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It's been a long while since I wrote a hill walking report on this site, but these four hills deserve a good write up, so here goes.
We left a dark Stenhousemuir at 3:45am, passing all the folk returning home from Falkirk and Stirling from a night out we met our compadres for the day in Dunblane, then headed north, way north until we were on the Dirrie Mor and the road to Ullapool.
Booted and suited we were off and walking just a couple of minutes past 8am, the long walk up Gleann na Sguaib had begun. The weather was dank, one of those dreich mornings you have to be a Scot to understand. Somehow no amount of English words can quite describe driech.
We made our way up the glen. The first couple of K's are on a very nice Forestry Commision track until a small metal weir is reached in the River Lael down below.
After passing through a gate we were in the open country side and beginning to be funnelled down the gleann proper.
As we made our way up the glen, unfortunately one of gang was feeling a bit ill and had to turn back. It would be a long, but dry, wait for Gammy... Dont' worry big man, they hills aint going anywhere!
So the 6 were 5 and we continued to battle the rain up the glen with little in the way of views available to us.
As we walked further up the valley, we spotted a waterfall in the River Lael down below and the clag began to lift slightly and eventually we were in waterfall wonderland. At the spot where the Allt a'Chnapaich joins the main River Lael.
The path climbs up the side of these falls and at times we were walking on water as the burns had overflown their banks in places.
Just beyond here was a sureal spot, where all was calm and with the thick fog, not much could be seen, just the odd weird noise from the babbling burns... Time for Elevenses!
Refreshed we began the assault up past Lochan Lathail onto the Bealach Lochain Uaine... at this point I just had to trust that there were three lochans up here... it seemed more like the one that kept on magically reappearing in fog!
We knew that this was the point where we should split off the path to continue up Beinn Dearg, but with visibility down to only a few yards it was hard to see where we should go... No doubt the 1084m high mountain would've had wee chuckle at us not being able to see it!
Eventually the path was found and the rocky, scrambly assault on the tallest mountain north of the A835 began. I enjoyed clambering over the rocks, something different after the long walk up Gleann na Sguaib.
All the while there is an old dry stane dyke on your left hand side as the steep climb is made and eventually the minor miracle of human engineering bars your way and it has to be scaled at the place where it angles across in front of you. From here it's probably a simple last few meters up to the summit, but since I was out in front of the rest and in the clag it was not at all apparent as to which direction to go! Following the rising ground I slowly made way upwards, crossing a large snow patch and a mini white out, before finally catching sight of the massive cairn in the pea soup.
With nobody else around there was only one thing for it... SELFIE!
The five or six minutes spent waiting on the others catching up was spent in eerie blindness, every sound that the wind made, setting my imagination to running riot.... then a shape.. uh oh! But it was only Alec and Dawn reaching the summit, to be followed soon after by Wullie and Jeanette. After a quick spot of lunch, it was time to descend back down to the Bealach with themagically moving lochans! This time we bypassed a lot of the scrambly stuff, by skirting round the edge on some snow and quicker than expected we were back at the saddle point.
Once again, it was a case of trial and error with the GPS to ascertain the correct route over to Cona Mheall, which would be my 80th munro. We got there and after crossing down to the lower bealach the viewless plod uphill began.
As we crossed the boulder field we met the only other soul we'd see all day, a chap from Aberdeen who'd already done Beinn Dearg, but was ticking off the other three. He was on his descent way back down the glen. Five minutes after meeting him, I was at the top, right behind Alec.
Apparently back in the day, Cona Mheall was one of the few Munros with no summit cairn, but there is a small one there now. Dawn and Alec decided to make it a bit better though!!
As we sat at the top on Cona Mheall, we were treated to brief flashes of the surrounding scenery as the sun began to burn through the mist and clag. We'd see a glimpse into the valley below or down the ridge of the mountain. Maybe a flash of Beinn Dearg, but nothing sustained until we had nearly reached the bottom of the hill!
Just 35 minutes after climbing up at this spot, the view up to Cona Mheall was now totally clear... typical!
It was now possible to get a "lie of the land" so to speak. With Beinn Dearg standing tall over all that it surveyed.
We could now see exactly where Meall nan Ceapraichean lay and to make up some lost time we cut the corner. Rather than returning to the high bealach we bypassed it, making a beeline for the third munro of the day.
With the clag now gone, the views were spectacular in all directions, but especially down into Coire Ghranda.
The walk up Meall nan Ceapraichean probably took longer than it should have as we stopped over and over again to get those wanted shots from our image starved cameras. As we got higher up, the path comes close to the top of the cliffs towering above Glean na Sguaib. Barely visible in the distance was the impressive panorama of the Fannich and Fisherfield ranges; we could also see the path that would be our exit route from the 4th and final munro, Eididh nan Clach Geala, far below.
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After another summit snack, it was time to head down over Ceann Garbh toward Lochan a'Chnapaich and the low bealach between Meall nan Ceapraichean and Eididh nan Clach Geala. This was a wet sludge of walk, with more than expected height loss and to make matter worse, the clag was back. I took a slide and fall... gotta happen at least once in an outing and nothing hurt other than pride!!
That certainly didn't stop us pressing on. Once more we were following bearings and GPS read outs in order to climb this diminutive munro. The climb was a bit of slog, but over in mercifully quick time.
Yet again, the weather gods played that old nasty trick on us. As we reached the lochan on the shoulder of ECG guess what? Yep, that's right. The summit was totally clear with blue skies above!
There were also some grand views across to Meall nan Ceapraichean and Beinn Dearg.
The walk down the shoulder was a short one and just before the lochan, the route takes a sharp left turn and heads down off the broad ridge to a good path that comes down from An Cnapaich.
This path then heads down hill to rejoin the main path up/down Glean na Sguaib, but this time as we looked up the glen we actually had a view!
Making the march down the final few kms back to the car we realised we were being watched... a herd of deer were scrutinising our every move.
From here it was straight back down to the car and one last majestic vista of Loch Broom.
Despite all the comings and going of the clag, the camaraderie, banter and company were excellent. The views, when we had them, were awesome. I hope to go back one day and get the full range of views in their entirity. A grand day out and braw way to bring up 80 munros for me and 25 for Jeanette.
Eventually the other caught up and a quick bite was had to
