Glen Lyon Horseshoe

[DFriedrich]

Last weekend we decided to do try the Glen Lyon Horseshoe with a bit of semi-wild camping. The weather forecast was promising rain but who can trust the weather forecast in Scotland anyway. Staying at home this weekend I am writing my first walk report so bear with me.

So we that out in fine weather on Friday evening to find a camping spot somewhere below the Tarmachan ridge. The next morning the weather was still fine but unfortunately without any wind so the midges were out.

The midges are there for a bit of breakfast

At least Skin So Soft works but this meant no hiking in a kilt

We set out quite late and had a nice coffee in the Glen Lyon Tea room on the way to Invervar. Luckily we still found a parking spot and set out around half 11. This meant that we didn't meet many people all day. Just two hikers who were walking the circuit anti-clockwise and two more who started after us but seemed to have vanished after Meall Garbh.

The weather at the start was brilliant and the sheep arranged themselves very picturesque along the way.

Picturesque sheep

The initial walk up Carn Gorm along the Invervar burn and over a couple of false summits is quite tiring and I think we drank more during this inital bit then during the rest of the day. However, the views from the top were worth all the effort. We had reasonable clear views over Rannoch moor and all the way to Glen Coe and over to the Lawers range.

Glen Coe in the distance

On the top of Carn Gorm

In the distance over Loch Rannoch and Loch Tay we could see the rain coming down heavily and it looked like the weather forecast was right after all. So after a long lunch break we set out to continue on the circle. When we were behind An Sgorr the first drops of rain fell down and we quickly put on the waterproofs. Here we learned from a couple of weeks previously were the rain was slow but steady and we missed the correct point to put on the waterproof trousers.

The rain got continuously heavier and we were lucky to are well protected from the elements. Unfortunately but inevitably the view got worse and eventually it was white all around. Since I forgot the printed out version of the OS map at home we were not sure how far along the ridge we had come and even thought that Meall a' Bharr was Carn Mairg. Digging out the GPS we corrected that mistake and had to walk a bit further along the ridge to reach Carn Mairg.

On Carn Mairg

After this it cleared up a bit and the final stretch to Creag Mhor was quite pleasant. Thanks to the route description I read on this site we managed to take the easy route down Carn Mairg and strolled over to the last munro of the day.

During the descent the clouds broke up and we had some very scenic views through the clouds down into Glen Lyon.

View to Glen Lyon

The last stretch through the heather is quite pleasant but we were very tired since this was our longest tour yet and we could hardly appreciate the almost blossoming heather. I think we have to come back soon to see them in full blossom.

We arrived back at our tent only to realise that the small burn we had to cross was swollen and that the water level was rising still. However, we managed to cross it over some stepping stone. After the long walk and with the constant, lulling rain fall we had a very good nights sleep. However, the next morning we realised that we wouldn't cross the stream without getting our feet wet. So we had to wade through. Luckily the car wasn't too far away and after drying our feet we were on our way back to Edinburgh.

[rockhopper]

Good stuff on your first report DF You certainly had a fair mix of weather on this round. The midges do seem to be worse this year - personally I tend to use DEET or smidge as I found that the midges still landed on me when I tried skin so soft - that said, it's hard to find something which really works other than running