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Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:15 am
by Jock McJock
:D After being out last week with Jonny and Andy on Beinn Fhionndlaidh and not getting the best of weather I was determined to get back out this weekend as the forecast was brilliant, even though I was going to be night shift at work. Got up early at 0630 (actually 0530, bloody clocks changing!! :lol: ) got my gear together and out the door. After a quick pit stop for petrol I was on my way up a very foggy Loch Lomond side. By the time I hit Tyndrum the sun was already getting up and burning off the fog.

Arrived at the car park down the wee road to Stronmilchan about 0815 and was the first car there. Sorted myself out and got moving off along the road, through the gate on the left etc as per the WH report. The weather by now was looking like the forecast and it wasn't long before I stopped and got the fleece off and carried on in short sleeves.
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The farm track and the two tagets for the day straight ahead


You soon come to the first obstacle of the day, the big heelan coos that are ever present on the track that you need to take. Thanks to some advice from Polly though I knew how to overcome this. Take the gate on the left in the pic below and follow it along the fence line, there is a well worn path, funny that :lol:
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Take the gate on the left


Here you will meet the locals, seemed docile enough but they had calves with them so wasn't taking any chances :shock:
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Big Coo


Once past the big scary coos it's a very pleasant walk along the track that will take you all the way up to the 400m mark
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It then drops down slightly before climbing again. Once you reach the junction take the path on the right and follow it up until you reach the wee cairn on the left shown below
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The views really open up at this point and the going gets a wee bit steep as you now make the pull up the spine towards the ridge above. The wind really sarted to get up at this point too.
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Before long you are making the final approach to the ridge
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Once on the ridge you can clearly see your first target of the day, Beinn a' Chocuill dead ahead
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The summit is reached not long after. It had taken me just over the 3 hour mark to get to the top so not too bad. Well worth the effort though as the views all around are superb, the best of which is the Cruachan ridge just opposite
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Beinn a' Chocuill summit


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Ben Cruachan


The walk along the ridge is lovely and was only slightly spoiled by the fierce wind which was blowing meaning I couldn't hang around too long cause it was flippin freezin! :lol: Once you head back along the ridge you get a great view of your second target of the day, Beinn Eunaich
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Beinn Eunaich


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Ridge to Beinn Eunaich


The path drops down to the spot height at 728m before starting the climb up the ridge to Ben Eunaich.
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The going gets steeper the higher you go but just do what I did and take plenty of pic breaks as the views are great.
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You get a really nice view back along th ridge to Beinn a' Chocuill too
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An hour after the first summit I was on the second and in the wind again but the views back across to Beinn a' Chocuill made up for it :D
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Still some snow cornices here on the north side hanging on for dear life, even though some folk have chosen to chuck the cairn stones at them to try and dislodge them, tut tut :?
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Again stunning views all around, in particular Ben Lui making its presence felt through the haze
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Ben Lui


Dropped down out of the wind and sat for the best part of an hour having some lunch and just enjoying being out in the hills on such a fine day. I could have sat there for hours but the drive home and the night shift beckoned so reluctantly I set off down the broad ridge that would take me back, all the while soaking up the scenery
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Wasn't long before I was at the last 250m drop off the ridge back to the track. Once again some sound advice had been given by Polly about the steepness of this part of the walk. Her advice was to just take my time as the path is very steep and very badly eroded with lots of loose stones etc. She was right, it was :shock: Not the best part of the day I have to say but luckily it was dry all the way down which made a huge difference. Really wouldn't fancy coming off there in the wet.
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Last 250m to the track below


After a very careful descent I was back on the track where a big cairn marks the path. Funny, I completely missed this on the way up even though I was looking for the descent path as I walked in :lol:
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From there it was about a 30 minute walk back to the car, once again passing the locals. Got back to the car just under 6 hours after leaving it.
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Locals again


These two hills are in my opinion vastly underrated. You never really hear a lot of people talking about them and I can't think why. Take my advice, if you're looking for two relatively easy hills with great views and a nice wee ridge walk then these are the two for you. Just pick a good day and enjoy. Just watch out for the big coos on the way in and out :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:03 am
by andy millar1
Best weekend of the year so far....you jammy git.defy get these soon when Jonny isnt preparing the menu of oor mid week sneaky peaks!!see you soon
:thumbup: :wave:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:34 am
by jonny616
Nice one Mark. The haze of heat in the photos makes a pleasant change from clag :lol: A great walk that, sadly when i did it is was clagged in somewhat :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:25 pm
by blueyed
looks like a great day and exactly the same as mine -hazyyyyy.
i walked ben more & stob binnein yesterday and was hoping to see sth but the whole day i was admiring were just silhouettes of mountains around.
at least the sunshine was great !!!! :)

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:27 pm
by pollyh33
Fantastic report Mark. :clap:

Your photographs are so much better than mine. Great to see the views that were a wee bit blurred in my pathetic attempts :lol: :lol:

You are right about this being a really enjoyable walk- I thought it was smashing :thumbup:

PS You wait your whole life for someone to take a piece of your advice and then it is taken not once but twice!!! Can't see that happening again anytime soon!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:51 pm
by Jock McJock
andy millar1 wrote:Best weekend of the year so far....you jammy git.defy get these soon when Jonny isnt preparing the menu of oor mid week sneaky peaks!!see you soon
:thumbup: :wave:



Cheers Andy, it was a great day :D

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:52 pm
by Jock McJock
jonny616 wrote:Nice one Mark. The haze of heat in the photos makes a pleasant change from clag :lol: A great walk that, sadly when i did it is was clagged in somewhat :lol:


I'm seeing a pattern emerging with you Jonny.....clag, clag and more clag. Think you're a jinx :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:55 pm
by Jock McJock
blueyed wrote:looks like a great day and exactly the same as mine -hazyyyyy.
i walked ben more & stob binnein yesterday and was hoping to see sth but the whole day i was admiring were just silhouettes of mountains around.
at least the sunshine was great !!!! :)


Know what you mean Blueyed, lots of distant slihouetes. the haze made it impossible to see any great distance. But hey, I'll take that over the clag of the last few weeks anyday :D Ben More is a big bugger, did you go right up the front? nearly killed me when i done that :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:58 pm
by Jock McJock
pollyh33 wrote:Fantastic report Mark. :clap:

Your photographs are so much better than mine. Great to see the views that were a wee bit blurred in my pathetic attempts :lol: :lol:

You are right about this being a really enjoyable walk- I thought it was smashing :thumbup:

PS You wait your whole life for someone to take a piece of your advice and then it is taken not once but twice!!! Can't see that happening again anytime soon!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


Cheers Polly, I had a great day. And your advice was spot on, thanks :D

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:07 pm
by quoman
Hi Jock McJock.

Excellent report and photo's to match. we done this on the 27 07 11,and we sat at the top with our tops off not a pretty sight :lol: :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:48 pm
by Meatball
Nice views....
Just clag when I was there.

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:52 pm
by LeithySuburbs
nice 8) . Cruachan looks braw from these two :D .

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:20 pm
by yokehead
Great report and photos, I was up there a couple of weeks ago on the first day of my 2 weeks, when it was in more normal conditions and looked like this
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You may just be able to spot the coos in the same place, I reckon they're there to ward off filthy munro baggers!

Didn't bother with a report since views there were none and rain most of the day, still, a chance to try out the new waterproofs! But I agree with you, these hills make a fine outing. Yeah the last bit of descent is a bit of a pig (and I did notice the cairn on the way up but I recently went to Specsavers!). I didn't notice the coo bypass path though and another good reason to use it would be to avoid getting back to the car with masses of coo s**t stuck to the boots!

Good to see some snow still hanging on, I played around in it a bit. But why didn't you try chucking bigger stones on the cornice? :lol:

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:01 pm
by tamw51
Was gonna hit these two up today day but didnt have it in me, so settled for just cruachan and stob diamh! looks braw so happy to return! :D :D

Re: Beinn a' Chocuill and Beinn Eunaich

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:08 pm
by Jock McJock
quoman wrote:Hi Jock McJock.

Excellent report and photo's to match. we done this on the 27 07 11,and we sat at the top with our tops off not a pretty sight :lol: :lol:


Cheers Quoman, was tempted myself but the wind factor kept the t shirt on all day :lol: