Lawers and Beinn Ghlas
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:22 pmAfter conquering my first munro (good old Chonzie) last Sat, I was feeling eager to get some more baggery (easy!) under my belt this weekend. Me and the good lady, perhaps under the celebratory influence of a few G&T's later that evening, decided to try a more challenging summit - step forward Ben Lawers..
Making a far earlier start than last week (see, I'm learning already!), we set off onto the hill at 9am. This meant that we had the place pretty much to ourselves as we strolled off at a reasonable pace up through the nature reserve. The weather at this point was still good, although slightly wet underfoot - I guess it had rained a bit that morning before we got there. This was to change..
My slightly optimistic choice of outfit ( and the fact that I don't yet have much of the required gear) meant that I was walking in standard walking trousers and although I thought my walking shoes were waterproof...they weren't.
Anyhoos, back to the walk...a good walk up the hill to start but then the weather closed in and visibility dropped quite markedly. Not really much point in stopping for pictures or for a bite so it was just a case of marching ever onwards. This was certainly different to Ben Chonzie last week but a more interesting and challenging walk so far.
We eventually made the summit of Beinn Ghlas, although by this time the weather (and my inexperience/general rubbishness) meant that we weren't 100% sure that we actually stopped and took the pic at the right point!
The summit of Lawers took a little longer after that and eventually - the top! A shame that we couldn't see any of the view from the top, but it felt great to be there regardless. Quick bite to eat and then we started the descent. Same way we came up as in that weather there was no doggone way I was trying to locate the other route back!
We passed a load of people coming up on the way down so I think it would have been a busy hill in the afternoon.
All in all a cracking day, a few lessons learned (clothing, map etc ), can't wait for the next one - bring on the Schiehallion!!
Making a far earlier start than last week (see, I'm learning already!), we set off onto the hill at 9am. This meant that we had the place pretty much to ourselves as we strolled off at a reasonable pace up through the nature reserve. The weather at this point was still good, although slightly wet underfoot - I guess it had rained a bit that morning before we got there. This was to change..
My slightly optimistic choice of outfit ( and the fact that I don't yet have much of the required gear) meant that I was walking in standard walking trousers and although I thought my walking shoes were waterproof...they weren't.
Anyhoos, back to the walk...a good walk up the hill to start but then the weather closed in and visibility dropped quite markedly. Not really much point in stopping for pictures or for a bite so it was just a case of marching ever onwards. This was certainly different to Ben Chonzie last week but a more interesting and challenging walk so far.
We eventually made the summit of Beinn Ghlas, although by this time the weather (and my inexperience/general rubbishness) meant that we weren't 100% sure that we actually stopped and took the pic at the right point!
The summit of Lawers took a little longer after that and eventually - the top! A shame that we couldn't see any of the view from the top, but it felt great to be there regardless. Quick bite to eat and then we started the descent. Same way we came up as in that weather there was no doggone way I was trying to locate the other route back!
We passed a load of people coming up on the way down so I think it would have been a busy hill in the afternoon.
All in all a cracking day, a few lessons learned (clothing, map etc ), can't wait for the next one - bring on the Schiehallion!!
