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Two of Perthshire's finest

Two of Perthshire's finest


Postby Fife Flyer » Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:01 pm

Fionas included on this walk: Beinn Dearg, Mór Bheinn

Date walked: 09/03/2017

Time taken: 4.8 hours

Distance: 13.5 km

Ascent: 1050m

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A promising weather forecast was my queue to get my backside outdoors again. After spending last week in Berlin I was itching to get out again.
I opted for a couple of 'local' Graham's west of Perth, so let the research begin. I read all the WR's whilst studying the area, the one route that caught my attention was "past my sell by date" which was starting from St Fillans. However studying the maps I came up with a similar route which I thought looked interesting and very doable, so I plotted it out and loaded it onto my phone 8)
I set off from Fife just after 8am and was walking before 9.30. I am very familiar with the road to St Fillans but wasn't sure exactly where I was going to park :roll: As luck would have it there is a layby on both sides of the road about 50m before leaving the road 8)

Image Layby for a couple of vehicles on both sides of the road

The most dangerous part of the day was walking along the side of the road, no footpaths so I was keeping an eye on traffic heading in both directions, luckily there weren't too many vehicles - would be a bit of a nightmare in the summer :roll:

Image Start of the track is disused railway

Image

Image Early shot of Beinn Dearg

Image Looking back

Image Different water feature :lol:

There was quite a bit of rain overnight which resulted in a few puddles on the track, there were no waterfalls or rivers so the above will have to be today's water feature.

Image Making good progress with a nice gentle incline

Image Is this where the track originated from?

Image Looking back 'down' the track, nice easy way to gain height 8)

The track higher up is obviously a recent creation and it made for great progress as well as gaining just about 200m 8)

Image First glimpse of Ben Vorlich

Image The track certainly extends further than on the WH map and also my OS map - not complaining of course :lol: :lol:

Image My plan was amended due to the track extension and I opted to head uphill just before the new plantation

Image This is the uphill terrain initially, looks worse than it is

Image Looking back down

The off piste terrain is heather and has one or two crags, I was fortunate in that I could see the way ahead, which certainly makes a change after a few of my recent exploits :( I kind of zig zagged uphill and it was certainly much easier going than the next hill Beinn Dearg :lol:

Image Hills to the north

Image Looking across to Beinn Dearg

Image First view of Loch Earn & St Fillans

Image Same shot zoomed

Image First shot of the trig on Mor Bheinn, came as a bit of a pleasant surprise

Image

The views from the summit are outstanding, it was a bit blowy and not exactly warm and I also had to put on my 'extra' fleece :lol: My plan was to kind of head down the way I ascended, however there was a path heading south so I decided to follow that. As with most of the 'little' hills paths are a rarity and after a short time the path disappeared :(

Image Looking east towards Comrie

Image Next target

Image Decided to follow a path down this way

Image Plan was to pick up the fence lower down and then pass to the left of the forest, didn't quite work out though :lol:

Image Shows the angle of descent

Image Forest in the foreground with Beinn Dearg in the background

Image Came across this random post all on it's lonesome

Image They were keeping an eye on me

Image Nice little 'stag do'

Image This kind of shows how far away they really were :roll:

Image Now you can see why my plan failed :(

Image My new plan was to enter the forest where the green meets the brown

Image Doesn't look very inviting

Image Just battled my way through

Image The next obstacle

Image Neither side looks particularly nice

Image Looking south down the Glen

Image Looking back across to Mor Bheinn

After the usual huffing and puffing going uphill, especially as it was about 300m from the bottom of the glen to the summit. Just short of the summit I actually met another human being :lol: Naturally we had a chat, he had approached Beinn Dearg from the south and had taken 3 hours so far, I advised him the best way to head across to Mor Beinn and we went on our opposite directions.

Image Ben Vorlich looking very impressive

Image Zoomed which wasn't easy as it was quite blowy

Image Summit cairn on Beinn Dearg

Image Had to cope with this - after scaling the deer fence again on the way back to the car

Image Not a pretty sight

Image The old and the new

Image Well tangled up

Image The old railway bridge over the River Earn

Image And there she is the River Earn

Really enjoyed the walk and the day, these two hills are totally different and offer great views of Perthshire. I was surprised this route hasn't been posted before and would definitely recommend it :wink:
Next for me will be more of the same :lol:
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby malky_c » Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:40 pm

Looks like a pleasant day out :) . I went up this pair from the Glen Artney side for reasons I can't remember now, but would probably prefer an approach from your direction. One for the future maybe.

If I don't mention this, someone else will - the highest summit of Beinn Dearg is actually another mile to the west of where you ended up. I didn't spot that until I had scrolled back up for another look at the map.
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby Fife Flyer » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:56 am

malky_c wrote:Looks like a pleasant day out :) . I went up this pair from the Glen Artney side for reasons I can't remember now, but would probably prefer an approach from your direction. One for the future maybe.

If I don't mention this, someone else will - the highest summit of Beinn Dearg is actually another mile to the west of where you ended up. I didn't spot that until I had scrolled back up for another look at the map.



Thanks Malky, especially for pointing out the "true" summit. According to the GPS planner on here the easterly 'hump' is the higher of the two, whereas on my old OS map as you say the westerly 'hump' is the higher :roll: :roll:
Anybody else able to assist?
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby past my sell by date » Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:43 pm

Hi Fife flyer
Glad you found my route helpful: the terrain South of St.Fillans is really pretty awful (so I normally head off North over The Girron ) but the boggy col around that deer fence is particularly ghastly :( - and I also suddenly plunged up to my knees in slime in that forest :lol: :lol: :lol: The ridge leading up to Beinn Dearg is nice, but both times I've been up there it's been very cold and windy and I've never been on to the Western top
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby trederdog 100 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:01 pm

This is a good route - thanks, and after checking out your walk report I decided on this today in the thick snow and bright sun. Missed out Beinn Dearg as didn't have time (and I was knackered from thick snow trudge). I'll post a report; good back up option for today as didn't fancy driving in the snow too far!
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby Sgurr » Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:56 pm

This gives you the results of the most recent survey

http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/surveys/Surveys%20of%20Beinn%20Dearg%20and%20Creag%20na%20h-Eararuidh.pdf

Have just read R's account, and apparently we went to what is now recognised as the summit. ?Could it have been in 2001. I suspect he must have got that info from somewhere.
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Re: Two of Perthshire's finest

Postby bar72 » Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:46 pm

Nice One FF. Just back, did both tops, just to make sure I got the Graham :)
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