Cruach Ardrain & Beinn Tulaichean..one Man & his westie

[Jabber]

Started out at about 10am in what was going to be quite a formidable Munro for me never mind my little white companion. I had been planning this one for a while now and finally took the bait and went for it. It looked like it was going to be a hot day so plenty of water was packed. The track was easy enough from the layby of the A82 just a mile or so south of Crianlarich and so off into the Glen we headed by the River Falloch. There had been some forestry felling at the turn and this was probably the hardest climb of the day for me anyway, the rough boggy grassy slope was/is very taxing (Dog took it in her stride as usual with only the slightest of panting.),

600 to 1800 ft in no time onto the Grey heights( dare I say a Sassenach name?). Crianlarich soon became visible as did the peaks of Ben OSS and Dubchraig (another day!)

Car park looking far away now...

The top of Grey Height I found rocky , the path itself bypasses the summit, however I didn't come all the way up to bypass summit and went over for a look see.

Where's the Rabbits!

The massive shape of Cruach Ardrain was now coming into view and looked very forbidding with a precipitous drop into Coire Ardrain. There were lots of drops along the ridge not too boggy too be honest, however the heat was starting to get to my blue skin & Oh boy was I suffering. It wasn't long before I was at the point where the ascent just looked mental and hey ho it was and before I knew it we were up on the summit.

Highest/oldest Westie in the land..Top of Cruach Ardrain

I didn't come all the way up not to have a look at Beinn Tulaichean and this is where I met the first walkers of the day, one fella who had come up the same route as me and another really friendly chap who had climbed up from Ben More farm.

Beinn Tulaichean from Cruach Ardrain

The drop to Beinn Tulaichean was quite tiring in the heat and the climb back to the cairn was even more so and kinda showed how much out of shape I am. (Dog was fine ...can't believe she's 14)

Meg chasing the flies around on Beinn Tulaichean

Cruach Ardrain from Beinn Tulaichean

Any scran in that bag?

I decided to descend the same route as I didn't have confidence in the grassy slope down to Coire Earb and with all the recent rain the route down the River was bound to be boggy. Got back to the car about 5pm and had a very nice pint in Drovers at Inveranan before heading back towards the smoke with one tired out westie.. Overall a very enjoyable walk apart from the climb up to the grey heights on the grassy slope. Gets my thumbs up

[gammy leg walker]

Fine report there Jabber,even more impressed with "meg" great to see her still as active at 14,brill

[davetherave]

Well done Meg. 14 and still going strong, amazing. Hope my Bearded is still that active when he reaches that age.

[monty]

Nice report Jabber. Well done the wee dog. You must have had some excellent views in the sunshine

[Paula Hubens]

Me likes the westie! Does she do all this out of her free will? What a dog!
You've got some nice pictures there Jabber. It brings back good memories (apart from the slog up Grey Height that is). Well done!

[spiderman]

Excellent photos of your walk. Meg is a real character. She looks like a two year old in the photos. It is amazing that she could do this long taxing walk in the heat at 14 years of age and I suspect she was not trotting ater you but running about investigating eveything. Congratulations on your walk Paula, Beinn Tulaichean and back from the A82 is a long way/

[Jabber]

Thanks for all your kind comments. I kinda feel guilty about not taking her out on Monday up Ben Oss, and I think she is still smarting from it. Paula your right about that slog up the Grey heights I didn't enjoy that much however once on the ridge it became a bit more bearable.

[spiderman]

Apologies Jabber I referred to you as Paula in my reply to your report and this was despite the heading ''...One man and his dog''. I really will have to stop taking a glass of ginger cordial of an evening. I enjoyed your report and Meg's exploits.