Finishing off Orchy in the sun
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 11:22 amFirstly I hope that the gent from Wolverhampton completed his lengthy route taking in Beinn Mhanach and several other hills followed by his drive home; also that the couple from Manchester get another good day for Ben Oss and Dubhcraig.
So, not sure what the official distance is including the new car park additional leg but I reckon 21km or so. If you do this walk anti clockwise (Beinn Ach first) then for "path to mountain" read "bog to mountain". If you go clockwise at least you'll stay dry for most of the walk and the midges must be obscene across that bog in the summer. The farmer has gone to some length to build the new car park though.
Our route is much shorter because we avoided the big dog leg after Ben Ach. Maps show that the drop down from the bealach after Ben Ach is not so tricky - and so it was proved. 2000ft drop in 30mins thought so if your knees are not great, stick to the longer route. Have a look at the GPX.
The walk on the track is about 5km and very pleasant too as the sun got up and warmed us up, was about 6degrees C when we left the car park about 9.50am (late start due to teenage son's vampire tendencies). Just a few cars parked up. Crossing some of the Fords requires good balance but nothing to worry about. Dogs on leads just now due to calves at start of walk and then tiny lambs near farm.
After about 5kms there is a small cairn on the right hand side of the track and a nearby set of fire beaters, this is where you cut off. The river crossing, unless you strip down, is two old metal beams and they are hollow so you can put your feet into them (one foot each beam) and shuffle across. Does not look very safe and it took my son three goes to pluck up the courage to try it despite (bigger/heavier) dad going over first ! Great to get him out of his comfort zone
To put this crossing in context, a couple were 50m - 100m behind us at the crossing bu were 1km or more behind us thereafter - I suspect the crossing spooked one or both of them so they spent an age finding a crossing point. In spate you will have no choice !
On the other side the route goes either to the end of the trees and skirt up that line or we just headed pretty much straight ahead, this way you track left at the train track whereas the other way probably bring you directly to the underpass.
Follow the deer fence as per other reports then the path head up towards the lochan so you need to decide where to bear off to the left. If you wait too long the Allt becomes two Allts and there might be some up and down as well as more distance.
As height is gained (there is a sketchy path) it's great to be under the buttresses - many walks take you over the easy side so that you don't get the since of smallness that happens when faced with 1000 feet of mountain face !
Up onto the ridge and the summit is not far off. Some fresh snow by now but nothing to require crampons or ice axes. Summited in 3hrs 3mins, just under 10km to here.
Here we met a lovely old chap heading up from the other side, he's been off over at Beinn Mhanach and neighbours with a plan to do Ben Ach then Dorain/anDothaidh - quite a walk, over 35km he reckoned. Chatted to him as we went over to Ben Ach and shared some nice stories - need to find his "handle", from a German word for Old Fogey - he was anything but, moving at a decent speed !
So, I had scoped the route here to try to avoid a long trip to the end of the Glen and back down. Visibility was excellent so we could see the distant path on the other side of the Glen under Coire Daingean. As you pass some very small lochans/puddles at Coire nan Clach on your left bear off down the hill on the right - intially taking a line for the Allt that has a ravine marked on it then bear towards Coire Achaladair and there are rough paths in the distance on the near (East) side of the Allt. The drop off was at 13.8km for us. Crossing the Allt to get onto the path (boggy) is not tricky. With the benefit of hindsight, it might be worth snot crossing the Allt at all rather keep going and hit the new hydro track, will be an easier and more enoyable walk out as the whole path including the direct route back to the car park is all BOG, BOG and more BOG. Not a nice way to finish an enjoyable day, head to the farm and use the road is my advice, wee bit longer but worth it.
Photos below, enjoy
file:///C:/Users/Lawrences/Documents/Picasa%20HTML%20Exports/Beinn%20Achaladair/index.html
Now starting to map out a plan for the year to get us past half way, that's us pretty much completed this area so longer drives to be contemplated !
So, not sure what the official distance is including the new car park additional leg but I reckon 21km or so. If you do this walk anti clockwise (Beinn Ach first) then for "path to mountain" read "bog to mountain". If you go clockwise at least you'll stay dry for most of the walk and the midges must be obscene across that bog in the summer. The farmer has gone to some length to build the new car park though.
Our route is much shorter because we avoided the big dog leg after Ben Ach. Maps show that the drop down from the bealach after Ben Ach is not so tricky - and so it was proved. 2000ft drop in 30mins thought so if your knees are not great, stick to the longer route. Have a look at the GPX.
The walk on the track is about 5km and very pleasant too as the sun got up and warmed us up, was about 6degrees C when we left the car park about 9.50am (late start due to teenage son's vampire tendencies). Just a few cars parked up. Crossing some of the Fords requires good balance but nothing to worry about. Dogs on leads just now due to calves at start of walk and then tiny lambs near farm.
After about 5kms there is a small cairn on the right hand side of the track and a nearby set of fire beaters, this is where you cut off. The river crossing, unless you strip down, is two old metal beams and they are hollow so you can put your feet into them (one foot each beam) and shuffle across. Does not look very safe and it took my son three goes to pluck up the courage to try it despite (bigger/heavier) dad going over first ! Great to get him out of his comfort zone
To put this crossing in context, a couple were 50m - 100m behind us at the crossing bu were 1km or more behind us thereafter - I suspect the crossing spooked one or both of them so they spent an age finding a crossing point. In spate you will have no choice !On the other side the route goes either to the end of the trees and skirt up that line or we just headed pretty much straight ahead, this way you track left at the train track whereas the other way probably bring you directly to the underpass.
Follow the deer fence as per other reports then the path head up towards the lochan so you need to decide where to bear off to the left. If you wait too long the Allt becomes two Allts and there might be some up and down as well as more distance.
As height is gained (there is a sketchy path) it's great to be under the buttresses - many walks take you over the easy side so that you don't get the since of smallness that happens when faced with 1000 feet of mountain face !
Up onto the ridge and the summit is not far off. Some fresh snow by now but nothing to require crampons or ice axes. Summited in 3hrs 3mins, just under 10km to here.
Here we met a lovely old chap heading up from the other side, he's been off over at Beinn Mhanach and neighbours with a plan to do Ben Ach then Dorain/anDothaidh - quite a walk, over 35km he reckoned. Chatted to him as we went over to Ben Ach and shared some nice stories - need to find his "handle", from a German word for Old Fogey
- he was anything but, moving at a decent speed !So, I had scoped the route here to try to avoid a long trip to the end of the Glen and back down. Visibility was excellent so we could see the distant path on the other side of the Glen under Coire Daingean. As you pass some very small lochans/puddles at Coire nan Clach on your left bear off down the hill on the right - intially taking a line for the Allt that has a ravine marked on it then bear towards Coire Achaladair and there are rough paths in the distance on the near (East) side of the Allt. The drop off was at 13.8km for us. Crossing the Allt to get onto the path (boggy) is not tricky. With the benefit of hindsight, it might be worth snot crossing the Allt at all rather keep going and hit the new hydro track, will be an easier and more enoyable walk out as the whole path including the direct route back to the car park is all BOG, BOG and more BOG. Not a nice way to finish an enjoyable day, head to the farm and use the road is my advice, wee bit longer but worth it.
Photos below, enjoy
file:///C:/Users/Lawrences/Documents/Picasa%20HTML%20Exports/Beinn%20Achaladair/index.html
Now starting to map out a plan for the year to get us past half way, that's us pretty much completed this area so longer drives to be contemplated !
