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Reminds me of Ibiza

PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:57 pm
by dektasker
I was on holiday a couple of years ago to a place called Cala llonga in Ibiza. The place was very pretty with lots of greenery, a white beach and crystal clear water, very picturesque. Lochan na Earba reminded me of Ibiza.. The weather is not as good, but the sheer beauty of a loch carved out in the middle of a glen, with sandy beaches, huge hills both sides and crystal clear water. The natural beauty is awesome, It is gorgeous and now one of my favourite spots.

On to the actual route, finding the car park was very easy, there are two either side of the bridge over the river spean, which gives you access to the walk.

The track is easy to follow with the branch to the left before the house is very near the start. The track is great and easy enough to cycle on. There is a small gradient and I found it hard to find the “granny” gears. Boab found it easy enough and cycled up with little problem. I gave up and pushed the bike. This was the first time on the mountain bike since January when I fractured my collar bone cycling beside Loch lee.

However after the small hill the path was easy enough to cycle on and there was no more pushing. There’s a small reservoir before you reach Lochan na Earba and a great view of Coire Mor a Chlachair.
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We cycled up to the Lochan and had a break. The views are great and right behind you is the first Munro Beinn a'Chlachair. This is a beautiful, unspoilt natural wonder. This part of Scotland is quickly becoming one of my favourite areas.
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The track is easy to follow and we actually missed the small cairn that marks the stalker path.
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This also marks the route off and you’ll see a lightly treaded path through the long grass. However we crossed Allt Coire Pitridh and over the heathery then boulders towards the rim of Coire Mor a Chlachair.

We got lucky as we had expected the weather to be a bit cloudy with some light mist. However the views were great with Glen Spean looking majestic.
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After reaching the summit you can easily see the next two Munros. Geal Charn looks a fair distance away and you do loose a fair bit of height on the way to Geal Charn.

Creag Pitridh looks so small compared to the others and your initial thoughts are it must be a Corbett.

There’s a lot of boulders to cross on the way from Beinn a'Chlachair to Geal Charn but you do pick up a path. Must admit the knees take a battering crossing all the boulders, walking towards the soft grass and finding the path is a relieve.

We avoided Bealach Leamhain and crossed down to Coire Pitridh. There are a lot of boulders and there is a easy to spot path up the flank of Geal Charn. This meant there was no views of Loch a Bhealaich Leamhain. It was a short cut and a bit of a steeper climb down but the lure of the path up the flank was too good to miss.

We met a couple of guys who had done Beinn a'Chlachair previously and were now walking the other two to get them picked off. Must admit there was a small sense of wish we done that but glad we never.

It’s a good path up and at the top another boulder field but fairly easy to cross. There’s another impressive cairn at the summit and this provide a great shelter from the wind which was not biting and making our faces numb. So much for summer, it felt more like late October.
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We had another break and took in the great views, both back towards Beinn a'Chlachair and to the next Munro Creag Pitridh.

We headed back toward the Bealach and headed down the flank of Geal Charn towards Cuil Mhaigh. At first it is hard to see a path and we both agreed a route we would take up Creag Pitridh. However as you climb down a path becomes fairly clear and funnily enough was the route we had planned out. After passing a very small lochan, it’s a steep but easy climb up the summit. We both agreed this seemed like climbing a hillock after completing the first two which are a fair bit higher.
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The views from here are again brilliant as you can see from the pictures. Not sure if this is a picture of the second half of Lochan na Earba with Loch Laggan in the foreground? Anyway the hills of Creag a Mhaigh and Creag a Chuir give is a very dramatic look.
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Anyway we took the flank down towards Allt Coire Pitridh, missing the peak hags and back towards our original path and came out at the small cairn, marking the original route towards Beinn a'Chlachair. That was lucky. We got our bikes reach Lochan na Earba fairly quickly and cycled back home. This was a very easy cycle as there is a small gradient and very little need to pedal. What a result and a great day out.

Re: Reminds me of Ibiza

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:01 pm
by dogplodder
I agree, it's a beautiful spot. :D