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So the Jubilee weekend had came and went, along with a trip up to Corrie Fee with my Mam.
However, my usual walking partner, Rossaldo, is away on holiday for a whole month, so I was left looking for a fairly straight forward walk to do for only my second solo adventure. (Getting scorched on Stuc A'Chroin and Beinn Each last week was my first.)
When the Old Man and the other brother came looking for a lift for their fishing trip, it put Loch Tay and an adventure in the Lawers area on the cards.
I had read a report on here saying that the two Mealls could be a bit of a quagmire, so with that in mind and the relatively dry weather recently, I plumped for them.
The fishermen were dropped off at Loch Tay Highland Lodges, convienently just along the road from the Lawers Road turn off... funny how things just happen to work out lol
Ten minutes later I was parking up at the small car park at the top of Lairig an Lochain. Or to be more precise, the extra wee bit of space just past the car park, since it was full!
Despite the walk report, the walk doesn't actually start at the blue sign and big boulder, you actually pass it in the car before you park up. It's about 20m back the way you came and is a decent path.
Fake start.
Real start.
Very quickly there are good views back over Lairig an Lochain, the Lawers Dam at the other end of the lochan and over to Meall nan Tarmachan.
A few yards after I had taken these pictures, I came across a girl who was installing a pressure sensor under the path, to count the number of walkers... I was number 1... a small claim to fame
Up ahead the first target of the day comes quickly into view.
Not too far after the white stone in the picture, the path peeters out and the first bog of the day is reached. These look to be quite deep and could be quite troublesome in wet weather, but thankfully they were almost completely dried out as I passed by.
As the bog passes by, the line of fence posts is picked up and to the south west the views of Tarmachan are impressive and I noticed it was still retaining a small snow patch on it's north facing side.
But the bog isn't finished yet and after a brief dry patch, more of the yucky stuff has to be crossed. This time it was still wet and muddy.
Still following the fence posts though, this section is quickly past and the path becomes stronger again and after a rocky step, soon begins to steepen, although not too badly.
After a short while the fence posts make a sharp left hand turn (east) and the path splits. One part continues straight on (SE) up onto the grassy SW ridge, but the better walked path seems to cut across the side of the ridge, still following the fence posts. This is the way I went, it's steeper, but more direct and definately manageable. However, on top of the SW ridge I saw a lone doe, keeping a beady eye on me.
The direct path crosses some more moist ground, before turning into a good enough path up to the false summit.
Back behind you, it's possible to see your car in car park. Here I had an odd thought, "what would you do if you saw someone knick it?" While over to your left, you can now see the bogs that must be crossed on the return leg of the journey.
As the false summit is passed on it's northern edge, the path is at it's steepest. While to the south Loch Tay looks resplendant with Ben Vorlich, Stuc A'Chroin and Beinn Each in the distance and Beinn Ghlas looks like the bigger, more magnificent neighbour. (You can't see Lawers yet!)
Surprisingly the false summit has it's own cairn, but it's clearly lower than the main summit, which becomes obvious now, another 500m or so further on. However, most eyes will probably be drawn away from Meall Corranaich's own summit, over to the east, as Ben Lawers now comes into full view, making MC feel rather small. I could also see the near constant conveyer belt of people walking up and over Beinn Ghlas and on onto Ben Lawers. The scar path up the side of Ben Lawers is clearly visible and looks like a giant zip on green velvet.
I reached the modern art cairn at the top of Meall Corranaich in about 65 minutes and I was hardly setting the heather alight with my pace.
Since I had the mountain to myself, I sat down and had a 15 minute break, enjoying a banana and some flask tea, hoping someone else would show up, so I could get a proper summit pic! No such luck
Having waited long enough, I headed off north, bound for munro number 2 of the day, hoping it would be a little tougher than MC had been. From reading the reports I knew to stay away from the higher NNW ridge, which is easy to spot with it's rocky cap. Although it's easy to see why that mistake could be made from MC's summit, MaCL seems to lie directly behind the NNW ridge and it looks the obvious route.
I didn't notice exactly where the path down to the NNE ridge began, but I spotted it lower down to my right and made my way easily over some white grass and onto the decent path heading over to Meall a'Choire Leith. The path once again splits in two, one branch heading over the top of the ridge and a small hillock, while the other cuts down by a burn and is more direct. I took the burn path and quickly lost height down to the bealach between the two Mealls.
The price paid for speed gained, is the lost view across to the main Lawers range. However, when the bealach is reached and the view returns An Stuc and Meall Garbh are gaining centre stage. I think it's also Schiehallion that can be seen standing like dark pyramid in the far distance.
All too quickly though I was climbing up the moderately steep slope up towards MaCL's summit. The path climbs up the hill's eastern edge, close to the rim of the Choire Leith and this is probably the most exposed the path ever gets, but it is only a small section and only to one side and not even that bad!
From here it's only a short jaunt up to the summit, which is a massive flat plateau. Interestingly though the path once again splits here, one path is short and leads to the summit cairn, but the other continues on across the plateau and down towards the north.
I added the white rock and settled down to finish my packed lunch, only 45 minutes after I began it on top of MC! I have to say, MaCL is unfairly described as the least distinguished of the Lawer's munros. It may be the smallest but, the panoramas were excellent and it's big domed top, is pleasant to sit upon and ponder the surroundings and be amazed at the beauty of Scotland. For me it was the better of the two Munros on this walk.
However, I couldn't linger forever and all too soon I had to head off south west, double checking the direction with my compass as the route says the path isn't clear here. However, in the good conditions I had, you could see the beginnings of a grassy path on the plateau heading in the right direction, then as the steep descent begins, the path is once again decent.
However, at the first boggy section, which is surprisingly high up the hill, given it's steepness, the path becomes intermitant. I aimed for a great big boulder on the banks of the same burn I had walked beside crossing between the two munros. There is an easy crossing point of the burn at this rock, onto solid ground. Unfortuneatly from here on in, solid ground is a rare commodity!
The path once again becomes more obvious here, though it does pass through some muddy sections, but there is always enough of it, to keep you on the right course, then once of the brow of the hill, the small dam and water intake on the Allt Gleann Da-Eig comes into view and the path heads directly for it and crosses the burn, immediately in front of it.
However, if you thought it was boggy so far, you ain't seen nothing yet. As soon as the you climb past the dam, all boggy hell breaks lose. Even in the dry conditions of late, this was still a swampy mess. Luckily for me, I ran into a Scottish Hydro man on a quad bike! He obviously saw the look of horror on my face and said "I've got to take few measurements at the wee intake, gimme 10 mins and I'll give you a lift up to that wee hillock over there, my jeep's just behind it."
So 10 minutes later, with Meall nan Tarmachan in front of me, I was clinging onto the back to a strange man, on the back of a large quad bike, bouncing over bog, grass and heather alike.... it was brilliant!!! Five minutes after that I was unloaded on top of the wee hillock, which I believe it labelled Meall nan Eun on the OS Map. and the Hydro man had my great thanks and a vow, not to tell anyone... oops!
"Summit" of the hillock, possibly Meall nan Eun, just after Hydro Man disappered, like a Hi-vis bog fighting crusader in the Glens!
Hydro Man headed off, back across country towards his jeep and trailor and I headed down to the heathery slope, to rejoin the stoney path my journey began on and back to the car, which was now all alone next to the car park.
A quick change of clothing and it was back down to Loch Tay to collect the fishermen, with a quick pause to capture some pics of the Lawers Dam. They had had a successful day too; three perch and two brown trout caught.
PS No, my Dad is not Hydro Man!
