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At the fourth attempt in over 30 years hillwalking I today managed a full traverse of the Tarmachan ridge above Killin. Previous attempts had failed owing to bad weather, navigational incompetence (well, we were young and pretty inexperienced), and someone forgetting the insoles for their boots (not me)!
Was it worth the wait? Well yes it was actually.
Weather was kind to the hoards on the hill apart from a smidgeon of low cloud occasionally but there is a clear path all the way so navigation was never going to be an issue.
Summit came in just an hour from the car (must be getting fit again with all my recent outings) and was relatively peaceful given the popularity of the hil (a stop start crocodile of about 20-odd people was a talking point amongst folk I chatted with).
They got about 10 minutes from the car before a couple of the party called a temporary halt to proceedings and that seemed to be the tone of their day from what we could see
Mall Garbh was delightful but the scrambly descent was a bit of a surprise. I thought the wee narrow ridge was all there was to it but apparently not. Must be a hoot under snow and ice that section!
I note from an older edition of Sir Hugh's tables and marks on my (first series metric) map that Beinn nan Eachan used to have two tops. I'm sure it still has but only one of them is in the latest edition of the tables.
Looking back at the route from Creag na Cailleach I thought I'd need a fifth visit to tick it coz i certainly didn't go over it today (I assume it is the pimple that appears between Beinn nan Eachan and Meall Garbh looking back eastward).
Pleasant descent into the corrie but the track back was uncomfortable and now I've got a pain behind my right knee.
Thanks to the guys I traversed part of the ridge with for some good craic including Willie C from Dumbarton who's just discovering the hills and the big guy with theTog 24 fleece who was cracking on despite not having been on anything higher than a coach for the last year. You know who you are but I don't think you got my name. Cheers lads. A good day out.
Allan
