Loch Earn Corbett

[Gavin99]

I had to stick close to home this weekend so I decided to pay a visit to this Corbett tucked away beside Ben Vorlich (Loch Earn ) . I parked up at the wee bridge on the lochside , the usual start point for the Munro , and followed the tree lined avenue up past Ardvorlich house .

The route to Meall na Fearna (Hill of the Alders) follows the busy tourist path for 1.5 km before branching off left (NN 631 218) onto a nice grassy path which follows Ardvorlich Burn .

Turning off main path

Goat eating a tree

A hydro scheme has recently been built on the estate and there is a network of new access roads and bridges not marked on the OS map , the grassy path soon joins one of these and carries on up the Glen as far as two small dams .

Hydro road and bridge

After the hydro track ends an ATV track leads on south before heading SE up the lower slopes of Beinn Domhnuill and fading .

717m point on the left

With no more paths to follow I headed off toward a small rise (pt717m) over short heather and grass , a bit boggy but not too bad considering the recent rain , reaching the top I got my first view of the Corbett , looking very nice but the ground between looked none too easy .

Meall na Fearna

Hags

Crossing the haggy col wasn’t as bad as it looked and a bit of weaving to and fro and a lot of poking with a stick brought me to the final steep little ascent .

Ascent to summit

Meall na Fearna cairn

Looking west to Ben Vorlich

I hadn’t made any plans beyond the summit , I thought I would probably head off back the same way but the ridge running north from Beinn Domhnuill , complete with hidden lochan , looked too good to ignore .

N to Beinn Domhnuill

First I had to get to Beinn Domhnuill and that involved crossing some more ‘ interesting’ ground , you wouldn’t want to follow the old fenceline too closely in the dark .

Summit , Loch na Mna to right

Eventually I reached higher and drier ground and made my way down towards Lochan na Mna . This really is a beautiful spot, hidden away in a crag lined hollow .

A peaceful and sheltered spot but I found out later that there is a dramatic tale here :

The following story of murder provided the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott’s tale, A Legend of Montrose.
In the Seventeenth Century it was the custom to provide hospitality to anyone who asked for food and shelter. If the guest was not a friend, they were still put up, but instead of a cooked meal were given cold meat (this is where the phrase "given the cold shoulder" comes from). In accordance with this custom, Lady Margaret Stewart at Ardvorlich, pregnant at the time, gave hospitality to some travelling MacGregors. However, they had just come from murdering her brother, John Drummond of Drummonderinoch, and while she was out of the room placed his severed head on a silver platter, and placed in his mouth some of the cold victuals she had served them. She was so distraught that she ran out to the hills and gave birth to James Stewart, later known as the "Mad Major". The Loch she gave birth by is now known as Lochan na Mna, the Loch of the Woman, on the side of Beinn Domhnuill.

From the lochan I climbed Creagan an Lochain and continued north down the ridge over Eildreach to An Dunan , plenty of grouse and deer for company .

N to Eildreach

I descended SW from An Dunan hoping to pick my way through the bracken and trees down in the glen to reach the footbridge marked on the OS map (NN 633 213)

Descent to Glen Vorlich

Thankfully I came across an ATV track which saved any undergrowth adventures , this led downhill beside a plantation to cross the burn , the footbridge appears to have gone, but stepping stones give an easy crossing to rejoin the path leading south to Ardvorlich .

Track down to burn

A couple of areas of peat hags aside this is a fine wander , the lochan would be worth a visit on its own , lovely

[monty]

Nice one Gavin, your Corbet count is looking serious now.

[Morecambe Monkey]

You're certainly making use of your weekends at the moment Gavin. Looks a nice walk,the loch looked especially nice,unlike the peat hags!

[pigeon]

Nice one Gavin ,got this up our sleeves for the winter

[Fudgie]

Excellent work Gav. Like Pigeon above, I'm saving this one for shorter days so I'll hopefully follow your circuit.

[Bod]

Lovely walk there Gavin! It's amazing isn't how the order of your hills pans out......now rhyme or reason, simply some random format of destiny

Nice section too with historical references and love the goat up on the boulder munching the tree

[Gavin99]

Nice one Gavin, your Corbet count is looking serious now.

Cheers Monty , you won't be long overtaking when you start them properly next year


Hi MM , the hags just added to the experience , it would be boring walking on nice dry solid ground all day............. wouldn't it ?


Cheers Pigeon , Fudgie , I was 'saving ' this for the winter too but gave in to temptation , the north ridge and the lochan are well worth a look , enjoy


Hi Bod , nice to get off the beaten track for a wee bit of random exploring , only two weeks to Braemar !

[Graeme D]

Great report Gavin, and very timely for me. I have plans to head out tomorrow with my brother who recently climbed his first Munro, so as we only have limited time and don't want to head too far from Perth, I had my eye on this one for his first Corbett! I had always intended to do it from the Glenartney side but might reconsider in light of this report. Cheers!

[jmarkb]

Nice one!

Every time I have done this hill I have gone on to link it with the SE ridge of Vorlich, but the ground to the north and the wee lochan looks really attractive: and what an interesting (if gory) piece of history!

[Gavin99]

Cheers Graeme , hope you have a good day whichever way you go

Jmarkb , it is an interesting little ridge , well worth a detour . Thanks for the alternative route you suggested for Ben Oss / Dubhcraig , I was up there today , a totally bog free experience !

[smallig]

Thanks to this report, we opted for Meall na Fearna as a replacement destination yesterday. I can confirm that the tops and lochan are great, and the peat hags not too difficult. We measured the distance on GPS at over 14 km; I guess that we zig-zagged more crossing the interesting ground. A timing of only 4 hours seems very quick; I would have guessed at 5-6 hours at a typical speed for WH routes, and we took even longer as we lazed in the sun at refreshment stops.

On the ascent we stayed on a faint path heading towards Beinn Domhnuill for too long, so we had to go over a shoulder of that hill and face more peat hags; the suggested route over the 717m rise would have been better.

On the descent, after Lochan na Mna we decided to go round Creagan an Lochain rather than over the top, but the undulating heathery ground did not make this any easier. And rather than continue over Eildreach and An Dunan we started down the slopes, giving a choice of heading SW to cross the bridge near the two dams, or N then W to join the track to the stepping stones (grid ref should be NN 633 213) - we split and took similar times for the two.

[Gavin99]

Smallig , glad you enjoyed your day , it is a lovely little corner to explore
( Thanks for noticing that GR error , I have edited it )

[jmarkb]

Thanks for the alternative route you suggested for Ben Oss / Dubhcraig , I was up there today , a totally bog free experience !

You're very welcome: glad you enjoyed it!

[Seamus]

Nice wee report Gavin. Was it your good self I was speaking to at the start of the day ? You were just about to have a roll for your brekky ? I was heading up to Vorlich and then to Stuc a Chroin which was a bad idea. Very warm day and by the time I got to the top of SaC I was completely cream crackered ! I see you headed past the wee lochan on the way back, great story attached to it as you say. Cheers !

[Gavin99]

Hi Seamus , it wasn't me you were talking to , I didn't meet anyone all day until I got back down near Ardvorlich
But it was a lovely day