Grease Lightning on Beinn Chabhair

[Scaredywalker]

Did this walk last month but been too busy to type up a report.....I had been watching the MWIS forecast for the past couple of days and it wasn't looking promising with warnings of high winds prolonged showers and thunder storms. However the day before it changed to moderate winds, chance of a heavy shower and slight chance of a thunder storm.
Having been lateshift the night before and oversleeping a bit (thanks to a bottle of vino!) we set off for this one pretty late and arrived at the car park at Beinglas at 1100hrs. The weather was pretty good and very warm, bit of light wind and some cloud.
Did the obligatory walk round the outskirts of the field and then started the ascent up past the falls. Very picturesque but as I was feeling very warm and huffing and puffing a bit, decided I would wait until the descent to get some pics. Must say the stiles on this route were extremely large and one was a bit precarious...one could have a bad injury if they fell from here
Anyway the climb up onto the moor didn't take too long and then it was a fairly pleasant wander (for wander read bog trot) along the open moorland and a fair bit of detouring and backtracking was required. Due to the time of day (and the fact that we were starving) we stopped by the side of the burn and had a bite to eat for 20mins.
Carrying on we made good time and reached the path up onto the ridge pretty easily, although the path is pretty vague at times, this is where we met the only other walker of the day. So onwards and upwards, the route is quite convoluted with lots of wee ups and downs but its dry and enjoyable and its not long before we hit the summit.
Spent a good half hour here enjoying the views, which were now starting to come and go a bit as the cloud built up.
Watched a couple of Tornadoes belting along Glen Falloch but they were too far way for a picture...always love to see them but I don't think you see them out as much now?
An Caisteal soon had a big lump of cloud on it which appeared from nowwhere and then we heard the umistakable rumble of thunder from behind us...i.e. south. Unfortunately we had been watching the weather to the north and were caught from behind as the storm clouds could now clearly be seen down towards Lomond. Time for a fast exit!! Allison was pretty hacked off with me cos I was forced to confess that MWIS had said there was a slight chance of a thunderstorm, however had I mentioned it she wouldn't have went out!
The thunder continued to rumble,altough pretty distant, it was now clear that it was heading our way but could we out run it?
We headed off down the ridge as fast as we could go. After about 10 mins the rain started lightly at first, Allison stopped to don her waterproofs whereas I decided just to pop on a fleece as I had faith it wouldn't last....wrong
The rain got heavier and the thunder continued to rumble and within minutes the path off the ridge was a burn. By the time we got to the lochan the storm was now a lot closer although still to our left but it was absolutely chucking it down. I had also donned my waterproofs now but in all honesty shouldn't have bothered. Allison suggested that we should run the moor part...I had to agree with her however she is built for running and I am def not!! No matter we made fairly good time along the burn but the paths were totally gone and were under about 3-4 inches of water...it was very slippy, did a fair bit of water skiing and took a couple of tumbles including one where I slid feet first on the path/burn and the water went right up under my jacket and up my back....lovely ! About half way along the moor the storm was right on top of us and the thunder was now going off like rifle cracks. Now I was getting a tad worried as there is absolutely no cover here and we were the sort of highest things around, I even considered launching my walking poles, however I am quite attached to them so decided to stow them in my rucsac instead. We clocked a big rock on the moor and made a b-line for it and we were both able to squeeze under it and sat there for 15mins to see if the storm would pass. Unfortunately it didn't and with hindsight the rock probably wasn't the best place to be! So off we went again and were soon at the path by the falls and it was with some relief to get into the trees as we just didn't feel as exposed.
The path down past the falls was now practically a river and the falls were an amazing spectacle but there was no way the camera was coming out and to be honest I thought it would be dead as I was thoroughly drookit and it was in a cheapo case on my rucsac belt, but it was fine
It was with much joy that we made it down to the campsite and I am sad to say that we just brassed it and walked through the site, however we fitted in with the many WHW'rs who were also wandering about like drooned rats
So back to the car and stripped off and strangely enough everything was wet apart from my right boot however I was done out of a pint and burger and chips at the Drovers as we were in a bit of a mess and had no spare clothes in the car
So anyway it was a drive back down to Ayrshire with the heated seats on full blast and I must say I was well and truly sauteed by the time we got home .
So overall a fairly enjoyable hill but a day we will never forget...bizarrely despite there being constant thunder which was very close I didn't see a single flash of lightning?? Maybe not a bad thing

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Beinglas Burn - A nice spot for lunch

The Path which became a river!

Towards Ben Lui - Cloud bubbling up a bit!

Lochan Beinn Chabhair

Path onto the ridge.

Nosey Ptarmigan!

Looking back along the ridge to Lochan An Caisteall

An Caisteal and Beinn A'Chroin, With Ben More, Stob Binnien and Cruach Adrain (I think?) in background.

A very murky view to the Arrochar Alps...alarm bells should probably have been ringing by now!

Allie with Ben Lomond in background.

Ben Lomond with our thunderstorm creeping up behind us!

[soulminer]

Countless how many times I have felt the same ! Certainly one of the boggiest walks I/we have done, and it was on a good day.
Cheers