3 munros of Beinn a'Ghlo, in the clag unfortunately

[gld73]

Asides from a post lockdown nip up Ben Wyvis, lockdown and injuries had meant no munros done in 2020. Rectified that at last with the 3 of Beinn a'Ghlo as a stop off on the drive to Edinburgh; meant to do these for a while but had never got round to it. Today I managed to get up at a decent time and the forecast was good, so I got to the parking area at 9.30am (early for me!), 5 other cars there on a Thursday in September, had coffee and a roll, then set off to Carn Liath, which had the cloud disappearing from its summit as I approached. Looked like the decent forecast could be right...

Path builders were working on putting in stones across the boggy approach to Carn Liath. They'd certainly made a good job of the path up the steep slope; the steps were small and varied, not a knee-killing staircase of high steps designed for giants. I was down to a t-shirt for most of it, until the cloud reappeared and smothered the hill .... it stayed like that for the rest of the walk at height unfortunately. Fleece and waterproof coat on, I made it to the summit of Carn Liath about an hour and a half after starting the walk. I wouldn't have done the walk if I'd known conditions would be like that, I'd have stuck to something lower out of the cloud to get good views and to ease navigation. Decided to stick with it though, with the thought I might bail out and re-trace my steps if I felt I was getting off track or my hill fitness was lacking.

Carn Liath clear of cloud on the approach

...but the trig point and summit cairn photos were pretty representative of the rest of the walk

This was about as good a view as I got on most of the ridge walking

I had map, compass and the WH route instructions, but mainly I was just following the path, checking it against the instructions to see that it more or less matched up. Having mainly been doing grahams and sub 2000s this year, a well trodden path was something of a novelty. I could only see a few metres ahead of me on the way to the next summit, other than a brief minute at the bottom of the bealach between the first 2 munros - useful to see the first few metres of the steep ascent on the other side I was just about to get to, but also to see a good clear path heading off around Beinn Bheag which would be a good escape route if I decided to cut the walk short.

Immediately back into the clag though and onwards and upwards to the summit of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. Still no views. A bit apprehensive that the instructions warned route finding along the next part would be hard in poor visibility, I made sure I didn't daydream and lose the path as I have a habit of doing. Still, the path I took suddenly came to an end with no sign of a "steep route down on the right". So I resorted to map and compass to get a rough idea of where I should ahead, based on where I thought I was. A few seconds later, the cloud lifted with perfect timing and confirmed I was heading the right way, with the path just off to the side of where I was descending down to the bealach. Good views over to Carn nan Gabhar where I was heading. As I headed up the other side, met a lass who was coming down and had a wee chat, she was checking I knew the actual summit was the 3rd cairn/trig point along the summit ridge and warned the wind was bad up the top.

Summit cairn of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain

Carn nan Gabhar summit cairn. The trig point cairn should be visible on the right of this shot too, but the cloud decided otherwise

The first cairn is big, and looks like it should be the summit cairn. Just as well it was big because the cloud was down again and visibility rubbish. I couldn't see the trig point from that cairn, it only came into view half way between. Again, that looked a good candidate for a summit marker. But again I continued over the unpleasant rocks, slippy in places, until the 3rd cairn loomed out of the clag and I finally made it to the summit. Freezing, wet, strong winds ... I didn't hang around, going back past the trig point and other cairn, welcoming way markers in the conditions. Heading back down, I met 3 men heading up, again stopped for a brief chat. I'd been going to descend by the route given in the WH instructions, but they said it would be horrendously boggy, especially after all the recent rain, and recommended the steep descent over and down Airgiod Bheinn instead. I took their advice which, with a bad knee, wasn't the best decision. If I do these hills again (which is likely, but in good conditions), I'd do this is as an ascent route rather than a descent. Still, it was dry, if slow and painful, and after an easy crossing of the burn at the bottom, I was on to the good new path which took me all the way back to the car.

Looking back at the mountains from the walk out, explains why I couldn't see a thing when I was up there.

Left car 0940, 1st summit 1105, 2nd summit 1220, 3rd summit 1326, back at car 1628.