The perfect way to get back into the Munros

[martin.h]

After a long seven months away from the munros I was planning a relatively steady unvisited mountain to ease us back into the swing of things Meall Buidhe suited the bill perfectly.

We didn't include this mountain when we visited the area a few years ago when we did Stuchd an Lochain, it was foggy, raining and a bit dreary to be honest, so we promised ourselves we'd come back for this one when the conditions were to be a bit better and, according to the forecast, Good Friday was to be just the day for it.

We were taking advantage of the long Easter weekend with three nights booked at the Bunroy caravan and camping site in Roybridge and an overnighter in Stirling on the way up.

Friday dawned as promised, blue sky, sunshine, a light wind and a comfortable cool temperature, there was a bit of haze, hopefully that'll burn off

We set off from Stirling with enough time to get to the parking by the Giorra Dam before it gets busy, we did, but only just, the main parking area was stuffed, so were the little pull ins down the tarmac leading to the dam except for one, just big enough for two cars, we were first car in it so we were sorted, five minutes later we were joined by another, Phew! that was close mind you, there are some good spots on the verges.

We were off walking by 10 past 10 taking a couple of photo's of the dam before we went through the gate by the information board which takes you onto a good track.

DSC02601 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02603 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02605 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

There's a small cairn marking the start of the hill path on the right hand side of the track about 0.5 km further on, with the relatively dry conditions this was not as soggy as it could be in its initial stages so progress was good, no bog hopping needed

DSC02608 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

This path is pretty good even if it is over wet terrain there's no problem keeping to it. As height is gained the views across to Stuchd an Lochain get better as does the view up Loch an Daimh.

DSC02607 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02633 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

As we got higher we were able to see the way ahead and the path snaking its way up to the 917m point on the map to the west of Meall a' Phuill, once up this there's a good sized cairn and a good view of Meall Buidhe along a nice broad ridge, nice steady walking

We reached the summit of our first munro of 2019 and it was perfect, very little wind, cool but not cold, the views were a little hazy but they were much better than our last visit to the area so we spent a good while looking around and chatting to a couple of people we met on the top.

Summit Denise
DSC02621 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Summit twosome
DSC02615 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Views, back along the ridge
DSC02617 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Garbh Mheall
DSC02619 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Towards Glen Coe and Black Mount
DSC02625 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Meall a' Phuill
DSC02629 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

But we had to get going, we had to get to Fort William to do some shopping in Morrisons for the weekend and we weren't sure of opening hours on Good Friday , better being safe than sorry so we set off down retracing our way up.

Descent views

DSC02631 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02637 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02636 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

Back at the car for 1pm, we had lunch in the sun, relaxed a bit, just looking around,

DSC02639 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

DSC02638 by Martin Hawer, on Flickr

we had plenty of time for the shops and were happy to have done our first munro in good weather and in not too bad a time either.

We arrived at the campsite, got set up and had time to relax ready for our big day tomorrow, the Loch Laggan three, report to follow.
Cheers