Beinn a Bhuiridh between trains.

[del1949]

Loch Awe on the way up

Crossing Monadh Driseig, Beinn a' Bhuiridh ahead

I was staying in Crianlarich. The plan was to walk to Beinn a' Bhuiridh starting from Loch Awe railway station and finishing at the Falls of Cruachan station. The 10:15 Oban train was about 25 mins late. Initially there was myself and one other guy waiting, we were soon to be joined by a lot of other people. One group was taking the train to Corrour to accompany a guy for his final Munro, Beinn na Lap. Others were travelling to Oban to take part in a Scottish Independence rally.
I set off from Loch Awe at 11:15, this gave me five and half hours to complete the walk, could be a bit of a struggle for this OAP!
I walked along the A85 road to the B8077, there is a path alongside the A85 which ends near the road junction. Immediately after turning onto the B8077 there is a track on the left, over the gate and I followed the track around the east end of the ridge leading to Monadh Driseig to the next gate. Here a fence comes down off the hillside to cross the track.
Immediately after the second gate I started uphill. Views were restricted due to low cloud with all the nearby Munros covered. My waterproof gear had to be used frequently today. I did not visit the trig point on Monadh Driseig I passed it about a hundred yards to the north. At the bealach between Monadh Driseig and the east ridge of Beinn a' Bhuiridh I was enveloped in thick warm mist which had drifted up and over onto to the hillside, this cleared after several minutes.
As I approached the cairn at the west end of Beinn a Bhuiridh, reached at 14:40, I looked back to see dark clouds heading straight for me, also I spotted another cairn that I had passed by, it soon disappeared in the mist. I headed back towards it, being unsure which cairn was the summit cairn, I changed my mind in the thick mist and returned to the west cairn. Fortunately three walkers appeared, one of them had a Sat Nav and confirmed that the west cairn was the summit cairn.
I was concerned that I might miss the 16:42 train to Crianlarich, so took a compass bearing towards the Cruachan Dam road and off I went. The hillside above the dam road is steep and in my haste I slipped and down I went. After I recovered myself I looked back to see my trekking poles still stuck in the ground, ten feet or so above!
I found the path which leads down to the Falls of Cruachan station, which is not marked on the map, I had last used this path many years previously to access the Cruachan Horse shoe. As the trees are entered there is a deer fence with a stile which was falling to pieces, attempts had been made to secure it, but I had no confidence in the wet worn wood. It took me a little while to get over this obstacle I climbed mostly over the deer fence. The path down through the trees was very muddy, using the trees as a brake to prevent slipping worked well except each time I grabbed a tree I was shaking water down onto myself. I finally arrived at the station about 16:25 very wet.
The train was about 20 minutes late.