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I had heard that Geln Clachaig was quieter and more interesting than the normal route so arranged to camp on Loch Ba via the helpful BenMore Estate Office. There's a 2 mile walk from Knock House to where we camped, just over half way along Loch Ba, after a small salmon farm and before the track splits off to a few houses on the end of Loch Ba. The track is being renovated with stones and is a bit of a pain but once you're off it then you're onto plain bog track which is tricky to follow in places but takes you up a distant ridge under Cruachan Dearg where you can see the path from well away. Once there it's up to you to head right toward A' Chioch and work out your own way up there - heading direct to Ben More looks daft as flanked by scree - getting onto the ridge between A'Chioch and Ben More looked the smartest way (noting I had my 8 year old son with me). The ridge down from A' Chioch is fine and the path is easy to follow, a wee bit of scrambling but nothing tricky (I also had a decent sized rucksack on my back). Ascending Ben More is harder than I expected, partly because the path is either hard to see or has been dislodged by scree; a nice couple coming down said there was much loose rock but they'd got down OK without gear so basically follow your own path up to the top, it's not far. We were blessed with amazing weather I must say, it was hot and the clegs were a lot worse than the midges (they can bite you through a tight layer so be aware). Rejecting the tourist route back down we went back down the ridge (son in makeshift rope harness), over to A'Chioch then towards Beinn Fhada but, given we were not sure of difficulty of heading back to Loch Ba via An Cruachan and down Allt Beithe we decided to head down the easy way from there back to the road. That's boggy after a while and pinfully long plus followed by a walk all the way to Knock House and then the last two miles back to camp (thanks to all the drivers that passed us but didn't stop). Fabulous day, very long, only one shower (on leg down to road); in Glen Clachaig only saw a shepherd and his three dogs bringing sheep down for shearing so, all in all, brilliant. Would have liked to do Beinn Fhada again but that means we have a good reason to come back !
