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Following a great day out in the Arrochar Alps on Saturday 5 Nov & the continuing excellent weather I decided at the last minute to take a days holiday from work on Monday 7 Nov & bag some more hills before winter truly arrives !
Like most folk here on WH (correct?) I like reading walk reports & getting information online in order to have an ongoing list of hills “to do “.
So I decided to venture up to Glen Lyon & tackle the 4 munros from Invervar.
Following Pollyh33s` recent walk report resulting in no access I checked with the hillphones site re any stalking.This proved unclear so I phoned the estate office & left a message.
Chesthill Estate 01887 877 267 - their website is quite informative.
I didn`t get any reply -perhaps because it was the w/end ? I still haven`t had a reply , but I believe it`s my responsibility to check & not the estates to inform me ?
I sent Polly a PM here on the site & thanks to her reply I was off to Invervar.
Leaving home early I passed through Callander at 635 am , a wee word of warning here – the fabulous bakers shop on the main street just past the square doesn`t open till 7am , so no take away coffee or pie. However Tesco express in Callander opens at 6am, so I got 4 pork pies for later – Oskars favourite. It now got very foggy going past Loch Lubnaig, totally clearing at Lochearnhead , but towards Killin it was pea soup again & didn`t lift. However once the road cleared the wooded section approaching Ben Lawers the fog was well below & for the rest of the day ALL views were tremendous.
Over Loch Tay taken from the bridge near Edramcky Burn
Continuing on the car park at Ben Lawers has been moved slightly north due to ongoing construction work, on a wee side road 1 car was parked close to Tarmachan the owner probably still asleep in his tent next to the car.
Passing Lochan na Lairige I stopped to take this photo , from here on the road was pure white with frost & occasional ice patches . There were no tyre tracks through it now , a car in front having stopped at the accesss point for Meall Corranich.
Going on down as I turned a corner slowly a magnificent stag was only 20 feet from the car on his own ,I got a foto of him before he walked off slowly.
I eventually arrived at Invervar & got ready , I was 1st in the wee car park & set off about 830. Across from the car park a large metal gate leads to a track way to the hill , a cottage is on your L/H side , you then pass this buggy all frosted up this morning.
Reading Pollys post of her walk this foto reminded me of a similar thing from my now seemingly far of youth, i`m sure those of you 40 + will remember it from Saturday mornings eh ?
10 points & top of the class if you said The Banana Splits !
So past the wee buggy through another wooden gate , through the trees then another wooden gate leading onto the track on the east side of the Invervar Burn. The track leads up and on towards the hill, after a while you cross a dodgy wee bridge over the burn & continue around the edge of the forrest area.
Continuing on the old shielings shown on the map are clearly made out as well as an old shed beside them.
Not long after here I made an error. I continued bearing west, however I was following the burn on a track towards An Sgorr leading to Coire na Lairige.
I had lost the route up to Carn Gorm , visibility & conditions were 100% the mistake was totally mine.
Carn Gorm taken from near old shielings past forested area
An Sgorr from near the same point
Looking back down to Glen Lyon
The names and look of the 2 hills in front of me should have convinced me of my mistake – but no. With hindsight I should have taken to higher ground leading to Carn Gorm after the end of the forrested area instead of following the burn higher into the coire. Realising my mistake I continued to An Sgorr, there was a pathway that lead to a wee cleared area with signs of recent campfires. Also here was a tall timber pole with a hoop used to hold fire beating stick things (name escapes me).
Ann Sgorr closer up now.
Glen Lyon again
I traversed around An Sgorr to the bealach leading up to Carn Gorm rather than go back down and re ascend, this was easily done.
From bealach at Ann Sgorr before ascending Carn Gorm –to Glencoe
Again from the bealach
Whilst traversing I saw a lone walker going up the shoulder to Carn Gorm taking the proper route, as I made my way up to the summit he was coming down off Carn Gorm. We had a chat , the guy had seen me & thought I was doing the hills anti clockwise – the estate asks that you walk in a clockwise direction. I explained my error sheepishly and we parted wishing each other a good day in the hills. The detour had probably cost me about an hour, I was angry with myself but glad to have fixed it.
As per the recent postings on WH “not a novice any more “ mistakes /errors happen , I by no means at all am an expert ,one of my favourite sayings is “you learn something everyday” – even at my age 46 !!
Summit of Carn Gorm
Summit of Carn Gorm overlooking Glen Lyon
So on top of Carn Gorm – at last , a well deserved coffee for me & a pork pie for Oskar ,
MMMmmmhhhhh Pork Pies
I had a short 15 minute break taking some fotos of the amazing views, then off to the bealach heading for Meall Garbh. I could see the guy i`d met approaching the summit of Meall Garbh as I descended.
This section of the route was easy to follow along a line of rusty old fence posts.
Meall Garbh behind Ann Sgorr in foreground from Carn Gorm
Looking back to Carn Gorm en route to Meall Garbh
Meall Garbh with Schiehallion behind
I continued following the line of fence posts to Meall a` Bharr and had another break there for something to eat & a coffee. Shortly after heading for Carn Mairg I met a couple coming in the opposite direction , the wind had picked up a wee bit here but the sun was still warm , they were quite keen on Oskar – we had a chat and went on our way.
Schiehallion again.
Oskar in the wind with Sch…. You know who !
and again looking to Rannoch Moor
Carn Mairg in the distance with Creag Mhor to right of foto
Closer now Carn Mairg & Creag Mhor on left
The views over to Schiehallion from Carn Mairg were tremendous especially on such a clear day , amazing.
Carn Mairg summit looking to Creag Mhor
Descending Carn Mairg I took a well trodden path down via the boulder field / rocks it was well defined and easily managed by me & Oskar.
approaching the bealach / Gleann Pollaidh looking back to Carn Mairg
It was now getting a bit colder as I pushed onto Creag Mhor the sun though still high was losing its heat. Approaching the final pull to Creag Mhor the pathway foot steps / holds were iced over – the sun never having hit this side of the hill at all, also the views down to Glen Lyon showed the valley floor pure white, the frost below the mist / cloud hadn`t melted at all during the day.
East from the summit of Creag Mhor
Summit views over to Carn Mairg
And of Schiehallion from summit too
Coming off the summit heading down I could see 3 maybe 4 people on top of Carn Marig , presuming they were coming down via Creag Mhor they would have finished in the dark as light was fading fast now.
Frosty Glen Lyon , sun not freeing frost all day long
And again a wee bit lower down this time.
Finally a wonderful picture of Carn Mairg with the setting sun setting it ablaze.
The drop off Creag Mhor down to Invervar is quite steep in places , false summits can be a pain in the **** going up , but this was the 1st time i`d been annoyed with false drops going down , it really did seem steep – to me anyway.
Apart from my mistake in direction at the start of the day this outing probably rates as my best day in the mountains yet thanks to Mr High Pressue.
