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I did Beinn Ime a couple of years ago and thought I would be doing Beinn Narnain on the same day, that was the plan. I failed to spot the well concealed path and carried on up the good path by the Allt a' Bhalachain, did Beinn Ime and on looking up at Beinn Narnain on the way back decided just to head back down. It had been raining all day and I was soaked, at least I got Beinn Ime on that occassion
Perhaps I and still trying to tidy up my blue pins and decided to get Beinn Narnain out of the way. The forecast wasn't great with a low bringing heavy rain and indeed on the drive through from Edinburgh there were several downpours. There was however some blue sky and I carried on through Glasgow. Been caught out twice now by the car satnav, next time I will type in Stirling and then Arrochar
Got to the car park at Succoth and spent some time with the bees
drinking the pretty pink flowers, I just spectated
Headed out of the end of the car park and read the spiel about how the last ice sheet 18000 years ago had filled in the gullies and corries but left the peaks protruding above, this would have been an impressive inversion
The intense cold left the distinctive mountain scape of the west of Scotland. There's also a fabulous wood carving and another on the other side of the road.
I looked for the track straight up to Beinn Narnain at the point where WH gpx said it should be, but all I could see was what looked like a very small stream coming out of the undergrowth; this is the actual track
I carried on up the beaten track, was good to get a warm up anyway. Turned right onto the landrover track at the memorial bench to Tam and again searched for the track straight up and eventually decided this must be it
again it looked more like a small stream coming out of the undergrowth and down a steep slab
It got interesting quite quickly, though it still resembled a small stream for most of the way. Photo below was one of the more interesting parts over a slab, the concrete blocks of the cable car higglety pigglety on the left hand side at this point
Escaped the woods and there is a short section of nice path which marks the end of the old cable car installation before the start of the climb proper
Almost immediately there is a short steep section up a slab which is still a stream
In fairness it had been raining heavily during the earlier part of the day and it hasn't been a great summer. Onwards up several sections of what I would term grassy shelves although suspect these are the notches of the name Beinn Narnain "notched hill".
It's all quite tame to start with really along a well defined path until you get onto one of the notches and a nice although easy scramble up this slab; the path got drier the higher I went...
Then shortly after the top of this section a larger shelf or notch with a great view of the Cobble
and the ridge round to A' Chrois
with Ben Vane and Ben Vorlich poking there summits up behind.
I could see there would be more sections of scrambling from now on and I stashed my poles and put on gloves
but there is still a well defined path and although there are parts where I needed hand holds most of it was on foot as it were
but not to denigrate it in anyway, it was interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed it and there were times when I was definitely paying attention
Got to the top hoping for spectacular views, but sadly the clag was coming and going. Oh well I'd been lucky and there hadn't been any rain
trig point
and cairns
I hung around on the top for a few minutes, put the phone on charge and tightened up my boots but the clag wasn't for lifting and the night is fair drawing in
so I started down and eventually got a tame shot of Beinn Ime from lower down
I remember Beinn Ime; well worth a visit, although I also remember the bog that needs to be crossed at the bealach
properly waterproof boots and gaiters recommended.
The Cobbler is looking very different now from lower down and this angle, still appealing and am sure not too much time to get up, but the light is going fast so I am off down the very good path I remember from before. Through the big stones and past the dam before going into the forest zig zags to the car park.
There is one more scenic event though
Apparently it was a blue moon yesterday, the 31st of July where there are two full moons in one month, the origin of the phrase once in a blue moon.
The moon is certainly still very full although it is one day short of being completely full next to Ben Lomond. Wonder how many times it lines up in this way
Got back to the car and something to eat and started the drive back. All the way along Loch Lomond the moon was glinting off the water, it really was bright and there was no cloud now. I had to stop and take some photos. I don't carry a tripod, perhaps I will get one of those gorilla pods; been thinking about it. Anyway no long exposure photos to do the scene justice and the few I took on auto didn't come out that great. Certainly not worth uploading.
I did however get this zoomed photo and was astonished to see the craters on the right hand side
Awesome
