Beinn a Chochuill and Beill Eunaich

[seamus0]

After a long extended break from the hills, I was last in Scotland in May, so was seriously unfit. That being the case, I was intending to take my time this weekend and enjoy the hills. This route looked ideal with great views and a nice easy ridge walk, with a spot of good weather thrown in for good measure! I flew up thursday and drove to Crianlarich to use as my base. I was meeting my mate Neil who drove up from Manchester and after a hectic few weeks at work he was in a similar mood to myself. So with a good weather forecast, we set off up the A82. After Tyndrum we took the A85 towards Oban. After Dalmally, pass Kilchurn castle, over the bridge and take the next road on your right, the B8077 signposted for Stronmilchan. After 500m up this Old Military road you'll go over a small bridge. The next gate on your left marks the start of the walk. To park, you can drive a bit further on for another 300m to find a small laybay for at least 4 cars (ref=140290). After parking up walk back along the road (past a farm) back to the entrance to the walk.

Start of walk at ref 136288

The farm track bares right passing some out-buildings and then starts to climb left after going through a metal gate. The route is obvious as the track is visible ahead climbing the western side of Stob Maol. ALong this gentle climb there are some great views of Cruachan on the left with Stob Daimh and Coire Creachainn being ever present.

Stob Daimh and Coire Creachainn

Along the way a herd of tame highland coos make a nice photostop!

Highland Coos

Track climbing up with Beinn a Chochuill in the distance

After a while around ref 130305 you'll see a small cairn marking the steep track up the slope of Stob Maol if climbing Beinn Eunaich first. This looked like a bit of a hike as we watched another walker who started out with us climb up it. We decided to use this as our descent from Beinn Eunaich instead later in the day.

Cairn marking track up to Beinn Eunaich

We carried on up the track till we crossed the bridge over Allt Larig Lanachain. The track bends left at this point and round a corner.

Bridge over Allt Larig Lanachain

Another 100m further on the track splits off right and back on yourself. Again about 100m up this track is a small cairn marking the faint track up the spur of Beinn a Chochuill. From here, the faintest of tracks can be followed up NW spur of Ben a Chochuill. The climb is easy going. Dont forget to enjoy the views down the glen to Kilchurn Castle below and the views of Cruachan on the left

Climb up Beinn a Chochuill

Near the ridge

Views of Cruachan

After about 1km or so you'll reach a small cairn marking the ridge and the going gets noticeably easier.

Climb starts to flatten out near the ridge

View from ridge towards Beinn a Chochuill

The ridge walk is easy and broad and offers fantastic views.

Walking along ridge with Beinn Eunaich in distance

Good track along ridge

Near the top

Beinn Eunaich in distance

After about 2.5 - 3hrs from the start you should reach the top.

Lunch break at top of Beinn A chochuill

Cruachan in the distance

We had splendid views of Cruachan and Loch Etive and by chance met the walker from the start who had just come from Beinn Eunaich (and was obviously much fitter). He didnt envy our descent route, the steep trail he climbed up....but we had made our choice, so we werent too bothered. After a bit of lunch and a cup of chocolate, we were ready to crack on back along the ridge and towards Beinn Eunaich. The descent down to the bealach was straight forward with a good track. Although the route of Eunaich looked a bit imposing, it was also relatively straight forward with a good track all the way to the top. If was quite stoney towards the top but nothing of any significance.
From the top of one Munro to the other allow roughly 1.25 hrs. ALong the way views of Glen Finglas and beyond are dominant. The autumn colours were just starting to come through throughout the day.

Walk back towards Beinn Eunaich

Autumn colours

Looking back at ridge along Beinn a Chochuill from Beinn Eunaich

Top of Beinn Eunaich

Towards the top, the rain started to take a turn for the worse, where we got a flurry of rain and hail storms.

The climb up, rain setting in

From top of Beinn Eunaich looking back

After a quick break we quickly took a compass bearing south to start our descent down the broad spur of Beinn Eunaich. On the way down we were hit with my first taste of snow since last winter with horizontal driving hail/snow. We werent too concerned as the route down was ahead of us. As it turned out, it only lasted 15mins, and we soon left it behind us. Coming out of the clag, we could see good views of Lochawe and teh castle once again.

Route down

Castle in the distance

The trail eventually heads off right off the western slops of Stob Maol just before a large noticeable peat hag. From here we were faced with the steep descent our friend earlier was commenting about. We took our time, and the path was easily negotiable, it just took concentration. From here, we arrived back on the track at the cairn and made our way back to the car. Overall it was a great day out with fantastic views, a lovely ridge walk and a bit of excitement with some snow flurries. But i knew the next day my aching legs would know about it!