambles and by this time I was surrounded in cloud and it would stay like this until i started to descend Beinn aChroin.
- An Caisteal summit
It was quite atmospheric with all the clouds making shadows of the surrounding rocks as i made my way down the rocky, steep path towards my second munro of the day. Across the bealach and up onto aChroin with a helping hand pointing the way.
- thumbs up
- scramble
- beinn aChroin summit
I didn`t stay at the top long and soon moved off down the other side which is quite steep where you come across another peak rising up, you can either go over this or around it onto the path. I went over and only then did the clouds clear and i started to get good views either side of me as i descended down the long ridge. Once i canme to the river i followed it back down the glen occasinaly crossing the river back and forth before i eventually found a path. I wish i hadn`t, it was just a bogfest, at one point i was in it on all fours up to my elbows in mud.
It took me 3 hours to make both summits but the long walk down the ridge and through the bogs took another 3, but i`d had fun and i was full up. - looking back
...Oh and they are Westie friendly so pooch is camping too!
Planning to go out again this Sunday.