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All credit to us, Valerie and I were up and away from the house by 7.00am heading for the hills again on a Saturday morning (though maybe 6.00am would have helped us today?). We will have to work on these early rises especially for the winter months, and maybe even try an odd early night
Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss was the order of the day leaving from the carpark at Dalrigh just a couple of kilometres back southeast from Tyndrum. Walking by 9.15 we were soon across the river, over the railway and crossing the scary footbridge over the Allt Gleann Auchreoch.
It has to be said now that unless you love bog-walking you should consider leaving this ascent to the driest summer days or pick good cold winter days as the path has far more than its fair share of bog and slippy roots. However, we did enjoy some lovely areas of native pine and birch trees. Ritchie loved all the bog!
We stopped for a good long break once out of the trees and studied the surrounding as I had not yet decided the full extend of the day and how we might retreat? Several deer were watching us too from above the forest line. Beinn Dubhchraig was completely covered in thick cloud from about 650 metres! Onwards though we went on a path that remained very wet all the way up to 900 metres above sea-level. I was now requiring to navigate aided by the use of map and compass as this bumpy wide ridge in thick clag is deceptive and difficult to follow. I was happy to locate the lochans at this level from where we quickly made the final climb up onto the summit some 600 metres away with a further 70 metre climb. Did not stay on the top for long as it was not the best of conditions, and we were heading for Ben Oss, plus the lochans looked a nicer spot to have a quick refeshment.
One or two alarm bells were starting to ring in my my head, due in main to the weather conditions. Ben Oss was not going to be simple jaunt there and back again, assuming we would use the same path again to descend? But we headed off westwards and made the initial trip towards the bealach of Coire Garbh. The call was made though and we decided to leave Ben Oss for another day (perhaps on a trip that is planned to Ben Lui?); we turned around and ploughed through the mists heading for the wee ridge directed for Allt Dubh. I was considering dropping down to Coronish to see if the wee footbridge marked on the map exists?
The mini-ridges, bumps, lochans and clag were a confusing and eerie experience, the kind of thing you need from time to time. This is providing you know something of what you are doing with your trusty map & compass. We enjoyed a spell just deciding where was the best point to drop off back down, and this provided Valerie and I with some thought provoking discussion and excitement. It really is always quite amazing how deceptive even small features can be when you are caught out in difficult conditions.
The main precaution for me was avoiding being caught out still high up the mountains as darkness fell! This was easily avoided, but only because we took the correct decision to adjust our route to suit. We did of course both have head-torches in our packs and some spare batteries.
Hope you enjoy the pictures, especially those of the ancient trees and the dodgy (but fun) bridge.......
