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Ben Starav,had been thinking of this one and the two near by munro's for a while but having been in Glen Etive recently to climb Albannaich and meall nan Eun on a misty wet day had wanted to bide our time for a good forecast.Sunday was it,90% per cent chance of cloud free tops so we were on,a reduced crew of 2,(me and big Jim)set of early and were walking for just after 8.
- 1st target Starav
- 1st target Starav
It's a long pull up Ben Starav but i expected it to be worse than it was,we paced ourselves,taking wee breathers every now and then ,enjoyed great views the higher we got and made the top in about 2 and a half hours.
- big man working up a sweat
- starav top becomes clear
- wee breather before last pull
- jim on starav ,cruachan in the background
Just short of the top we bumped into Walkhighlands regular Soulminer.Had a good wee blether with him,think he said that was his 100th munro on his second round and his last munro on his first round and he was heading down to pitch his tent and then walk up Beinn Trilleachan.Respect due to that man
,Anyway,great views on starav but no hanging about ,it was pretty cold in the wind so set off towards the wee arete taking our time on a wee slippy icy bit before finding a sheltered spot for a bite.
- down loch etive
- taking our time on this bit
- beinn nan aighenan
Next target beinn nan aighenan didn't look that far away so we headed down dumped the bags behind some rocks and began the climb.This was the hardest part of the day for me,quite a bit of height was lost between the 2 hills and i was well glad to reach the top,a great viewpoint this.
- nice wee arete
- much relief on glas beinn mhor
Back down to re-claim the bags then the climb up to meall nan tri tighearnan,beggining to tire a bit now and the last push up glas beinn mhor was tough but we got there eventually and sat for a wee while before heading down the glen finding a nice spot for the soup.
- at last beinn nan aighenan
- the ben
- cruachan hills from beinn nan aighenan
- jim takes a snooze with starav in the background
An enjoyable walk back,talking about how much we love a cool beer and got back to the car in 9 hours dead.A note was under the wiper on jim's motor "LOOK UNDER THE WHEEL -FROM KEV",and there they were, 2 bottles of stella.Kev had been out in his camper van with the missus ,spotted jim's motor and left a wee treat for the thirsty walkers,best bottle of beer ever that's for sure
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- stob coir an albannaich
A great day,maybe the best equal yet,tough but great weather and good crack,rounded off with a couple of swift drinks in the kingshouse.