Walkhighlands

Appeared to be another sunny day when I woke up this morning, perfect bagging weather. Not a long day today so I could afford yet another lie in. I was parked up in the Bridge of Orchy Hotel car park and was ready to go by 09:00. There is no charge for the car park but I thought I'd repay later with a couple of beers (the least I could do) as it was looking like it was going to be a hot day.

The most dangerous part of the walk started straight away - crossing the A82 to get to the road which leads to the train station. I guess you could park at the train station as I didn't see any signs requesting payment their either.

After going under the track the path up Coire an Dothaidh is pretty easy to follow. The tops were in cloud to begin with but this wouldn't last long.

The path was quite boggy in places and as it approached the col it turned into loose scree which wasn't fun. Great views of the crags on either side around the head of the coire.


I reached the cairn on the col at 10:25.

I wanted to save my lunch for Beinn Dorain so I went left first to bag Beinn an Dothaidh. I followed a good path for most of the way up and when I inevitably lost it in the bogs I set my sights on the highest point and headed for that. I soon picked up another path which led me up onto the top and another path where I turned right and strolled across to what I thought was the summit cairn by 11:00. Fabulous views all around.


After taking a few photos I noticed another cairn off to my left and it appeared to be higher than this one so I followed the top path around to it. Good job it was clear and I noticed it as I was intending on just retracing my steps back to the col after the first summit cairn. That'll teach me to be slack with my homework.




A few more photos later I did go back to the col again and was there by 11:45. I took my time on the path up to Beinn Dorain but still managed to lose it just as it levelled out after the initial ascent. I could see the path in the distance so headed straight for it across the bogs. The actual path was more over to my right somewhere.

I soon came to a fork in the path and the one off to the left just appeared to disappear onto the top of a small craggy bit so I carried on ahead. Wrong! This lower path just skirted the hill and didn't appear to be going up any time soon. I could occasionally see people up on the ridge where I wanted to be so when the grass looked less steep between the crags I just went for it and a few minutes later was on the proper ridge path, not far from the summit in fact. Got to the summit around 12:40.




I went past the summit onto the slope overlooking the viaduct for a spot of lunch. It was quite warm now despite the cloudy looking pictures so spent around an hour and a bit relaxing.

The bar from the hotel was calling to me now so I followed the ridge path back to where I should have joined it.

Took my time getting back down to the car. Got there at 15:30.It was quite a relaxing walk today, and even better when sitting on the hotel balcony sipping a cold one, or two.

Well done, I really liked these two, pics are lovely with great views, well deserved cold beer

Can't beat it when you get a good day and the carpark just happens to be next to the bar Love that pic of The Ben!!