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Team reduced to 2 plus Jake the dug this weekend, decided on a simple single hill.
Met Ian at the car park at Inverfyne and on the track for 07.45, Jake leading the way.
- Jake leading the way
Slight altercation with a grumpy toffee coo that took exception to Jake even though he was on a lead at the time. She decided to run past us to stand over her calf, three quarters of a ton of hair and horn can move quite fast let me tell you.
- Get orf my land
- And ours
Long walk in but very scenic as Glen Fyne develops, most of it on a good tarmac road then a gravel track until Inverchorachan cottage; 81 minutes.
- Long and winding road - apologies to The Beatles
- Inverchorachan cottage in sight
Good path up the bank of the stream, a little eroded in places with a couple of small scrambles.
- First waterfall
- Path past waterfalls
- Route up by waterfall
Ian was having trouble maintaining grip with his lightweight boots on some of the rocky areas and went off on a detour.
- Detour - straight up
We met up again at the 700m plateau area by the head of Alt na Faing and followed the indistinct path to the base of the last ascent under the bealach. It was just a case of working your way upwards between the small crags. From the top we found a more direct path? to the summit up a gulley, but not for us - to near pension.
- Summit ridge playing peek-a-boo
The summit was shrouded in cloud which gradually lifted as we walked along the summit ridge path.
- Looking back to the bealach
The shape of the hill and gradients reminded me of a grassy version of the final pull up to Stob Ban, on a slightly smaller scale (and for the purists its opposite handed).
Summit reached in 3 hrs 40 mins as the cloud lifted and we ended up with a good all round view.
- Loch Awe & Cruachan horseshoe
- Loch Fyne
- Arrochar Alps
- Summit three
- Summit ridge back to 700m plateau area
- Ben Vorlich
Had lunch and debated returning via Newton Hill, following the track by the Merk burn through the forest and back via the west bank of the river Fyne. Decided not to as there was a sizable area of peat hags and many small pools which would have made for hard walking.
We had intended in following the WH route but came off the ridge too early and had to traverse eastwards above the waterfalls to gain the steep grassy slopes on the north side of the Alt na Faing. The descent was not much slower than the ascent, that is a measure of how steep the grass slopes are.
Had a short break at the bottom before the forced march out led by the old Black Watchman Ian (come on lad push it out, in through the nose out through the mouth, no slacking).
All was going well until the ambush by the wooly horned behemoths just after the sheepfold (phycological warfare there - never expect cows by a sheepfold). Six cows and calfs strung across the road with a couple of tough looking hangers on. Wellington said pick your ground for a battle, I said run away. So we gave them a wide berth up hill in their field, which was the worst bog of the day and not all of it peat.
84 minutes walk out with a total walk time of 7 hrs 35 mins.
Forgot to add we heard a cuckoo calling from the hazel tree woods, a little early I thought, a letter to Times is required as summer is on its way.
- Jake takes a cooling bath, I was tempted
- Uppermost waterfall
- Glen Fyne northwards
- Glen Fyne southwards