Beinn nan Imirean and Meall Glas from Glen Lochay approach
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:38 pmThis was my first proper outing since September, so I was prepared to be a bit rusty. As things turned out, I suffered no ill effects from my lay off, although we did set quite a leisurely pace. Present were myself and Lucy, my colleague Geri and her 1 year old Collie Murk, and Berenice. Our last outing together had been an absolute classic on Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh back in March. This one was unlikely to live up to that one, but had nevertheless been keenly anticipated for the last few weeks and even more so over the last 48 hours with the forecast looking good for Saturday.
I was away from Perth by 6.30am and as I drove along the A85 towards Crieff and darkness steadily turned to a greyish daylight, the sky looked bright and clear. After a quick coffee stop at Geri's in Crieff to pick up her and Berenice we were off towards our destination and at precisely 8.30 we were suited and booted and leaving the large gravelled parking area just before Kenknock Farm in Glen Lochay.
It was a bracing start to the day and the cold November air was cutting through my gloves. Even by the time we had pulled into the parking area just before 8.30 the reading in the car barely registered above freezing and it certainly felt like it as we crunched our way through iced puddles on the potholed track past Kenknock Farm.
By the time we had reached the footbridge at Badour, things had warmed up a bit but the early promise of a sunny day had failed to develop. In fact, although a watery sun could be seen blinking through the blanket of cloud pretty much all day, it never really made the promised breakthrough and managed to raise the cloud base sufficiently for great views. Oh well, it is the first week in November after all!
The Badour footbridge was a real exercise in balance and control, especially the steep down section on the far side, slick as it was thanks to the combination of wet, slimy wood coated in a hard hoar frost. Thank goodness for walking poles for a bit of extra balance.
We contoured around the slope, boggy in places, until the stream and the waterfall came into view, at which point we began to climb, aiming for the crags above the waterfall, from where it was a surprisingly long and hard slog up grassy slopes to the craggy little summit of Imirean. As we sat eating lunch a couple of chaps joined us having made the boggy ascent up from Glen Dochart.
Then it was down into the bealach for the pretty straightforward ascent up to the summit of Meall Glas, which we reached just before a solo female walker arrived having taken a more direct approach from Kenknock. The path along to Beinn Cheathaich proved to be the busiest section of the day, with a large group of Aberdonian sounding walkers and a very friendly and chatty couple all encountered along the way.
From the trig point at the summit of Beinn Cheathaich, the drop down and reascent up to Sgiath Chuil looks every bit as steep as I had imagined. With absolutely no intention of attempting that today, we headed north off Beinn Cheathaich to pick up the track back down to Lubchurran, where we collectively declined the opportunity of a wade across the River Lochay to regain the track in favour of a rather boggy tramp along the south bank of the river to the bridge at Kenknock.
I was away from Perth by 6.30am and as I drove along the A85 towards Crieff and darkness steadily turned to a greyish daylight, the sky looked bright and clear. After a quick coffee stop at Geri's in Crieff to pick up her and Berenice we were off towards our destination and at precisely 8.30 we were suited and booted and leaving the large gravelled parking area just before Kenknock Farm in Glen Lochay.
It was a bracing start to the day and the cold November air was cutting through my gloves. Even by the time we had pulled into the parking area just before 8.30 the reading in the car barely registered above freezing and it certainly felt like it as we crunched our way through iced puddles on the potholed track past Kenknock Farm.
By the time we had reached the footbridge at Badour, things had warmed up a bit but the early promise of a sunny day had failed to develop. In fact, although a watery sun could be seen blinking through the blanket of cloud pretty much all day, it never really made the promised breakthrough and managed to raise the cloud base sufficiently for great views. Oh well, it is the first week in November after all!
The Badour footbridge was a real exercise in balance and control, especially the steep down section on the far side, slick as it was thanks to the combination of wet, slimy wood coated in a hard hoar frost. Thank goodness for walking poles for a bit of extra balance.
We contoured around the slope, boggy in places, until the stream and the waterfall came into view, at which point we began to climb, aiming for the crags above the waterfall, from where it was a surprisingly long and hard slog up grassy slopes to the craggy little summit of Imirean. As we sat eating lunch a couple of chaps joined us having made the boggy ascent up from Glen Dochart.
Then it was down into the bealach for the pretty straightforward ascent up to the summit of Meall Glas, which we reached just before a solo female walker arrived having taken a more direct approach from Kenknock. The path along to Beinn Cheathaich proved to be the busiest section of the day, with a large group of Aberdonian sounding walkers and a very friendly and chatty couple all encountered along the way.
From the trig point at the summit of Beinn Cheathaich, the drop down and reascent up to Sgiath Chuil looks every bit as steep as I had imagined. With absolutely no intention of attempting that today, we headed north off Beinn Cheathaich to pick up the track back down to Lubchurran, where we collectively declined the opportunity of a wade across the River Lochay to regain the track in favour of a rather boggy tramp along the south bank of the river to the bridge at Kenknock.
- Ben Challum at the far end of Glen Lochay viewed from just west of Kenknock Farm
- A resident of Glen Lochay gives us the once over with Lubchurran cottage in the background
- Approaching forestry at Badour
- East back down Glen Lochay towards Meall Ghaordaidh and the Tarmachan Ridge
- Ben Challum around the corner from Badour
- Scary bridge crossing
- Just beyond Badour footbridge
- Sron nan Eun behind Batavaime
- North west between Ben Challum and the outliers of Creag Mhor
- Waterfall on northern approach to Beinn nan Imirean
- Looking down on Geri and Berenice from above the waterfall
- Beinn Heasgarnich from northern ridge of the Corbett
- South from summit of Imirean towards the Crianlarich hills
- Summit view east to Sgiath Chuil and Glen Dochart
- Lucy claims another Corbett - next Munro target in the background
- Lunch in relative shelter
- Myself on Imirean
- Descending to the bealach
- Beinn nan Imirean from the bealach to the north east
- Summit of Meall Glas
- Sgiath Chuil from Beinn Cheathaich
- Start of the descent back to the car
- Meall a' Churain from descent off Beinn Cheathaich
We seem to be tuned into a similar wavelength Graeme! Had that route in the "plans" section for a while now - nice to see a preview 
