free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Overview Map
We parked up at 9:15 and once booted up we set off at 9:20 doing the route in a clockwise direction.
Follow the nice forestry paths for a couple of miles (Thanks to the nice lady who pointed us up the correct road through her window – come to think of it how did she know where we were going?) There are forestry tracks until the lochain, and after that you rely on you own navigational skills. Once at curra lochain, we walked along the north shore until about half way along then went straight up with a rocky outcrop to the right. It was a very steep climb up the grassy slope, with no respite. There are many rocky areas, ideal for shelter if need be.
After checking our position we headed up a steep gully towards the summit area at 12:20. The summit of Beinn Lochain (703m) is classified as a Graham and is marked with a few rocks serving as a cairn, as seen to the right of the image below.
The route continued towards Beinn Tharsuinn (619m) which is optional – it isn’t a graham or anything else that I know of, but it is worth visiting for completeness. In fact it was this hill that a “B29 Super fortress” aircraft clipped in 1949, and then crashed killing all on board. The wreckage is still there at 56° 11.35 N 4° 57.50 W.
- Delberto messing around
After looking at the wreckage we moved on to our second Graham of the day Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn (658m). This was less steep than Beinn Lochain but legs were getting weary now, so a couple of us made slow progress. Here Delberto shows his delight at reaching summit number three at 14:40. At least I think that’s what he meant.
Heading back to Corrow was not straight forward as there are many perilous cliffs and boggy gullies. In the clag this could be nasty.
However we picked our way down and eventually reached the edge of the trees where we could see our way down, and were greeted by some deer.
Finally the route brings you out at an industrial area, and our cars were waiting nearby at 16:50.
Finally this circular route involves walking on open hill without paths so it is easy to get disoriented in the fog.