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On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:37 pm
by Fudgie
I've taken this week off work so I had been giving a fair bit of thought about where to go and after asking for advice in the General forum and getting some help from Monty and Basscadet, I planned to do a loop from Corrour taking in Carn Dearg, Sgor Gaibhre and Beinn na Lap. I was toying between yesterday and today and a look at MWIS made Wednesday the clear favourite. The sleeper train goes through my local station but it would take too long to do the entire journey by train so I drove to Crianlarich and awaited it's arrival there.

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There were only two people in the carriage so I would have a peaceful journey North whilst taking in the fabulous views. I've driven this way more times than I can remember but it's obviously difficult to spend too long looking at the hills :wink: so I took advantage of the hills being lit up by the morning sun. Stob Ghabhar was particularly stunning although I didn't take any pictures as the train windows were a bit dirty. As we got closer to Rannoch I could see dark clouds and rain over Carn Dearg which didn't exactly fill me with confidence :(

Fortunately by the time I stepped off the train at Corrour the bad weather had passed (for now anyway) and I went into the station restaurant for a delicious bacon sandwhich that I washed down with a pot of tea. I had 9 and a half hours between trains so I figured I could allow myself this wee treat without running the risk of missing the train home.

Feeling refreshed and raring to go, I set off down the track towards Loch Ossian at a good pace and I stopped to remove a hat and gloves which were necessary only 10 minutes previously. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures as the weather and scenery were absolutely stunning with snow obvious on the top of Ben Nevis (although not in my pictures as I use a wide angle lense).

Loch Ossian:
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Leum Uilliem & Ben Nevis:
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The path continued up at a reasonable incline although it did become very boggy at times as it went round the side of Meall Na Lice but nothing that slowed me down too much. As the path turned South I followed it for a short distance before heading up the side of the hill through the heather. It wasn't too thick which was good but I couldn't help but stop and turn round to admire the views. Glencoe seemed to be escaping the worst of the weather but Ben Nevis and The Grey Corries were having a tough time of it.

Glencoe to The Grey Corries:
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The slope was consistent at least and I reached the top of Carn Dearg about 90 minutes after leaving Corrour station. The wind which had been coming and going was staying with me and it was noticeable without being a distraction. It was a good feeling to stand on top of my 48th Munro and admire some pretty spectacular views whilst greedily munching a cheese and ham piece :D It was quite obvious that the poor weather was making it's way towards me so I unwillingly put on my waterproof trousers and braced for impact. After taking a few pictures of course :D

Corrour Station and Loch Ossian (in there somewhere):
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Sgor Gaibhre with Ben Alder behind it:
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As I made my descent from Carn Dearg towards Sgor Gaibhre I felt the hailstones begin to land and thought how glad I was to have had the foresight to put my waterproofs on. Sods law though dictated that they would go off after a minute and the sun would come out and blast me with rays of heat whilst wrapped up :lol:

I took them off on the ascent of Sgor Gaibhre as I was really starting to sweat and the ascent of the gentle but consistent slope to the summit was made a lot easier. Again, sods law meant that as I got close to the top the wind would pick up and push hailstones along at a horizontal level forcing me to scurry to the top of Munro number 49 and sit behind the cairn whilst putting the waterproofs back on :wtf: :-x The cairn did shelter me from the wind and I watched the hailstones and cloud fly past at great speed before the whole lot disappeared and the views opened up. The next few pictures were taken seconds apart and show how quickly the views were changing.

South to Rannoch Moor (it's in there behind all that):
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East to Ben Alder and friends:
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North West to Beinn na Lap and Chno Dearg:
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My hands were numb holding the camera (despite possessing gloves that I could use the camera with :oops: ) and I knew that I had a long walk ahead of me to the summit of Beinn Na Lap although time wise I was going nicely and didn't feel too worried. I traversed the side of Sgor Choinnich and headed over Meall Nathrach Mor before dropping down it's boggy, hole filled side in the direction of the Shooting Lodge.

Loch Ossian and Beinn na Lap:
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I wasn't quite sure on how close to the lodge I was allowed to go so I passed through a gate to the East of it and made my towards a bridge over the river. I thought about going round the fence but it would have meant a massive detour as well as having to wade the river which didn't look possible from a distance. Once across the bridge I went through the main gate and then onto the side of Meall Glas-uaine Beag where I followed the fecne in the direction of Beinn na Lap.

The terrain was undulating and I would suddenly come across bogs which forced me to detour around them and added to the up and down nature of the walk at this point, I was starting to slow down at the point that I really needed to maintain a good pace. The side of Beinn na Lap that I had to go up looked extremely steep and it took me an age to get up this part. I had set myself a target of being at the top for 16:30 and if I wasn't there by then I would have to head down to the station as I didn't want to miss the train.

After what felt like an age I reached the top of my 50th Munro at 16:20 and proceeded to slump down in the stone shelter and devour the last part of my Twix which I had promised myself as a reward for getting to the top. I enjoyed the feeling of getting to the top after such a long walk as well as making it to 50 and I'm not ashamed to admit I was quite proud of myself :D The days other two Munro's looked a fair distance away and the distance I had covered was all too clear to see.

Sgor Gaibhre and Carn Dearg:
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Bridge of Orchy and The Black Mount:
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I had just under two hours to make it down to the station and I was very confident that I would make it in plenty of time and by the time I was halfway down the side of Beinn na Lap, I knew that I would make it and eased off a bit. The Mammores and Ben Nevis were silhouettes and lit by the sun but covered in rain at the same time and I stood and watched for a few minutes before carrying on with the muddy descent.

I was looking forward to getting back on to the track but within 5 minutes of reaching it my legs started to feel heavy and I ambled along towards the station house with the thought of a pot of tea driving me on :D I got there about half an hour before the train was due so I went inside and sampled some of the lovely hospitality for the second time that day. The couple who have taken it over have made it a very welcoming place and I would urge anyone to drop in and give it a try.

The train arrived bang on time and I was delighted to sit down and wait for the catering trolley to arrive. I got myself a packet of crisps, a Kit Kat and a bottle of Irn Bru and once again enjoyed the scenery from the comfort of the train. The drive home from Crianlarich was very quick and although I was glad to get home, I had enjoyed almost every minute of my day out and I can't wait to get out again. There are some more pictures and bigger versions of those above here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25762426@N05/sets/72157631525758444/

So thats the first 50 down, where to next? :D

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:49 pm
by basscadet
What amazing pictures! :D
Sounds like you got the same weather as me this week.. exhausting all that putting on waterproofs to take them off 5 mins later as the showers come and go.. and thats without even doing any walking :lol:

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:52 pm
by Fudgie
basscadet wrote:What amazing pictures! :D
Sounds like you got the same weather as me this week.. exhausting all that putting on waterproofs to take them off 5 mins later as the showers come and go.. and thats without even doing any walking :lol:


Cheers BC. Between Sgor Gaibhre and Beinn na Lap I just left them on despite it not hailstoning once :lol:

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:00 pm
by Johnny Corbett
Some nice photos. Sounds like you had a hard day but all worth to get to 50, well done :clap:

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:42 pm
by Meatball
An enjoyable read, thank you!

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:54 pm
by Fudgie
Johnny Corbett wrote:Some nice photos. Sounds like you had a hard day but all worth to get to 50, well done :clap:


Cheers johnny, the hardest part was the last ascent up Beinn Na Lap but it was well worth it. I'm already planning to go back and do Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain from Corrour :wink:

Meatball wrote:An enjoyable read, thank you!


Thanks Meatball, I wasn't sure if I had rambled on too much :D

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:15 pm
by Alan S
Well done on your 50th 8)
This report will be very usefill to me as I have looked at a similar route for some time now,cheers :D

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:52 pm
by Fudgie
Alan S wrote:Well done on your 50th 8)
This report will be very usefill to me as I have looked at a similar route for some time now,cheers :D


Cheers Alan. It's straightforward enough although there's probably a path for less than half of it.

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:21 pm
by jonny616
Great stuff, looking to do this sometime soon myself. to save me 50p on the phone what time was the tray going & coming back :lol:

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:38 am
by Fudgie
jonny616 wrote:Great stuff, looking to do this sometime soon myself. to save me 50p on the phone what time was the tray going & coming back :lol:


I take it you mean train? :lol:

The train going left Crianlarich at 7:44 and arrived at Corrour at 8:58. The return train was 18:25 and arrived at Crianlarich around 19:20. Strangely enough, it was cheaper to get it from Crianlarich than to go further up the line to Bridge of Orchy :?

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:57 pm
by electricfly
Great to read this report. I was over to the east of you at the same time doing a bunch around Ben Alder, and yes, it was like someone was fiddling around with the weather switch up there! :lol:

Coming down to the main path from Beinn Eibhinn I was thinking about routes to do from Corrour. Might try and do a few here at the end of this month. :D

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:38 pm
by Fudgie
electricfly wrote:Great to read this report. I was over to the east of you at the same time doing a bunch around Ben Alder, and yes, it was like someone was fiddling around with the weather switch up there! :lol:

Coming down to the main path from Beinn Eibhinn I was thinking about routes to do from Corrour. Might try and do a few here at the end of this month. :D


The word "changeable" doesn't do justice to how the weather was :D and looking East and West I think I got quite lucky as the likes of Ben Alder seemed covered for a fair bit. Talking about Bein Eibhinn, I thought that it looked possible from Corrour although I think it would be a full day out.

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:14 pm
by luibnaclach
brilliant report, :clap: the fact that i was brought up at corrour and you have made me very homesick is of no consequence :)

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:43 am
by electricfly
Fudgie wrote:The word "changeable" doesn't do justice to how the weather was :D and looking East and West I think I got quite lucky as the likes of Ben Alder seemed covered for a fair bit. Talking about Bein Eibhinn, I thought that it looked possible from Corrour although I think it would be a full day out.


Yeah, it was certainly more rain with sporadic bursts of sunshine, than sunshine with sporadic bursts of showers over in the Ben Alder estate.That wind was quite consistent though! :crazy:

We met an Englishman on our walk-out to Dalwhinie who was heading to Culra. He mentioned that he had done Beinn Eibhinn and Aonach Beag from the Corrour side in a previous outing, so it's probably quite common to tackle these two from the west.

I think the 3hr walk-in and out between Culra and Dalwhinnie puts many off an eastern approach! :lol:

Re: On Tour From Corrour

PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:44 pm
by gman
Nice one, definitely fancy these if bacon sandwiches are involved :)