Carn Riath plus Briagh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain

[scotdavid63]

Had to be back in Edinburgh by 6pm latest so, having looked at weather here and having one not very awake 10 year old, thought this was nearish and we could do two munros depending on weather and so on. Easy to find Menzie and a few cars were already there by 9.45am, likely people trying to bag all three. The third munro on this trip is much further ahead than the second.
So, lovely when we arrived, got booted up, decided shorts would be ok for the day, put the two dogs on their leads and off we went. You start at over 300m and the first couple of kms are flattish so it's a good way to start.

Once you turn left over a stile next to the footprint of a building and a newer hut, there's a bit of boggy stuff before you start the ascent proper. By this time you will be at 500m plus so have made a big dent in the vertical. Very important for keeping kids motivated !
The path is largely loose rock so most people were taking their time (we passed a couple of groups) and there is only really one shoulder before you see the summit. Having started in nice weather a bit of wind had kicked in so we sheltered beside the cairn (20m from the trig point) and had a wee snack, it had taken us 1hr 40mins to get up to the summit of Carn Liath.
The view across to the second munro (assumes clear weather of course) shows the whole path except for one wee drop so you can see clearly where you are going and it's only a couple of km further on. The third munro of Beinn aGhlo is much further away. Most people either just stopped for a couple of mins or kept going, guess they wanted to max their chances of doing all three and to take advantage of the weather ... Quite a few dogs around, after you cross the stile it is sheep free although very few burns around for mutts to drink from.
We set off for the next hill and, when we got to the lowest point of the ascent, a nasty squall had appeared, much colder and wetter so the shorts decision was suddenly not as smart. However, the ascent to Briagh CC-b is fairly tame so we persevered and got there an hour after leaving Carn Liath, 2hr 50mins all in having had a break at Carn Liath summit. Even with decent speed we were not going to make the last one so had another quick lunch as it was still blowing a bit. No one else had stopped there or stopped when we were there, underlines that it was non too pleasant !
We did not fancy a long traverse and trek along the track back what with sheep and all so we retraced our steps past Carn Liath, had one more snack and chat to some late starters and headed home. With a 14 yr old and a 10 yr old who both like bouncing down hills (young knees) we were back in the car park at 3.20pm, 5hr 20min round trip. Weather cleared up again by then so suspect that the more intrepid souls who wanted to bash the three would have managed but pretty worn out by the end of the day. Have some lovely photos, will try to post later !