by agw086 » Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:22 pm
Munros included on this walk: Beinn Narnain
Date walked: 08/08/2020
Time taken: 8 hours
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Walk up my 1st Munro - decided to attempt Beinn Narnain and Beinn Ime - set off from North Ayrshire up to Tarbet (Succoth) at 4am, took just over an hour. We parked up in 1 of the 2 Succoth car parks (£9 for a full days parking - if you use these car parks ensure you park ONE of the bays or you will get a penalty ticket (2 tickets if you straddle 2 bays)). We got up to the bench without any issue and chose the right hand path which is the harder route up (if you take this path the track up isn’t so obvious (it’s about 50m past the signpost for glenloin walk) but once about 100m up this path it becomes clear it is the tracked route up. We went up couple of days after some heavy rain - your feet will get wet if not wearing waterproof boots (which will spoil your whole walking experience) thankfully I did wear my goretex boots. There is another route up to Beinn Narnain along the path to the cobbler but I preferred the harder route. The route up was very easy to follow but it was more or less straight up, if your lucky you’ll get the deer up there watching you head up. Many false summits on the way up but generally an enjoyable experience, couple of scrambles but nothing too taxing. I had a steady walk up as I with an a less experienced walker with me who found the initial walk up taxing. The many false summits had me doubting the last climb up Beinn Narnain (I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t one of the three cobbler peaks) as, as you ascend the cobbler is prominent on the LHS very close by. But once you reach the summit of Beinn Narnain it is obvious you have reached the flat plateau with various cairns and the trig point again with Ben Arthur on the left and Beinn Ime to the front. We had some really good weather at the top and the view was spectacular, with Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond behind you and down Loch Long and Gareloch. After an hour or so at the top we came down the mountain on the north west side towards the cobbler and Beinn Ime path which is one of about 3 descents down the back of the mountain but all leading to the relatively easy path down. At the bottom you can ascend either towards the cobbler or up Beinn Ime which looks at easier climb than going up the front of Beinn Narnain. But as we had friends waiting for us after they had went up Ben Arthur that day and that we were pretty knocked after Beinn Narnain we decided to leave Beinn Ime for another day and came down the cobbler path. When I come to bagging Beinn Ime I will take the easier walk up the cobbler path to the back of Beinn Narnain and head up that way.