Meall Greigh to Beinn Ghlas - Lawers Ridge
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:24 pmAfter three weeks of planning and forecast stalking the weather gods decided Scotland needed a break from the rain (at least for one day) and I set off to walk the five munros of the Lawers Ridge between Meall Greigh and Beinn Ghlas on a partly cloudy day with a fair bit of breeze across the summits. A friend of mine from St. Andrews was kind enough to drive us up to Loch Tay and I was dropped off at the start of the walk for Meall Greigh at the Lawers Hotel while she went back to the Visitor's Center to climb Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers. We planned on meeting on Lawers but as luck would have it there were some hold-ups on my end.
The walk starts just behind the antler carving shop on the left side of the A827 a short distance from the Lawers Hotel and passes a farm as the path winds through a very wet and muddy forest track. The soggy start was a sign of things to come. When you exit the forest path you get your first good look at Meall Greigh and continue on the path, following the Lawers Burn.
Here is where I lost some time on the walk, as there is no path up the slope of Meall Greigh and the water in the burn was full from the past week's rain. I continued on the path to a wooden bridge that crosses the burn - to the opposite side of Meall Greigh - and tried to locate the 'minor side stream' noted in the walk details on this site. I spotted what looked like this stream and then had to figure out how to get back across as the water was pretty high. Instead of going back to the wooden bridge I used my long legs to jump across a few rocks. Finally I started up the nasty hillside to Meall Greigh. This was a slog and a half, and made a boring munro that much worse. In retrospect I could have done two things here - return to the wooden bridge and climb up near Sron Mhor or keep walking along the Lawers Burn to find a better place to cross and ascend the munro. Slowly but surely I made it to the summit in 2 hours. I had also made the mistake of forgetting my rain coat and when I reached the summit the clouds were low and it looked like I might have to pay for my mistake. Luckily the cloud moved on and the rest of the day the weather was superb.
From Meall Greigh I wasted no time getting over to Meall Garbh as I knew I was running behind on time. The clearest views of the day were from Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh as the clouds had yet to blanket the sky. The path up to the second munro did have some boggy bits along the way but for the most part this is a straightforward walk.
At the summit of Meall Garbh the views were extensive, but An Stuc was looming and my nerves rattled a bit.
Down to the bealach between Meall Garbh and An Stuc I went. At the bottom of An Stuc I could see several walkers debating their next moves from about half way up the steep incline. Had there not been other walkers present on this hill I might have turned around, still not sure about my scrambling abilities. But I gave it a go, and then another hold up came. About 7 walkers were descending An Stuc and I was forced to wait for about 30 minutes until they cleared a tricky bit 3/4 of the way up. After watching this episode I concluded that going up was much better than going down this steep bit. Once they were clear, myself and three other walkers attacked the one 'squeaky bum' section of the hill. To be honest, I actually enjoyed this bit the most out of the whole day. My height helped me grasp the foot and hand holds with no probs. The ascent up An Stuc, despite the minor scramble, was the easiest and shortest hill of the day. Once at the top I enjoyed a bit of the scenery and rested my legs for a bit before heading off to Ben Lawers. I was now very late for my Lawers rendevouz.
Now down the south face of An Stuc and on to Ben Lawers. I was pretty worn out near the slopes of Lawers and this section proved to be rather time consuming. However, the views continued to impress, especially of Lochan nan Cat below An Stuc. I reached the summit of Ben Lawers and was relieved to see the easy ascent to Beinn Ghlas as I was wrecked. No sign of my friend however, and I expected she had abandoned the hill long before I reached it. Suddenly the phone range and she informed me she was heading back around Beinn Ghlas and said to get a move on because the weather was making a turn for the worse. Already excited about the fact that I could see the last munro I practically ran down Ben Lawers and up Beinn Ghlas. The weather was holding steady at this point, just lost a bit of visibility off to the south, but I was certain I could remain dry until I reached the car park at the visitor's center below.
I reached the car park after close to 8.5 hours, about 30-40 minutes off my target time. The walk off Beinn Ghlas was wet as the stone steps were covered in running water for much of the way. Despite this, the walk is quite enjoyable once the Burn of Edramucky is reached. Since I was running behind and failed to show up on Lawers at the time I expected, my friend had climbed the neighboring Meall Corranaich before returning to the car. We stopped at the Falls of Dochart Restaurant on the way out of Killin and I highly recommend the lamb and rosemary stew as it was glorious after the long walk.
Overall I really had a fabulous day out on the ridge, especially the ascent up An Stuc. Doing all five munros is a bit of work though. However, one gains a real sense of achievement after descending Beinn Ghlas that I won't forget for some time. If it's possible to add another route to the Loch Tay section of the site I think it would be worth it to add one for all 5 of these munros for anyone wanting to do them all at once.
The walk starts just behind the antler carving shop on the left side of the A827 a short distance from the Lawers Hotel and passes a farm as the path winds through a very wet and muddy forest track. The soggy start was a sign of things to come. When you exit the forest path you get your first good look at Meall Greigh and continue on the path, following the Lawers Burn.
Here is where I lost some time on the walk, as there is no path up the slope of Meall Greigh and the water in the burn was full from the past week's rain. I continued on the path to a wooden bridge that crosses the burn - to the opposite side of Meall Greigh - and tried to locate the 'minor side stream' noted in the walk details on this site. I spotted what looked like this stream and then had to figure out how to get back across as the water was pretty high. Instead of going back to the wooden bridge I used my long legs to jump across a few rocks. Finally I started up the nasty hillside to Meall Greigh. This was a slog and a half, and made a boring munro that much worse. In retrospect I could have done two things here - return to the wooden bridge and climb up near Sron Mhor or keep walking along the Lawers Burn to find a better place to cross and ascend the munro. Slowly but surely I made it to the summit in 2 hours. I had also made the mistake of forgetting my rain coat and when I reached the summit the clouds were low and it looked like I might have to pay for my mistake. Luckily the cloud moved on and the rest of the day the weather was superb.
From Meall Greigh I wasted no time getting over to Meall Garbh as I knew I was running behind on time. The clearest views of the day were from Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh as the clouds had yet to blanket the sky. The path up to the second munro did have some boggy bits along the way but for the most part this is a straightforward walk.
At the summit of Meall Garbh the views were extensive, but An Stuc was looming and my nerves rattled a bit.
Down to the bealach between Meall Garbh and An Stuc I went. At the bottom of An Stuc I could see several walkers debating their next moves from about half way up the steep incline. Had there not been other walkers present on this hill I might have turned around, still not sure about my scrambling abilities. But I gave it a go, and then another hold up came. About 7 walkers were descending An Stuc and I was forced to wait for about 30 minutes until they cleared a tricky bit 3/4 of the way up. After watching this episode I concluded that going up was much better than going down this steep bit. Once they were clear, myself and three other walkers attacked the one 'squeaky bum' section of the hill. To be honest, I actually enjoyed this bit the most out of the whole day. My height helped me grasp the foot and hand holds with no probs. The ascent up An Stuc, despite the minor scramble, was the easiest and shortest hill of the day. Once at the top I enjoyed a bit of the scenery and rested my legs for a bit before heading off to Ben Lawers. I was now very late for my Lawers rendevouz.
Now down the south face of An Stuc and on to Ben Lawers. I was pretty worn out near the slopes of Lawers and this section proved to be rather time consuming. However, the views continued to impress, especially of Lochan nan Cat below An Stuc. I reached the summit of Ben Lawers and was relieved to see the easy ascent to Beinn Ghlas as I was wrecked. No sign of my friend however, and I expected she had abandoned the hill long before I reached it. Suddenly the phone range and she informed me she was heading back around Beinn Ghlas and said to get a move on because the weather was making a turn for the worse. Already excited about the fact that I could see the last munro I practically ran down Ben Lawers and up Beinn Ghlas. The weather was holding steady at this point, just lost a bit of visibility off to the south, but I was certain I could remain dry until I reached the car park at the visitor's center below.
I reached the car park after close to 8.5 hours, about 30-40 minutes off my target time. The walk off Beinn Ghlas was wet as the stone steps were covered in running water for much of the way. Despite this, the walk is quite enjoyable once the Burn of Edramucky is reached. Since I was running behind and failed to show up on Lawers at the time I expected, my friend had climbed the neighboring Meall Corranaich before returning to the car. We stopped at the Falls of Dochart Restaurant on the way out of Killin and I highly recommend the lamb and rosemary stew as it was glorious after the long walk.
Overall I really had a fabulous day out on the ridge, especially the ascent up An Stuc. Doing all five munros is a bit of work though. However, one gains a real sense of achievement after descending Beinn Ghlas that I won't forget for some time. If it's possible to add another route to the Loch Tay section of the site I think it would be worth it to add one for all 5 of these munros for anyone wanting to do them all at once.
(weather permitting)
