Baking in Beautiful Argyll

[Fife Flyer]

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This little day out was planned by Simon (simon b) who was up north of the border for another short stay, making the most of the favourable forecast Simon decided to base himself in Connell and had tackled the couple of Munro's near Ballachulish the day before. Simon had looked at my red balloons and suggested we head to Argyll and tackle Beinn Sgulaird and if we felt OK the Corbett Creach Bheinn which looked fairly close on the map
Beinn Sgulaird had been on my radar for over 12 months and as it was over a 2 hour drive, I had left it for a good day. Simon had already attempted to conquer Sgulaird but was forced to retreat when on Meall Garbh due to winds so strong it had become difficult to even stand up
There was plenty of activity planned over the weekend and I was almost tempted to head NW and tackle the 5 Sisters, but opted to join Simon, especially as the forecast was for the sun to make a long appearance and the views from Sgulaird are supposed to be breathtaking.
Another early rise, 5.45 seemed almost like a lie-in and as Simon was in a B&B he wasn't going to miss out on his breakfast I offered to pick Simon up in Connell just after 8.30.
There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the drive after Tyndrum was awesome and I decided to stop by Loch Tulla as it offered the chance of some superb photo's, the water was mirror-like and the reflections were outstanding

DSCF0814 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Loch Tulla

DSCF0815 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0818 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

Picked Simon up and we headed off to the start point, there were already about 5 cars squished into the limited parking area, I managed to squeeze my wee'r car into a slot There were a noisy rabble preparing to set off, who soon realised/found out that they were regular WH users. Apologies for not catching everyone's names, I recognised Dave (spiderwebb) and we ended up intermittently walking with Gus Patullo and his son MARC (mountainboy). Apologies for spelling your name wrong on FB Marc
The initial part of the walk was up a well used track, once you reach a small cairn it is time to start climbing a bit more seriously. The ascent up the shoulder towards Meall Garbh is steady but not steep. Before you reach the minor summit of Meall Garbh there is a descent of about 50m before you start climbing up again.
The views behind are more than a great excuse to stop for photo's and a chance to catch your breath

DSCF0833 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Nice view behind of Loch Creran

DSCF0838 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Zoomed in a bit with Mull across the water

DSCF0850 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Busy hill with stragglers strewn over the dry slopes

DSCF0834 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Happy family, Gus Marc and Hamish

DSCF0840 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Simon and Gus

DSCF0841 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0845 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - The Ben and neighbours

DSCF0846 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0853 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Beinn Sgulaird looking quite dark and moody

Once the top of Meall Garbh is reached, another descent of about 50m is required over boulder fields and a couple of snow patches to tackle

DSCF0859 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Simon adopting his snow field descent posture

DSCF0869 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Much easier descent, soft slushy snow

DSCF0870 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Hamish enjoying the snow in amongst the boulders

DSCF0876 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - a steeper patch of snow

DSCF0877 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Mountainboy descending

DSCF0878 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Mountainboy just getting to his feet

DSCF0890 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - One of the first views of the Ben, zoomed

DSCF0910 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Ben Cruachan zoomed

DSCF0931 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Cruachan again with Loch Etive in the foreground

The views in all directions were amazing, luckily Simon is a font of hill knowledge and recognition and his pronunciation certainly impresses me

DSCF0934 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Loch Etive not a ripple

DSCF0936 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - the monster known as Starav

As we got higher the views just got better and it becomes obvious why Sgulaird has to be climbed on a good day with decent visibility. The views across to the islands, albeit a bit hazy were incredible. I tried my best to get a photo of Jura and the Paps, but unfortunately the photo doesn't do them justice, so you aren't getting to see it

DSCF0961 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - the view behind, which would be our next target

DSCF0882 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Mull zoomed

DSCF0884 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Meall Garbh and Creach Bheinn to the left, our next target

DSCF0894 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - small snow patch with Cruachan in the background

After a bit more ascending, descending and ascending which is a constant feature of Sgulaird the summit was reached.

DSCF0888 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Mountainboy on the summit of Sgulaird

DSCF0889 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0899 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0903 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Hamish posing happily on the summit

DSCF0905 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Posing with a superb backdrop

DSCF0906 by martin_beswick, on Flickr

DSCF0908 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - busy summit

DSCF0911 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Cruachan again

DSCF0914 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - snow falling apart

Simon and I had already decided we were heading off to Creach Bheinn and we asked the rest of the group if anyone fancied joining us, but no one was interested So we headed off, Simon's initial plan was to go back up Meall Garbh and descend down the other side. However after assessing the terrain and looking at the contours on the map we decided to traverse along the side of Meall Garbh descending slightly and then descending a bit more steeply down to the bealach.

DSCF0918 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Creach Bheinn in the background and the angle of the traverse/descent to the bealach

Just after leaving the bealach we noticed hang gliders soaring high above us, I took a few photo's and this is the only one that managed to capture one of them

DSCF0919 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - hang glider

We had no real path/route to follow so we were using visual reference points and the approach to Creach Bheinn from the north involves yet more ascending, descending and ascending. We were trying our best to limit the ascending by traversing small humps and bumps The large snow fields on the ascent were avoided by climbing up the bouldery grassy slopes as the snow was soft and slushy - ideal for descending I did mention to Simon that this hill doesn't see to many folk and I suggested that we wouldn't meet anyone. As it turned out a short time later about 1km from the summit we met a couple with 2 boys who were enjoying descending on the snow fields

DSCF0923 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - snow patches on the way up to Creach Bheinn

DSCF0942 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - One of the snow fields we ascended, following foot steps

The summit of Creag Bheinn offers even better views of the islands and especially Ben Cruachan and I suggested we had the summit to ourselves.

DSCF0949 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Simon propping up the trig on Creach Bheinn

DSCF0948 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - speedboat on Loch Etive

DSCF0953 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Castle?

DSCF0963 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Simon posing on a perfectly placed boulder

DSCF0964 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - same boulder, different occupant

DSCF0965 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - arty shot, trig with Starav in the background

DSCF0967 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - arty shot number 2 with the Ben

DSCF0969 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - still plenty of snow

After reluctantly leaving the summit we started the descent, on the way up we had briefly discussed the options and there were 3 of them:
1. Descend directly down the ridge to Loch Creran, this was binned as it was unknown terroitory
2. Descend back the way we came, but that would involve quite a bit of extra ascent, that was binned too
3. Descend down as far as we could and then traverse and descend round the lump marked on the map as 804m

DSCF0981 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - Simon enjoying the descent, nice and easy on lovely soft snow

DSCF0985 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - the traverse back to the track in the distance, turned out to be very easy

DSCF0984 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - the way back down to the car, there was a small forest fire and the smoke was drifting across from the left

The descent was very straight forward and actually didn't take long at all. We arrived back the car having spent 8 hours in the sun and as usual with me, my neck and arms are a tad red

DSCF0988 by martin_beswick, on Flickr - parking area, not many cars now

Another fantastic day, a huge thank you to Simon for inviting me and hand picking a fabulous hill/s to spend the day The forecast is still favourable for the rest of the week, so Tuesday is my next day out
Stob Ban here I come

[Collaciotach]

Sgionneil

[simon-b]

A fabulous day superbly captured in pictures, Martin. Thanks for coming along and joining in the fun, and once again thanks for the lift.

[JimboJim]

Great pictures, Martin - glad you didn't leave that camera on the hills! Didn't I mention it is always sunny in Argyll? And, back to Argyll school for geography lessons, my boy - Connel. Tut, tut. Glad you ventured back to these parts once again. Alas, I had a rather dreich day when I did Sguilard!

Jimmy

[simon-b]

Just one detail, Martin, in case anyone else is interested in this route. We did come back over Meall Garbh en-route to Creach Bheinn - it was the 863 m top a little further SW that we dodged...

2015-04-18.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

...to be fair, it was a good plan to do that, and it was your idea .

[jepsonscotland]

Great job Martin.
Nice to see 'summer' peaks again.
Let's get the 200 up...............

Look forward to catching up on the hill soon.
Chris

[rockhopper]

A cracking day right enough and great photos - certainly looked quite busy up there - cheers

[guspattullo]

Great photos of a brilliant day in the hills. Certainly a hill for a clear sunny day. One of the best views in Scotland