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Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar


Postby PeteR » Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:57 pm

Route description: Beinn Luibhean

Corbetts included on this walk: Beinn Luibhean

Date walked: 15/07/2012

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I’d had big plans for this particular weekend. An early rise, for a long drive north to bag me a couple of Munros. Work had other ideas though, so plans were revised to get my work sorted early morning and then sneak out for an afternoon/early evening walk. The target was Beinn Bhuidhe. I’d bailed on this one back at Easter, when the weather decided to turn against me (and I was up passed the “bad step” as well). I’d retreated to the Fynne Brewery shop and invested in some local ale’s instead :wink: :wink:

So, with work under control I was off just before 11 and heading off up to Arrochar. Passed the car park at Succoth, which looked pretty busy despite the less than ideal weather. I really must get back up to the Cobbler, Ime and Narnain trio again, but that’s possibly a winter trip for those three when the hoards may be tucked up in front of a warm fire :D

Heading off toward the Rest and Be Thankful when Beinn Luibhean caught my eye :think: I’d had a mess around on this hill back in the winter when I had turned back one time just past Crianlarich due to the snow. Perhaps this would provide a nice, short afternoons walk for me. Get rid of some cobwebs, but I’d be home in time for dinner :D

Cue change of plan as I did a u-eee and parked up at the small parking area near the bridge.

By now the rain was coming down steadily :shock: I wasn’t concerned, as I kitted up and headed off toward the sloping bridge and the path that heads up onto the shoulder of the hill and on toward Beinn Ime (I assume :?:)
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Beinn Luibhean #1

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The dodgy looking bridge at the start of walk

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View back to the Brack

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Waterfall near start of the walk

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Beinn Luibhean #2

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Beinn an Lochan

What a lovely, squelchy, boggy path it was as it gained height quite steeply before contouring round the bottom of the hill :lol:
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There's a path in that bracken

I wasn’t sure if Luibhean has a path up it, so rather than continue along the wonderful boggy path for too long I decided to simply pick a line and strike on up the ridge. Soon I was wading through a sea of Bracken before finally emerging into (sometimes longish) grass. From now on it was straight up ‘till I reached the top :shock:

Well, it was straight up a fairly steep ridge ‘till I reached the top :lol:
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Climbing up the Luibhean ridge

By now the wind had picked up. And it was still raining. So, it was horizontal rain :lol: And my face was getting quite exfoliated :lol: :lol: In fact, I’m surprised there was any skin left, as I was getting a good battering at times :shock:

I have to say that, despite being a short walk up the ridge to the top, as is typical of a number of these Arrochar Alps I got the impression it was making me work for it :wtf: I was certainly huffing and puffing at times on the initial climb up the side. Once past the initial rise things did settle down nicely on the final approach to the summit and at times I’m sure a developing path was being followed.
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Easing off toward the top

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Picking a route through the rocks

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The rain coming on again

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Yep, it's raining

The cloud was still winning the day though, so views weren’t that brilliant. Not that it detracted from what I think was an enjoyable little traipse to the top and back!!!!

I eventually made it to the summit with its small cairn. No views at all, but I sheltered underneath some rocks just below the summit in the hope I might get lucky
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Summit cairn

No lucky :lol: :lol:
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My summit view

So, I headed off back down again. At which point the rain stopped, the wind dropped and the clouds showed signs of lifting :? In truth it never came to much as the normal service resumed fairly quickly after, but it might have been nice to get some sort of view from the top. But hey-ho!
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A break in the clouds at last

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Rest and Be Thankful

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Back toward the summit, while the cloud had lifted a while

On the way down I had at first thought I’d simply retrace my steps, but instead decided to squelch my way toward the pipeline I could see on the edge of Coire Croe. There was a fair bit of water coming down off the hills, which looked like it might be interesting and throw up a photo opportunity or two.
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Beinn Narnain from the back

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Narnain again

I soon realised I would have to jump across the water if I was to pick up the path I could see heading back down to the main road – or so it seemed to me.

The first burn involved a very short, but very steep drop down on wet grass. Nothing technical, but had I slipped I’d have been wet :lol:

I didn’t slip :thumbup:

It did provide a good aspect of the water tumbling down over the rocks though.
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The first water crossing

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Pipeline

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A further water crossing

Then it was the next burn. A little wider perhaps, but I managed to find a decent place to jump over. Not so photogenic at that point though. Walking down toward the weir I suddenly realised I had a third burn to cross :shock: Not quite sure how, but I hadn’t expected this one. Luckily I managed to find a good, narrow point to jump across, but not before admiring the confluence of the two earlier burns I’d successfully jumped across.

Homeward bound........or so I thought :thumbup:

As I merrily sauntered down off the hill I picked up the path back to the main road that I had been on at the start of my walk. “Cushty” I thought as I made my way along it. Eventually though it angled to my right and as I turned the corner what did I see in front of me? Would that be the confluence of the three burns I had crossed earlier that I now needed to cross back over in order to stay on the path? Correct :shock: Did it look a tad wide, deep and fast flowing to risk it? Correct again :lol: :lol:

My only other option was to jump across a fourth burn and hop over a fence and make my way down the opposite side of the burn. Finding a suitable spot proved a bit difficult, but eventually I managed to locate a big rock to jump on to. It looked a bit wet, so the slip factor was a bit of a risk, but thankfully I made it ok. From then on it was a pretty easy, if very boggy trek down the side of the hill following the line of a fence back to the roadside.
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The bogfest route back to the road

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A final view of the slanting bridge at the start of the walk

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View to the Brack at the end of the walk

Ok, so no views to really speak of, but a good short walk to keep my eye in so to speak. Think I'll revsit in the winter perhaps, with a good covering of snow covering it :D
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PeteR
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby hills » Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:39 pm

Aha, this is the hill that is causing all the a83 agony eh, kinda glad i did this when it was snow covered, does look rather soggy, thanks for that report. :D
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby Collaciotach » Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:51 am

haha does look a wee bit " fluich" :D ..... good report though i agree think i ll leave all the Arrochar Beinn til Winter when the hoardes is no there :clap:
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby morag1 » Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:33 pm

Congrats on bagging another Munro getting closer to the big 200 :clap:

Saw this area on the news today, after all the bog in your photos not surprised to hear they shut it down :lol:
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby old danensian » Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:07 pm

You paint such an enticing picture Pete - as a result I think I'll leave it until drier drought ridden times.

But then again we all share a certain peverted sense of satisfaction and achievement under such conditions.

OD
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby ChrisW » Sat Aug 04, 2012 2:06 am

How many burns :shock: :lol: I was sure you were going to say that you ended up with a soaking from falling into a burn mate, glad you managed not to :wink: Still good to be out though eh, love that break in the clouds photo...very atmospheric :clap:
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby PeteR » Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:53 pm

hills wrote:Aha, this is the hill that is causing all the a83 agony eh, kinda glad i did this when it was snow covered, does look rather soggy, thanks for that report. :D


Cheers hills. Definitely an area for winter walking :D
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PeteR
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby PeteR » Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:55 pm

Collaciotach wrote:haha does look a wee bit " fluich" :D ..... good report though i agree think i ll leave all the Arrochar Beinn til Winter when the hoardes is no there :clap:


Fluich indeed :lol: But still a good walk for a half day :D
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PeteR
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby PeteR » Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:01 pm

morag1 wrote:Congrats on bagging another Munro getting closer to the big 200 :clap:

Saw this area on the news today, after all the bog in your photos not surprised to hear they shut it down :lol:


Cheers morag :D If the landslides keep going there won't be much of this hill left :lol:
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PeteR
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby PeteR » Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:03 pm

old danensian wrote:You paint such an enticing picture Pete - as a result I think I'll leave it until drier drought ridden times.

But then again we all share a certain peverted sense of satisfaction and achievement under such conditions.

OD


Come on OD, a nice bog-fest. You can't beat it :lol: If you're waiting for a drought, then I think it might be a long wait :D
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby PeteR » Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:07 pm

ChrisW wrote:How many burns :shock: :lol: I was sure you were going to say that you ended up with a soaking from falling into a burn mate, glad you managed not to :wink: Still good to be out though eh, love that break in the clouds photo...very atmospheric :clap:


Too many Chris :lol: And a soaking wasn't out of the question until the last second either :lol: But you're
right, it is good to be out, regardless of the weather.
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Re: Cracking little “bog fest” in Arrochar

Postby rockhopper » Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:40 pm

well done Pete even if it was boggy and wet ! think I'm with hills on this one - was up here in the winter and snow although that day the problem was the strength of the wind instead ! - cheers :D
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