Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers

[Bmg99]

The forecast was good so I managed to persuade my wife and 11 year old son to come with me to walk Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers.

We arrived at the ‘visitor center’ car park about 11:20am and it was packed.
The walk through the fenced nature trail area is a nice gentle start. The guy in front of me was carrying a huge pack and after a short conversation I discovered the pack contained a parachute for paragliding. He took to the sky a couple of hundred feet after leaving the nature trail area and sailed off over loch Tay.

Along with the various walkers were a group of men carrying mountain bikes up Beinn Ghlas. Once over the summit of Beinn Ghlas the guys with the bikes heading off the path to Lawers and headed back toward the car park on the lower path that takes you between Beinn Ghlas and Meal a’ Chaire Leith.

We carried on the path to Lawers and found the summit rather crowded. I counted 16 people huddled around the trig point and the stone and concrete cairn. Visibility was excellent with clear sight of Ben More at Crianlarich sitting brooding to the West and Schiehallion sitting in the shade to the North East.

Heading back we took the path that takes you between Beinn Ghlas and Meal a’ Chaire Leith rather then simply retrace our steps. Most other people had headed back over Ghlas so it was nice to have this path almost to ourselves. The gradient was very gentle, which for some one with bad knees is always a bonus.

The best bit of the walk was yet to come. Once back in the en-fenced nature area the late afternoon air was full of wonderful scents. Oh, that more of our hills had the variety of plants, shrubs and tress that this we section.

It was a lovely day taken at a leisurely pace. Next time I visit I think I’d head off the main track just after the nature trail area and head to Meal a’ Chaire Leith and from there head to Lawers and then take Beinn Ghlas on the way back to the car park.