Walkhighlands

I had read a couple of nice reports on this walk and with the forecast looking a bit dubious I thought this route ,not too long/high/exposed/far away ,seemed just right .I parked up in Lochearnhead and followed the main road south , turned right at the church then a few zig zags brought me up onto the higher of the two old railway lines . Following this south for 1 km a bridge is met ,with a sign directing you up and over this and onto the hill track up Glen Kendrum . This track climbs gently up the length of the glen , gaining height easily and with steadily improving views of the impressive rocky buttress of Creag Mac Ranaich .After 4.5 km the bealach at 596m is reached , all without too much effort , from here an obvious but steep route up the western side of the hill follows a line of old metal fenceposts up onto the summit plateau ,ending quite dramatically at the cliff edge . Unfortunately at this point the cloud had closed in so the short walk over to the northern top and its cairn was without views , with the bitter wind I didn’t stay long before retracing my steps to start the descent back to the bealach, thankfully the cloud cleared to give great views to Ben More and allow me a look across at the route up Meall an t-Seallaidh .
The ascent of Meall an t-Seallaidh is straightforward , an area of peat hags to be crossed before a short rocky ascent to a col north of Cam Chreag where a lochan provides a good point to turn SE towards the summit . The route from here to the top is a nice gentle ascent with some lovely views back to Creag Mac Ranaich and east over Loch Earn . Meall an t-Seallaidh means’ hill of the view ‘and the summit certainly provides a great vantage point looking south over Loch Voil and Ben Ledi , with Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’Chroin looming large to the southeast.
Leaving the cairn and trig point I headed south for 200m before starting a long descent NE , the ground a charming mixture of scree, bog holes , hags and deep heather , to eventually pick up the track in the glen below . All that remained was the pleasant wander back down the track towards Lochearnhead , eventually spotting my first humans of the day on the cycle path .Wildlife activities : Woodpeckers pecking , Kites kiting