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Like the other trips, the preparation for this one had started with having a look in my Munro Bible in August 2011. On the general map of chapter 2, the Bridge of Orchy munros are nicely grouped together in an amoeba shaped brown blob. Great, I thought, I can bag these five in one outing! Only to be sobered up a few pages onwards by the absence of a connecting ridge between Beinn Mhanach and the other four hills. But it was too late already: the seed had been planted and I went looking on Walkhighlands for justification to bag these five in one go. Justification I found, together with another sobering realisation. If it took others 8-11 hours to do the round, how long would it take a mere mortal soul like me? I don’t mind long days in the outdoors, but considering my bagging plans for this holiday I deemed it wiser to pace myself a bit. So by December I had talked myself out of combining the five and decided to do Beinn Mhanach in a separate trip. In February 2012 when marking maps and counting kilometers, I occurred to me that the route excluding Beinn Mhanach was of similar distance as the route including it. If it was going to be a long day anyway, I might as well add the fifth hill too. The logic of a bagger….
On Sunday evening I had industriously prepared for the early start of today: packing bag, laying out clothes and breakfast table, making lunch and even cooking supper, as I assumed I would be too tired after today’s walk to bother about this.
After a short and restless night (that had me dreaming about munros in the mist and alarm clocks not going off) the alarm went off at 5.00am. I silenced it quickly, got dressed in the dark and slipped out of the room as quietly as possible so as not to wake up the other occupants of the dormitory.
What is it with early starts? Why are they never as early as you intend them to be? Two full hours later at 7.00am I parked the car at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel.
It definitely looked like the sun would be having business elsewhere the whole day. I knew that starting the walk would mean wanting to finish it with 5 munros in the bag. It also meant: yes, it would be a long day; yes, I would get tired; no, the weather was not going to co-operate. Happy with all three I set off at a slow plod. It was going to be a long day anyway, so one hour more or less was not going to make much of a difference. More bagger logic ….
The first bit up towards the corrie there is a clear path on the south side of the burn. The path has suffered from erosion and this has been remedied by depositing lots of stones on it. Once in the impressive corrie the steep inclines on both sides of the burn keep you on the straight and narrow as well.
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- Coire and Dothaidh
![2 path from Coire an Dothaidh.JPG]()
- Path up from Coire and Dothaidh
From the bealach I was walking in the cloud. I didn’t take many pictures from this point onwards, as my camera had just announced it was feeling a bit low. Keeping my fingers crossed that there would be enough battery life for photographic evidence of 5 summits!
Initially from the bealach the path goes along a ridge, making navigation in the cloud easy. Then the ridge flattens out and the little features present were not particularly enhanced by the mist. Wanting to know my position, map and compass were consulted frequently. A bit further on, the ridge becomes more defined and then it was on the home straight to Beinn Dorain, passing the Lowlanders’ cairn en route.
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- Summit Beinn Dorain
After some refueling I made my way back along the ridge to NN323391, where I left the path for a short cut towards the Allt Coire a’ Ghabhalaich. The cloud added some adventure to this, as there were crags around, but I managed to navigate away from them. Once below the cloud the glen stretched out in front of me in all its green glory . Despite the greetin’ weather, it was beautiful. So I took a chance with the battery of my camera and snapped a picture (which turned out rather grey).
![5 Following the Allt Coire a' Ghabhalaich, Beinn a' Chuirn in the distance.JPG]()
- Heading for the Allt Coire a' Ghabhalaich, Beinn a' Chuirn at the far end
Plan was to pick up the stalkers path that contours the lower regions of the Beinn Achaladair ridge. This plan failed miserably. Nevertheless I made good progress on the transverse slope. Perhaps too good progress, for which I paid on the ascent up Beinn Mhanach, as there wasn’t much energy left in me when I reached the headwaters of the Allt an Loin. Time for a snack
Unsurprisingly, the ascent on the pathless grassy slope of Beinn Mhanach was tough. Thank goodness for the fence running to the bealach below Beinn Mhanach. At least now it was evident I was making some progress. From the bealach things (but not the weather) started looking brighter and with nice firm ground under my boots the final stretch to the summit cairn was quickly done.
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- Summit Beinn Mhanach
Lunch and then back down to Lon na Cailliche and up to Bealach an Aoghlain. This ascent, although on the same grassy slopes, was enjoyable. Even more so because the cloud had lifted a bit and I could see the bealach.
![8 View towards Bealach an Aoghlain.JPG]()
- View towards Bealach an Aoghlain
Having made it to the bealach it seemed to me that the hard bit was over and with renewed energy I continued over Meall Bhuidhe towards Beinn a Chreachain. On the ridge I met the first and only other walkers of the day. A father and son who had started from Achallader farm, done Beinn a’ Chreachain and were now on their way to Beinn Achaladair. We chatted a bit and then continued our ways. Every now and then I caught a glimpse of the surroundings. At one point I even saw Lochan a’ Chreachain. Upwards into the cloud to Beinn Chreachain. There are a lot of loose stones on the ascent. Near the top the path turns to the right (southeast) to follow the ridge for a short distance to the summit.
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- Summit Beinn a' Chreachain
After a quick bite at the summit I retraced my steps. A combination of mist and not paying enough attention on the ascent made that I didn’t remember where to turn left. I continued walking in the hope that at some point I might recognise a feature. But all looked the same in the mist. I knew I had gone too far when the descent became steeper and ahead of me there was just mist. OK, definitely need to turn left here! At least the crags below on my right provided a handrail in the otherwise featureless surroundings and led me back to the bealach at point 924 without any further wanderings.
I enjoyed the ridge towards Meall Bhuidhe very much. It was nice to do a bit of normal walking and stretch the legs. There were the occasional misty views towards Crannach Wood to be admired.
The initial steep ascent towards Beinn Achaladair was good fun. It did require the usage of hands but it wasn’t a scramble. And then I was on summit number 4.
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- Summit Beinn Achaladair
As there again wasn’t much going on in the views department I had another sandwich and descended along the long ridge over the south top down to the bealach at Coire Daingean, getting into a nice stride. The bealach was below the cloud cover and the views of Coire Daingean were stunning. The green was hurting my eyes after all the grey they had seen. I stood there for a while, absorbing the colours. And postponing the ascent up Beinn an Dothaidh. It was looking steeeeep!
Some motivational chocolate did the trick and a few well timed bursts of energy got me up to the first cairn at point 993 and then to the summit. I did it! 5 munros! I was also pretty chuffed that the battery of my camera had lasted this long. Unfortunately there still was a distinct lack of photo opportunities.
![11 Summit Beinn an Dothaidh.JPG]()
- Summit Beinn an Dothaidh
Whilst refueling at the summit, I mulled over my descent plan. As it was still nice and misty I decided to give pacing a go, aiming for point 989. From there I could then follow the ridge down. Thus I walked 250 steps westwards, then 300 steps in a southwesterly direction. Lo and behold this brought me within a few meters of the target (checked by GPS)! So that was an entertaining little interlude to keep the mind occupied.
At a height of about 900m a path came in from the east, which I followed down to the bealach. And then there were views again. I managed to snap one picture of the ascent path towards Beinn Dorain before the battery finally gave up the ghost.
![14 Path from bealach up Beinn Dorain.JPG]()
- 14 Path from bealach up Beinn Dorain
From the bealach it was straight down, no dawdling, no breaks, just walking. Tired and very pleased with my round I arrived at the car. After the drive back to the hostel, the programme for the rest of the evening was rather short: shower, food, bed.
