by nobabody » Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:56 pm
Date walked: 21/11/2011
Time taken: 4 hours
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First report so i'll keep it brief. Left Larbert around 7, fairly early for me but then theres not much light this time of year and most people say this walk takes 7 hours. By the time i got to Stirling i'd realised i'd left my gloves at home. Not a disaster, i'll just do what i did when i was growing up and pull my sleeves down !! Got to Bridge of Orchy after the usual delays for slow and large vehicles, decided to gear up from the start. Waterproof trooz-on, gaiters-on, bits-on, right, fleece-off, jacket oot the pocket o my rucksack......eh no, another fleece, d@mn the jackets hanging on a peg at the back door. OK two fleeces, if the rains not too heavy it'll sit on the fleece and soak in slowly, hopefully, then i can change into the second fleece if first one gets wet, sounds about right, eh? So off i go, fairly uneventful ascent, Beinn an Dothiadh first. No much rain thankfully and its going to plan, not soaking thru. Now where am i? Maps useless cause i canny see further than 50m in any direction. Woohoo, GPS on the phone, ah the summits over there, 500m later and i'm there. Nae time to stop, down a go, its boggy as boggy gets, this is a dream to descend, i'm flying, check the GPS, paths over here, 15 mins am at the cairn again. Right bash on boy, upwards and onwards. Now its gettin steep again, feelin it in the legs, stomaches cryin for fuel. Roll, bag and crisps, juice, 10 minute pitstop and i'm away again. Now av got choices of paths. Right looks flatter the now, gee ma food time to get intae ma system. Seems to take ages to get round the hill, but eventually i'm goin up steeply. Quick check on GPS and av come round the back o Beinn Dorain but am there again, canny see the cairn cause visibility is doon to 30m but path goes right to it, so hoorah for that. Onto the next one, its massive, straight past it, kak a photy, done, noo hame. 5 minutes later or so it seems am back at where i chose the long haul roond the back o this hill. follow the path or straight doon, everyone the knows me knows....its straight doon. 15 minutes later am on the path which was a babbling brook on the way up but is now a burn, am soaked but the station is just doon there. Easy Peasy, another 2 in the bag, back in the car, 4hrs reeesult !! Note to self:mind yir gloves and jacket ya nugget!!