free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
This day was a kind of last minute shout, Jimmy (JimboJim) had advertised his plan to walk 'anywhere' in the West Highlands, which as we all know covers quite a few hills
After studying the forecast I decided to rearrange my plans for the day, as I didn't fancy spending a hot sunny day couped up indoors waiting for British Gas to attend & repair my oven, so I am now spending a dull & damp day indoors waiting
Not long after I had volunteered to accompany Jimmy, Russell (RTC) popped up out of the woodwork and asked if he could tag along. After a few PM's I arranged to pick up Russell in Stirling & head west. The plan was to meet Jimmy at the turn off into Glen Etive just off the A82 at 8.15am
Both Jimmy & Russell were new walking companions so after introductions we all jumped in my car & headed down the single track road that runs alongside the River Etive for 10 miles. All was going well until we were stopped about half way along the road. Council workers decided to get some good fresh air into their lungs & we were advised that they were going to resurface a section of the road, not a problem until we were advised that this would probably take all day & if we were returning soonish, we would have to expect a long delay. We advised them that we weren't expecting to return until late afternoon & after a bit of a wait we continued down the road to the small parking area.
The plan for the day was to tackle Stob Coir an Albannaich & then Meall nan Eun and with hardly a cloud in the sky off we set
- The only cloud in the sky
- Stunning or what?
We set off after the slight delay courtesy of the Council at 9am, the visibility was superb and as the photo's demonstrate the surrounding hills looked awesome
As usual I won't describe the route as that is already documented
- The River Etive looking tempting
- River Etive looking south west, stunning
Once across the bridge over the River Etive the path is very good, however once you are forced to skirt round the fenced off property Coiletir the underfoot conditions become a little bit soggy
The soggy conditions continue for a good part of the ascent up the glen and as seems to be the norm this year the bracken is thriving and machette's would have been more useful than walking poles. All the morning dew that had been on the bracken found a new home on our trouser legs
Once the bracken had been conquered we could concentrate more on the views ahead and trying to stay on the path
As usual for some reason we managed to lose the path, we scoured the surrounding countryside without success so we just headed uphill over the tussocky long grass
As you would expect this was quite hard going and we were, well I was needing a wee break, purely to take some photo's and a quick bite to eat, having breakfast at 6am makes ones tummy start to rumble at 10am
So we found a clump of rocks that were ideal to plonk our rear ends onto and then take a few photo's. Jimmy had been carrying his camera round his neck and this would be the catalist to adopting Plan B later, all will be explained shortly
- Looking back to Glen Etive
- A stream with no water, strange - especially as lower down it was very squelchy
- Russell & Jimmy, note the very old map Russell is studying, the older readers will remember them!!
- Ben Starav looking immense
After the brief stop we continued uphill & eventually stumbled across the path as we neared the bealach. On reaching the bealach Jimmy then confessed that he had left his camera at the earlier pit stop, so we then tried to come up with a plan that would try and please everyone
Russell suggested that we continue up Stob Coir an Albannaich and then rather than head off to Meall nan Eun, we should return back down to the bealach & then up to Glas Beinn Mhor. We would then return back down to the bealach and try and retrace our steps downhill and find the group of rocks where Jimmy's camera would be. This sounded like a fantastic compromise, although Jimmy was trying to argue that we should stick to the original plan, we stuck to our guns
The next step was head up the steep side of Stob Coir an Albannaich, once again we failed to notice or spot the obvious path, wel it was very obvious when we were coming down
So we struggled uphill over a broken boulder field and steep grassy slopes, the terrain then levelled off about 300ft below the summit and it was then a slog crossing long soft grassy uphill slopes, but when we reached the summit it had all been worth it
The views from the summit were absolutely superb, unfortunately no photograph can ever do the actual views justice
The wind had picked up quite a bit and this became one of the constant topics of conversation, especially as the forecast was for 10mph possibly reaching 15mph
The actual wind speed was at least twice that
- Unusual summit of Stob Coir an Albannaich
- The other end of the summit plateau with the hills to north in the background
- Summit views, can't remember the hill names!
- Zoomed photo of slabbed hillside
- How many summits can we count?
- Ben Nevis & numerous other summits
The descent back down to the bealach was so much easier, especially as we found the path which zig zagged down
The next step was the uphill climb of the buttress of Glas Beinn Mhor, there is an excellent path that makes the ascent very easy & straightforward, which you look at the hill from the bealach you do wonder how you are going to get up there
Once the buttress has been climbed the next stage is a pleasant wide ridge walk with a very gentle ascent until the summit is reached.
- Jimmy & Russell on the summit of Glas Beinn Mhor
- Our earlier conquest in the background, clever or what?
- The way across to Starav
- Me with Starav in the background
- Jimmy leading the way down onto the broad ridge of Glas Beinn Mhor
- Some of the local residents thinking Jimmy was going to take their picture, they didn't need to run away
Once at the bealach the plan was to follow the path down that we somehow missed before venturing into the long tussocky grass to try & locate Jimmy's camera. Just as we started our descent we were caught up by a chap (sorry we didn't get your name) who was from Crossford, near Dunfermline and definitely on a mission. He had been up Starav and was querying the combination of hills we had been up, so we had to explain the saga and when he left us advised him that we would be watching him to see if he uplifted anything
So let the search commence, our only clue was that it was a group of about 6 boulders & we knew that is was off the beaten track
We spread out a bit to give us a better sweep of the hillside and after inspecting a few groups of boulders Jimmy gave us a whistle & looked rather pleased with himself and made up for lost time by taking quite a few pictures
The last thing he wants to do is return home & be quizzed by "her indoors" as to why he hadn't taken many photo's
The rest of the descent was uneventful, we did feel very pleased with ourselves that what could have been a disappointing day, turned out to be a fantastic day. The wind seemed to have dropped on the lower slopes & the sun was on our backs making it feel very warm
A BIG thank you to both Jimmy and Russell for being great company, I won't mention Russell's boasting statement suffice to say that both Jimmy & I were envious