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Two weeks after almost wrecking the soles of my feet and spending a week feeling dehydrated following my successful attempt to summit the 10 highest munros over a weekend, it was time to get back out again.
Armed with a decent(ish) forecast, blister plasters and socks that didn't smell too horrific, a trip was arranged with Graham and Jozef to do the Ben Lui group on Saturday, and the Ben Cruachan walk on Sunday, with a night at the "By The Way" bunkhouse on Saturday night. It's a fine facility incidentally. We were £18.00 for a night in a pretty well-appointed bunkhouse, with the added bizarre feature of a family of Great Tits nesting in the ashtray outside
Saturday
Beinn a'Chleib, Ben Lui, Ben Oss, Ben DubhchraigAnyway, back to Saturday morning. I set off way too early and ended up waiting around in glorious sunshine at the Dalrigh Car Park just short of Tyndrum. Graham arrived from Carlisle an hour later and we headed round to Glen Lochy Car Park. Doing these four hills as a linear route saves roughly 10K as opposed to the "horseshoe". A lot to be thankful for at the end of a long day.
- Lui and co from Glen Lochy
The start point is Glen Lochy car park, briefly following the nearby river then crossing over. There's no bridge but the water was low to the point of non-existent. Immediately afterwards the railway line must be negotiated, either via a knee deep in water underpass, or risking a fine crossing the tracks.
Things get better as we now faced a tramp through a couple of km of forest, and like 99% of walkers tackling this route, completely missed the all-important cairn. We eventually reached a forest track then looked for a fire break to head up. Sort of found one and went for it. Eventually we emerged from Fangorn Forest with surprisingly untorn clothing and not missing any eyes. Turning round revealed a tremendous view of Ben Cruachan.
- Ben Cruachan
We saw the path we missed at this point
At this point Graham and I headed for the Corrie headwall, and Josef, clearly bored with "normal" walking, decided to head straight up the nose of Beinn a'Chleib. After a steep shortcut up the headwall we made the bealach, then took the very short and surprisingly easy ascent up to Beinn a'Chleib, the day's first munro.
- Beinn a'Chleib summit
After a short break here we made for the bealach then started up Ben Lui, a much greater ascent, but a fabulous mountain. The clag began to roll in however, and by the time we made the summit, views were somewhat restricted.
- Ben Lui Summit
After a snack and a reasonably extensive debate as to why this was the true summit when the other cairn looked higher, we all agreed we couldn't be arsed going to the other cairn, chatted to a walker from Fife and another couple from Glasgow then started to head down the longish tramp (and depressingly large height loss) to the Bealach below Ben Oss. It's quite a pleasant wee wander, and the re-ascent is also fairly gentle, consisting of a great long shoulder then a shortish final pull to the summit.
Views remained awesome.
- Ben Oss
The summit was soon reached, and a very short break taken.
- Ben Oss Summit
We then headed off for the day's final summit, Ben Dubhchraig, via a mini-bealach, then a bigger drop to the proper bealach. A Final climb out of here, was followed by a gentle pull up to the summit, which offered fine views of Loch Lomond, the Tyndrum hills and much more. The weather had significantly improved and now even Ben Lui was clear.
- Distant Ben Lui
We had a well-earned rest at the cairn/shelter at the summit, mulled over the wonders of cheese rolls and planned our descent.
- Dubhchraig Summit with Lui behind
We then headed off down the mountain's NNE side rather than backtracking to the junction. After a trouble-free grassy descent, we followed the burn down towards the forest. This was a cracking stretch. With around half a mile of soft, spongy grass. Heaven on the feet. We eventually joined the path for the remaining walk out, entering the forest of Scots pine, a really beautiful spot.
- The walk out
A detailed on the WH route for the latter two munros, the footbridge is out, however the river crossing after the recent dry spell was trouble free as were the no doubt usually awful boggy sections. Eventually we reached the Dalrigh Car Park, headed off to collect car #2 then made for our lodgings for the evening, where we met an international female athlete doing the WHW and a walker who had almost died falling after a cornice took him off Creise in January.
All in all, an excellent day.
Sunday
Ben Cruachan, Stob DiamhAfter a fine night's sleep in the By The Way bunkhouse (it took me about 3 hours to realise why it was called this
), we made for the the Cruachan horseshoe, joined by Scoob and Fi who would tag on the Corbett Beinn a'Bhuiridh. Starting from the car park at Falls of Cruachan Station, we started up the steep and fern-swamped route. It was a lovely and absolutely roasting start, sheltered from the cooling breeze. The views however were stunning.
- Loch Awe(some)
We continued through the expanse of ferns, eventually coming up to the impressive Cruachan Dam and a fine track. Upon reaching the dam, it's necessary to head to the left and nip up the ladder to the vehicle track.
- Cruachan Dam
The vehicle track is then followed by a short distance, before reaching a marker cairn to begin the long ascent up to the bealach. This is a lovely walk, following the descending burns, with assorted little waterfalls, and good opportunities to take on fluids.
- Waterfalls
The walk steepens towards the final part out of the corrie to the bealach, but the rewards is an awesome view across to Mull and various other islands.
- Towards Mull
The remaining ascent is a bit of a boulderfield but quite enjoyable.
Soon the summit is reached, well worth the toil in getting there. The views in all directions are absolutely wonderful, with most of the western highlands visible.
- Summit of Cruachan
- Loch Etive
- Munro Top, Stob Dearg
After a long break taking in the wonderful views, we started the long descent along the highly enjoyable ridge which eventually lead to Stob Diamh, with some larking about along the way....
The walk between the summits is a real pleasure with wonderful views all around. A brief lapse in concentration almost resulted in us dismissing Stob Diamh as a munro top, however i headed up to the touch the cairn anyway. Although not nearly as fine a summit as Cruachan, it's nevertheless a cracking spot.
- Stob Diamh
- View back to Cruachan
After the short journey to the munro top Stob Garbh, we wandered down to the Bealach with the Corbett. At this point we left Scoob and Fi to fire up the Corbett and headed back down to the dam, then the cars. Partly to get home at a decent time, and partly because one of my blisters from the other week was coming out to play
Once final look at the wonderful Ben Cruachan....
And along the dam....
So ended another wonderful weekend in the Scottish hills. I topped it off by getting home in decent time and ordering an absolutely massively Chicken Shashlik kebab. Wonderful.
