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I had tried these two hills before as part of a valiant but unsuccessful team effort on Christmas eve , turned back by strong wind and driving rain , so when an unexpected day off presented itself I decided to have another go . The forecast was good for the day and I was parked up beside the bridge at NN 278367 for 0830 . I headed east along the road for 200m to a wide gate which leads onto a rough track beside Invergaunan cottage .
This track weaves its way south , beside the Allt Ghamhnain , eventually leading to a ford at NN 285357 , the crossing was easy today but in spate it might awkward .
On the other side of the ford there isn’t much choice of route , the only option being to follow the river then ascend steeply between the spruce plantation and a new deer fence . Eventually the fence and forest are left behind and the strange quartz ridge comes into view . This rib of white rock slashes up the side of Beinn Udlaidh and can be seen from the road at Loch Tulla . At this point I had reached the snowline and there wasn’t much contrast between the quartz and the surrounding ground but it is still an amazing feature .
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- SE to Ben More
I followed the line of it up to some small crags , once clear of these I was on the wide summit ridge, a lovely place with its frozen lochans and fine views . The cairn looks south towards Ben Lui and east to Ben More , a great viewpoint , but doesn’t benefit from the abandoned mast and other junk around it .
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- Distant Ben Lomond
From the cairn I made my down towards the col above Coire Ghamhnain , I had been a bit concerned about this descent , the map showed pretty continuous crags, but it was fine , a small rock band to negotiate lower down but nothing difficult .
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- Heading down to the col
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- Descent from Beinn Udlaidh
I wandered across the col and found a suitable boulder to stop at for lunch , there had been a cold breeze at the summit but down in the shelter of the bealach it was flat calm and I sat enjoying the sun for a while .
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- Onwards to Beinn Bhreac -liath
The ascent of Beinn Bhreac-liath was steady and not too steep and before long I was at the summit , a couple of small cairns scattered around the highest part of the plateau , with lovely views over Auch Gleann and Beinn Dorain.
From the cairns I headed north , the ground dropping only 20m in over 1 km , the crisp snow making lovely conditions underfoot .
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- Looking N across plateau
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- Look back S towards summit
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- Beinn Dorain
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- Beinn Udlaidh
Eventually the ground steepens and I headed NW down towards Invergaunan , by chance following the same gully we had ascended on the previous visit , though the weather couldn’t have been more different !
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- Down to Invergaunan
Beautiful weather , two smashing hills - a really great day , I moved back to Scotland last summer after many years away , I’ve had a few cracking days in the hills since , today was one of the finest
