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I had decided upon Sunday 9th September as my next day on the hills a few weeks previously as other commitments had prevented me and my walking buddy getting out for a month or so, and from a recommendation we decided upon Stob Ghabhar & Stob a'Choire Odhair. Preparation for this walk on my part was not ideal as I had a birthday party to attend the night before and my attempts at only having a couple went out the window quite early on in the night!, needless to say when my alarm went off at 05:30 my head was a bit foggy. Nothing a day in the hills wouldnt sort though. On the upside we had gained another walker in the form of my uncle. It was to be his first munro although he had done alot of hill walking elsewhere in his army days.
By 6:15 the 3 of us were on route to Victoria bridge. The weather was looking promising with the cloud looking like it was going to clear. By the time we were packed up and ready to go it was patchy but there was blue sky coming through. At the start of the walk we got a nice sunrise over the mountains further East.
Sunrise Over Beinn Achaladair and Beinn a'Chreachain by
xpfloyd, on Flickr
The first section of the walk was fairly straight forward and the path after the green hut was well defined, so much so that the GPS was safely packed away in my bag and the map was folded away in my pocket. Unbeknown to us we had walked right past the right cut off we should have took part of the way up and were now following the path up towards Coirein Lochain instead of Stob a'Choire Odhair!
(Im blaming the hangover)
- Part way up the wrong path
When we had reached the Lochain and realised something wasnt quite right we decided it was best to continue onwards to do Stob Ghabhar first before retracing our steps and doing Stob a'Choire Odhair on the way back to the car. After the Lochain there is a steep section up towards couloir buttress with lots of loose scree but once you are up its fairly straight forward and the views were excellent when we got them. By this point the cloud was coming and going. The ridge walk along the next section is really good fun.
- Ridge towards Stob Ghabhar
Stob a'Choire Odhair by
xpfloyd, on Flickr
Stob Ghabhar by
xpfloyd, on Flickr
Once the summit is reached there is a good little shelter that you can sit down inside to get protection from the elements. We sat there for a bit and had a bite to eat.
- Gregor (gman27) At the top
- Me
- Richard at the top
Richard decided that one was enough for the day and took the normal route back towards the car whilst me and gregor retraced our route down the scree and up Stob a'Choire Odhair at the other side. The cloud was there more than it wasnt now so views were minimal.
- Me on Stob a'Choire Odhair
Upon leaving Stob a'Choire Odhair we headed down the zig-zag path which we should have came up 5 hours previously. This bit was a killer on the thighs. Once down and past the green hut we were getting some nice views towards the West of the clouds rolling in.
Glen Kinglas - Abhainn Shira by
xpfloyd, on Flickr
Pretty soon we were back at the car and luckily Richard only had to wait about 45 minutes on us so it wasnt too bad. Two very enjoyable hills with some excellent views. With my fuzzy head gone it was now time to head down the road for a few hours sleep before nightshift. Oh the joys!