Sparkly Crianlarich Hills
Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 10:41 pmAs Coldwetandhungry had a weekend away with the youth group, Rudolph and I grabbed the bank holiday weekend opportunity of a quick escape to the Crianlarich hills. We climbed Ben More and Stob Binnein in the days before children, glad we did too as they look a lot more brutal now than they seemed then! So the five remaining hills seemed like a good opportunity for an overnighter and after much studying of weather forecasts we chose one we liked the look of and went for it.
We left Yorkshire after my work on Friday night, staying in the Travelodge in Braehead overnight for a late bed and a rotten sleep, not the Travelodge's fault as it was very comfy and quiet, and taking advantage of the all you can eat breakfast made a fairly leisurely journey up the A82, no way we could hurry because of all the Lochs and Glens buses. Parking up at the layby where the Falloch does its 90 degree bend we finally got away just after 11am.
We crossed the muddy field and under the railway line and had not got far up the track when we found a mobile phone lying on the path, looks like somebody had just dropped it. We phoned home and told the lady on the other end that it had turned up and we would arrange later how to return it. Putting it safely in a dry pocket we carried on with our walk, heading across the rickety bridge over the Falloch and up in a rising traverse towards the ridge above the Grey Heights.
Not far up the steep rough hillside I spotted movement in the corner of my eye, and there was a small pond absolutely bursting with tadpoles, they were so wriggly it looked like the pond was fizzing!
we eventually hit the ridge which was a lovely walk undulating between lochans and lumpy bits with the views opening up as we went
We seemed to miss the direct path up to the top and went around the West side, coming to the summit from behind, but it worked fine, and so here am I on my second munro of the year looking very happy!
I noticed as we were coming up the ridge that the rocks on Cruach Ardrain were very sparkly, and then I noticed that there were little sparkles on my boots, my gaiters and even my trousers up to my knees! Even the mud was sparkly on the sparkly hill in the sparkly sunshine! That gave me a lot of pleasure and delight!
We met quite a lot of people on Cruach Ardrain and asked all of them if they had lost a mobile. Eventually we met a man walking solo and were able to return the phone to its very happy owner just at the bealach between Ardrain and Tulaichean. That was also a matter of pleasure and delight!
The next job was to descend the steep west side of Beinn Tuleachain to the bealach between these two hills and Beinn a'Chroin. We stopped for our second lunch and picked out our intended route which was the reverse of what Steve Fallon recommends for his completely bonkers traverse of all the Crianlarich Hills. This was over very rough and rocky terrain and I would not have liked to do this in poor visibility as the terrain would make it difficult to walk on a bearing. Anyway we didn't need to as we could see roughly where we wanted to go from the top, and planned our route down and up again
We got down to the bealach and headed off up again to gain the north ridge of Beinn a'Chroin.
this was not difficult route finding but we found it a real slog getting up here, looking up directly into the sun, beginning to feel the lack of real hill fitness and Rudolph confessed to struggling quite a lot. Maybe the late night and lack of sleep catching up on us.
Anyway as we gained the summit ridge, missing out on the Eastern top which we are assured is not the summit, a helicopter started circling around and around. It came and went for over an hour as we walked along the ridge, down the steep and scrambly path on the other side and started setting up our camp at Bealach Buidhe.
when it hovered just a few yards from where we were and very quickly dropped a winchman down, we were sure it was on exercises, beautiful it was too, but the man came over to us and asked if we had seen a couple with a dog, one of whom was injured. they had been looking for them but not seen anyone. We hadn't actually seen anyone at all since handing the phone back to its happy owner, so we hope they were found.
the helicopter circled round again and picked up the winchman and soon after we didnt hear it agan.
We set up our camp and Rudolph collapsed in a heap in the tent, too tired to eat anything - well we had eaten quite well on cooked breakfast pork pie and ham rolls so a cup of tea and a jammy roll was enough!
In the morning it was claggy when we woke up and we were concerned if we would make it to Beinn Chabhair and back without a path, but in fact by the time we had breakfast the cloud level was lifting and we could see our way no bother. I wouldn't recommend navigating this in clag though unless you know exactly what you are doing as again the terrain is rough.
we were quite pleased with ourselves at our choice of route up the other side, you go up a rake from the bealach where there are hints of a path which come and go. there is a flatter bit with a wee lochan at NN 370180 which is fed by a small burn, not marked on the OS map. going up this burn to its top and then keeping going you gain the south ridge of beinn Chabhair and a nice walk to the summit.
The view from the top was interesting, looked like we were on the only hills not in clag, very satisfying!
So then we had the climb back down and up to Bealach Bhuidhe, strike camp, pack up the stuff and up the last summit of the day, An Casteil. this was a lovely walk up a good path with enough interesting scrambly bits to make it a lot of fun.
The last remaining task was to come down the beautiful ridge of Twistin Hill, with superb views all around. But I didn't stop to take many pictures coming down as I was rather focused on going to the Real Food cafe for tea!
there were cows in the field at the bottom near the river, but nothing too scary just a finishing school of heifers with their elegant odd earrings, it's the fashion these days you know!
We left Yorkshire after my work on Friday night, staying in the Travelodge in Braehead overnight for a late bed and a rotten sleep, not the Travelodge's fault as it was very comfy and quiet, and taking advantage of the all you can eat breakfast made a fairly leisurely journey up the A82, no way we could hurry because of all the Lochs and Glens buses. Parking up at the layby where the Falloch does its 90 degree bend we finally got away just after 11am.
We crossed the muddy field and under the railway line and had not got far up the track when we found a mobile phone lying on the path, looks like somebody had just dropped it. We phoned home and told the lady on the other end that it had turned up and we would arrange later how to return it. Putting it safely in a dry pocket we carried on with our walk, heading across the rickety bridge over the Falloch and up in a rising traverse towards the ridge above the Grey Heights.
- River Falloch just upstream of the crossing
- looking back towards the rickety bridge
Not far up the steep rough hillside I spotted movement in the corner of my eye, and there was a small pond absolutely bursting with tadpoles, they were so wriggly it looked like the pond was fizzing!
- fizzy tadpoles
we eventually hit the ridge which was a lovely walk undulating between lochans and lumpy bits with the views opening up as we went
- looking towards ben Lui poking out above ben Oss
- forwards to Cruach Ardrain summit
- looking across to Ben a'Chroin
We seemed to miss the direct path up to the top and went around the West side, coming to the summit from behind, but it worked fine, and so here am I on my second munro of the year looking very happy!
- top of Cruach Ardrain
I noticed as we were coming up the ridge that the rocks on Cruach Ardrain were very sparkly, and then I noticed that there were little sparkles on my boots, my gaiters and even my trousers up to my knees! Even the mud was sparkly on the sparkly hill in the sparkly sunshine! That gave me a lot of pleasure and delight!
We met quite a lot of people on Cruach Ardrain and asked all of them if they had lost a mobile. Eventually we met a man walking solo and were able to return the phone to its very happy owner just at the bealach between Ardrain and Tulaichean. That was also a matter of pleasure and delight!
- Rudolph on Beinn Tulaichean
- Looking toward ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin from top of beinn Tulaichean
The next job was to descend the steep west side of Beinn Tuleachain to the bealach between these two hills and Beinn a'Chroin. We stopped for our second lunch and picked out our intended route which was the reverse of what Steve Fallon recommends for his completely bonkers traverse of all the Crianlarich Hills. This was over very rough and rocky terrain and I would not have liked to do this in poor visibility as the terrain would make it difficult to walk on a bearing. Anyway we didn't need to as we could see roughly where we wanted to go from the top, and planned our route down and up again
- this picture shows the route we took below the cliffs of Stob Glas
- heading down below the cliffs
We got down to the bealach and headed off up again to gain the north ridge of Beinn a'Chroin.
- looking up to beinn a'chroin
this was not difficult route finding but we found it a real slog getting up here, looking up directly into the sun, beginning to feel the lack of real hill fitness and Rudolph confessed to struggling quite a lot. Maybe the late night and lack of sleep catching up on us.
- top of Beinn a'Chroin looking back to Cruach Ardrain and Beinn tulaichean with Stob Binnein behind
Anyway as we gained the summit ridge, missing out on the Eastern top which we are assured is not the summit, a helicopter started circling around and around. It came and went for over an hour as we walked along the ridge, down the steep and scrambly path on the other side and started setting up our camp at Bealach Buidhe.
- helicopter circling
when it hovered just a few yards from where we were and very quickly dropped a winchman down, we were sure it was on exercises, beautiful it was too, but the man came over to us and asked if we had seen a couple with a dog, one of whom was injured. they had been looking for them but not seen anyone. We hadn't actually seen anyone at all since handing the phone back to its happy owner, so we hope they were found.
- helicopter hovering above bealach buidhe
the helicopter circled round again and picked up the winchman and soon after we didnt hear it agan.
We set up our camp and Rudolph collapsed in a heap in the tent, too tired to eat anything - well we had eaten quite well on cooked breakfast pork pie and ham rolls so a cup of tea and a jammy roll was enough!
- Rudolph in the tent
In the morning it was claggy when we woke up and we were concerned if we would make it to Beinn Chabhair and back without a path, but in fact by the time we had breakfast the cloud level was lifting and we could see our way no bother. I wouldn't recommend navigating this in clag though unless you know exactly what you are doing as again the terrain is rough.
- descending to the bealach
- lochan at the bealach
we were quite pleased with ourselves at our choice of route up the other side, you go up a rake from the bealach where there are hints of a path which come and go. there is a flatter bit with a wee lochan at NN 370180 which is fed by a small burn, not marked on the OS map. going up this burn to its top and then keeping going you gain the south ridge of beinn Chabhair and a nice walk to the summit.
- our route up
- wee lochan at NN3718
The view from the top was interesting, looked like we were on the only hills not in clag, very satisfying!
- view down to Loch Long from Beinn Chabhair
So then we had the climb back down and up to Bealach Bhuidhe, strike camp, pack up the stuff and up the last summit of the day, An Casteil. this was a lovely walk up a good path with enough interesting scrambly bits to make it a lot of fun.
- bridge of Orchy Hills from near top of An Casteil
- an Casteil summit
The last remaining task was to come down the beautiful ridge of Twistin Hill, with superb views all around. But I didn't stop to take many pictures coming down as I was rather focused on going to the Real Food cafe for tea!
- we like this
there were cows in the field at the bottom near the river, but nothing too scary just a finishing school of heifers with their elegant odd earrings, it's the fashion these days you know!
- do you like my earrings?
