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Beinn Odhar
A reasonable forecast had seen a planned assault on Glencoe for the Saturday, but it soon became apparent on the drive up that a mini monsoon was going to set in for the day. Driving rain and blustery conditions saw a plan B take priority.
Beinn Odhar is a Corbett that lies just to the north of Tyndrum and is part of the fabled “Auch 5” a rarity in the Corbett world, where five Corbetts can be climbed in the one outing. This round is demanding as I found out a number of years ago, my only other visit to Beinn Odhar. Today we were looking for the opposite, and as a solitary Corbett it provides a nice easy hike. The summit lies just a little over a kilometre from the road and the road sits at an altitude of over 300m. So a short sharp ascent sees you onto the top
Leaving the car at the layby, the rain was hammering down and we weren’t expecting much in the way of views as we plodded up the southern ridge. The terrain is steep grassy slopes so when we saw a rocky band appear out of the mist we headed over to have a look. Turns out that at the top of this rocky outcrop, there’s an old mine, which I had totally missed on my last visit (I had started further up the glen and ascended almost directly to the summit (a shorter but steeper variation which missed the mine).
Given the proximity to Tyndrum and the mines on the other side of the glen, we thought initially that it may have been an old gold mine, but on getting home I discovered it was an old lead mine and goes into the hill some 11 meters. I didn’t fancy and mountain falling on top of me so we didn’t venture in as no idea how safe (or dangerous!) these old mines are!!
After loitering at the mine we soon headed onwards and were soon stood on the summit as the rain turned to sleet. In fact on the way home the Munros were boasting a nice white coat. Had we gone any higher we would have had some wintery spring conditions to enjoy!! A nice wee option for a half day though and much fun was had .
