Tramping on Beinn a' Ghlo
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 4:38 pm
Alistair and I are getting into our Munro's, currently at 27, by the end of this week (our June holiday) we at least hope to have done over 30. Before we got our chart this year, I would have sworn I had done more than this, I feel like we are always in the hills, but these things have a way of deceiving you.
We decided on Beinn a' Ghlo as our big day. A few seasoned hill walkers having breakfast at the B&B that morming confirmed this was a good one. According to the forecast it was right on the edge of potential good weather zone, so we thought we would risk it.
From the carpark a nice easy road leads up the glen. As we walked the lapwings kept us company, their distinctive calls ever present and flying boldly to distract us from their young.
Along the path which seemed to be teeming with life we also happened across a family of Wheatears, three young, and the parents (who seemed to be of similar size!) working hard to ensure they were of more interest than their fluffy bundles.
At an old shed we left the dirt track and continued through a field and open heathland towards Carn Liath which stood before us, the wide scar of the path very visible.
The hike up Carn Liath was a lot longer than it looked from the bottom, taking a good hour and a half as the book suggested. It felt like the up hill 'tramp' was never going to end and I was beginning to regret ever starting out, especially after three Munros the day before.
This is definitely the worst part of the walk, once up there it was fantastic!
From the top we could see the long ridge winding out across to the summit of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain.
From the top of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain.
The path lead along and down towards a col connecting the last summit of the day.
After a rest in the col we prepared ourselves for another burst of energy to climb up and reach the last and highest summit - Carn nan Gabhar. It was a rocky place and hard going underfoot but well worth it for the views. It would be easy to miss the summit up here in cloud as you come to a large cairn, then a trig point neither of which is the summit, that is a further on.
From here we walked directly back and followed the line of the ridge right to the end. Another way down would be back down to the col, but we decided that this would be a more interesting way off. I was a bit worried about what the down path would be like, as we had seen it from the earlier Munros and it looked very wide but also steep. I felt nervous as we nearer the end of the ridge but at this point we came across the obvious path which was not too steep and easy even for me.
After a long and great day up high we were able to look back impressed at where we had just descended from. The long walk out was initially on a rough track which then finally joined the original landrover track.
It was a perfect evening, the sun was warm and the evening light beautiful as we walked out of the glen. As before there was lots of other life out enjoying it too.
We decided on Beinn a' Ghlo as our big day. A few seasoned hill walkers having breakfast at the B&B that morming confirmed this was a good one. According to the forecast it was right on the edge of potential good weather zone, so we thought we would risk it.
From the carpark a nice easy road leads up the glen. As we walked the lapwings kept us company, their distinctive calls ever present and flying boldly to distract us from their young.
Along the path which seemed to be teeming with life we also happened across a family of Wheatears, three young, and the parents (who seemed to be of similar size!) working hard to ensure they were of more interest than their fluffy bundles.
At an old shed we left the dirt track and continued through a field and open heathland towards Carn Liath which stood before us, the wide scar of the path very visible.
The hike up Carn Liath was a lot longer than it looked from the bottom, taking a good hour and a half as the book suggested. It felt like the up hill 'tramp' was never going to end and I was beginning to regret ever starting out, especially after three Munros the day before.
This is definitely the worst part of the walk, once up there it was fantastic!
From the top we could see the long ridge winding out across to the summit of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain.
From the top of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain.
The path lead along and down towards a col connecting the last summit of the day.
After a rest in the col we prepared ourselves for another burst of energy to climb up and reach the last and highest summit - Carn nan Gabhar. It was a rocky place and hard going underfoot but well worth it for the views. It would be easy to miss the summit up here in cloud as you come to a large cairn, then a trig point neither of which is the summit, that is a further on.
From here we walked directly back and followed the line of the ridge right to the end. Another way down would be back down to the col, but we decided that this would be a more interesting way off. I was a bit worried about what the down path would be like, as we had seen it from the earlier Munros and it looked very wide but also steep. I felt nervous as we nearer the end of the ridge but at this point we came across the obvious path which was not too steep and easy even for me.
After a long and great day up high we were able to look back impressed at where we had just descended from. The long walk out was initially on a rough track which then finally joined the original landrover track.
It was a perfect evening, the sun was warm and the evening light beautiful as we walked out of the glen. As before there was lots of other life out enjoying it too.