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Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Meall na Fearna, Malky Style


Postby Frogwell » Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:09 am

Corbetts included on this walk: Meall na Fearna

Date walked: 29/01/2012

Time taken: 6 hours

Distance: 16 km

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I've been wanting to do this as a winter walk for some time, and while the weather wasn't as good as promised (no, really), it was still pretty decent. I parked at the top of Glen Artney beside the no parking sign and was on the off just after 10:00. The first 2.5 miles of the walk are a straightforward amble up a well maintained estate track and then, because the GPX file stolen from Malky's report told me to, I turned left and plodded straight up to the top of Stob Chalum Mhic Griogair. From there it was a pretty straightforward walk to Meall na Fearna, while doing my best not to scare the two billion deer along the way.

From Meall na Fearna I had thought about taking the South East ridge up Vorlich and then coming off the Bealach between it an Stuc a' Chroin, but it was later than hoped and my knee was starting to play up slightly, so I picked a route following the wide ridge directly south, and down into Gleann an Dubh Choirein. A very straightforward descent, although I suspect in anything but frozen winter conditions it could be very boggy, in fact, most of walk could be a bit on the squelchy side I suspect. By the time I got to the bottom of the Glen my knee was absolutely screaming and so the last couple of miles were slow going, despite the easy terrain along the estate track. I got back to the car about 16:00 and despite the knee not wanting me to change gear very often, I was home about twenty minutes later.

That's all there is, there isn't any more. Not a walk that's going to be seen on the red carpet at the national annual walk awards, but very pleasant none the less. I would recommend this route, not least because despite Malky's description of an approach from the dark side, it's actually an approach from the light side, what with being South facing.

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Frogwell
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby starrynights » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:20 pm

"beside the no parking sign" :lol:

Glad you didn't encounter any more savage crocodiles - or crocodile activists 8) Perhaps your knee was screaming because it was trying to tell you something!!!....."I'm not ready" - more knee tlc needed Frogwell. Look forward to more of your epic reports when your knee is up to it :) :)
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby kevsbald » Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:25 pm

Fantastic shots as usual Frogwell. Imitation best form of flattery - may have to check out that route.
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby SMRussell » Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:59 pm

Stunning shots in there as usual :thumbup:
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby SusieThePensioner » Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:10 pm

Good little report and some great photos :thumbup:

Hope your knee has recovered?
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby Frogwell » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:08 pm

Thanks for the comments :)

starrynights wrote:"beside the no parking sign" :lol:

Glad you didn't encounter any more savage crocodiles - or crocodile activists 8) Perhaps your knee was screaming because it was trying to tell you something!!!....."I'm not ready" - more knee tlc needed Frogwell. Look forward to more of your epic reports when your knee is up to it :) :)

No Crocodiles this time, thankfully. I'm sure I was being stalked by an Eagle though, but I kept catching only small glances of it as it hid behind outcrops etc. It could just have been a very big buzzard, but I'm preferring the eagle theory as it's more impressive.

kevsbald wrote:Fantastic shots as usual Frogwell. Imitation best form of flattery - may have to check out that route.

It's a good route, and done without the snow adding on in Vorlich, Stuc a Chroin and Beinn Each would be perfectly doable as per Malky's route. A lot better than the South approach I think. With the benefit of easy escape routes after each hill too.


SusieThePensioner wrote:Good little report and some great photos :thumbup:

Hope your knee has recovered?

It was agony all night, I could hardly bend it at all, and it woke me up a couple of times in the night as moving it even while lying down sent shooting pain right through it. It cleared up quite well through the day though and I ambled about Oban quite gently without any problems at all. That all ended on the drive home though, the heavy clutch on the car became a real nightmare. It seems okayish again now though, so I guess some rest might be what it needs, which is a shame as I wanted to abuse it in Glencoe tomorrow.
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby SusieThePensioner » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:42 am

Frogwell wrote:That all ended on the drive home though, the heavy clutch on the car became a real nightmare. It seems okayish again now though, so I guess some rest might be what it needs, which is a shame as I wanted to abuse it in Glencoe tomorrow.


I can empathise about the clutch; just over 4 years ago my left knee became so bad I couldn't use the clutch at all and had to get an automatic. I've got severe osteoarthritis in both knees and qualified for a car under the motability scheme as I'm now registered disabled :)

I do hope things improve for you :D
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby Graeme D » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:37 pm

[quote="Frogwell I parked at the top of Glen Artney beside the no parking sign [/quote]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I like yer style! :lol:

Was just thinking about this one over the weekend and wondering if I could squeeze it in of an evening this year once the days get long enough. Have never quite been sure what's the best way to tackle it though and the logistics of add-ons. I think Malky's report may be getting another once over. :D
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby malky_c » Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:19 pm

Phew! I always worry that when someone refers to 'malky style' they really mean 'with extra peat hags' :lol:

That looked very pleasant though. I enjoyed approaching from that side mainly because I'd never been up there prior to that walk.
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Re: Meall na Fearna, Malky Style

Postby Frogwell » Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:36 pm

Graeme Dewar wrote:Was just thinking about this one over the weekend and wondering if I could squeeze it in of an evening this year once the days get long enough. Have never quite been sure what's the best way to tackle it though and the logistics of add-ons. I think Malky's report may be getting another once over. :D
Fearna on it's own would be a perfectly doable evening walk in the summer. If you didn't want to do the loop you could even just do up and down by the same route that I used for the descent. Probably only take 3 - 4 hours that way.

malky_c wrote:Phew! I always worry that when someone refers to 'malky style' they really mean 'with extra peat hags' :lol:

That looked very pleasant though. I enjoyed approaching from that side mainly because I'd never been up there prior to that walk.

I made note of you reference to the peat hags along that ridge. I had wanted to return that way but had to concur that the hags were a bit on the haggish side
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