My kid brother Stuart A.K.A Beef had been wanting to get into hillwalking due to some outdoorsey stuff he was doing through work, so thought I would ease him in gently with this glorious round of 4 Munros

Sunday came with a dry forecast, and we agreed to meet at Aberfeldy, before sharing a car for the half hour drive to the busy little hamlet of Invervar, setting off at 10.30. A gate from the road leads pleasantly through woodland before emerging on to a hydroelectric access road, which follows the Invervar Burn to a rickety (and terrifyingly bouncy) bridge, from where the hillpath to Carn Gorm begins. Climbing steadily, views begin to open up of An Sgorr and Carn Gorm ahead, and back to Glen Lyon and Creag Mhor with the winding path. Cloud still low, Beef still full of the beans - would either last?







We climbed into the clag at about 700m. Beef was now struggling a bit, but fair play to him, he plodded on, only his disdainful face, the odd grunt or 'how much further' to his detriment. 'This is nae Tinto anyway!' He was right

The smile came back on the approach to the summit, marked by a toppled trig point, which was reached about midday. 1 down, 281 to go!!!

We had a sandwich here, and I suggested the cloud would clear before 1pm, to which an 'aye right' look was received. We started descending the broad ridge, and you can guess what happened next...

Skirting round An Sgorr, it is a short and gently undulating walk to the day's second munro, Meall Garbh, a line of fenceposts followed to the seemingly sculptured fencepost shrine of a cairn. Views to Loch Rannoch, south to the Lawers Range and, eventually, the mighty Schiehallion were improving.








From here, the long but pleasant walk to the day's highest point, Carn Mairg, begins. A small lochan is passed before a gentle climb to the top of Meall a' Bharr, from which Schiehallion suddenly appears in all her glory. Beef was dubious of one the few interesting facts I know about the hills - that Schiehallion was the mountain used to first estimate (quite accurately as it turned out) the weight of the earth

Cloud clearing, the sun appearing, and most of the day's climbing done, we were in high spirits. The vacuum of quality brother-to-brother time for so long missing was finally being filled. In the words of Tom Weir, it felt very much like 'the peak of living'









The rockily outcropped Carn Mairg then appears ahead and is climbed quickly. The summit plateau was quite disorientating, and we walked about for a few minutes before finding the cairn, where we talked for a while with a couple who were new to hiking (17 munros in 7 weeks though - not bad at all



Further disorientation ensued on the descent, where we fell into the trap of the steep boulder field (easily diverted to the left as it turned out). Broken ankles avoided, we were on the path southward to Creag Mhor/Meall na Aighean (depending which map you look at), happy as larry! From this side Carn Mairg looks far more intimidating.




After a left at the head of Gleann Pollaidh, the last of the day's climbs winds to an end on the small rocky top of Creag Mhor, celebrated (unexpectedly) with a cigar, which I tired to pretend to enjoy





The descent from Creag Mhor is less steep than it at times looks, the views directly in to Glen Lyon tremendous. The final part of the descent to the access road became a pretty fun game of running and hopping, testing the fortitude of our knees. Access road reached and circuit complete, we were happy with our day's haul.
4 munros on his first day - a great effort. Feedback suggests another convert with the bug




