Munro #3 and #4 Bheinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:28 pmIt was big Bob's birthday so we got to stay in a B&B in Killin the night before and have crisps,mmm. Tried to make it a late start as the forecast was for cloud to lift during the day. Mrs H was getting itchy feet though so we popped up to the Ben Lawers carpark and assessed the weather. 12 degrees start, no peaks in sight and I forgot my woolly hat.
Walked up through the fantastic browser exclusion zone, a riot of colour and full of lovely pollinators. Why don't we have more of these? Walked up the left (true right) side of the burn and wished we'd done the other side (marked "nature trail") as on the way back we were encouraged to walk down the right side which we did as we'd noted an NTS open day on the nature trail was due in the afternoon.
Exiting the deer fence the track headed uphill but unfortunately all we could see was the mysterious misted shoulder of Beinn Ghlas which every time we thought we'd reached it reappeared further ahead. Once the cliff started dropping away on the left we knew we were close to the summit though and the wee cairn finally appeared at 1:40.
Along the ridge the cloud finally cleared a bit and we could see the great views over Loch Tay that we'd hoped for. Then just before the final pitch up to Ben Lawers the gorgeous glen opened up to the north so it was time to stop for lunch in the lee of a well placed rock. Quick scramble to the top at 2:20. Nothing to see and getting chilly so headed straight back down - we'll leave the others in the range for a clearer day!
Coming back down though around the knees of Beinn Ghlass and the views opened up to the south
and the north
and had to hurry to catch up with Mrs H who was ready to get back to the car for a hot cuppa!
It was a lovely sunny day by the time we got back down through the nature reserve and to the car - peaks still nowhere in sight though. 4 hours 5min.
Walked up through the fantastic browser exclusion zone, a riot of colour and full of lovely pollinators. Why don't we have more of these? Walked up the left (true right) side of the burn and wished we'd done the other side (marked "nature trail") as on the way back we were encouraged to walk down the right side which we did as we'd noted an NTS open day on the nature trail was due in the afternoon.
Exiting the deer fence the track headed uphill but unfortunately all we could see was the mysterious misted shoulder of Beinn Ghlas which every time we thought we'd reached it reappeared further ahead. Once the cliff started dropping away on the left we knew we were close to the summit though and the wee cairn finally appeared at 1:40.
Along the ridge the cloud finally cleared a bit and we could see the great views over Loch Tay that we'd hoped for. Then just before the final pitch up to Ben Lawers the gorgeous glen opened up to the north so it was time to stop for lunch in the lee of a well placed rock. Quick scramble to the top at 2:20. Nothing to see and getting chilly so headed straight back down - we'll leave the others in the range for a clearer day!
Coming back down though around the knees of Beinn Ghlass and the views opened up to the south
and the north
and had to hurry to catch up with Mrs H who was ready to get back to the car for a hot cuppa!
It was a lovely sunny day by the time we got back down through the nature reserve and to the car - peaks still nowhere in sight though. 4 hours 5min.