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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
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
Heading off toward the Rest and Be Thankful when Beinn Luibhean caught my eye
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
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
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
)
- Beinn Luibhean #1
- The dodgy looking bridge at the start of walk
- View back to the Brack
- Waterfall near start of the walk
- Beinn Luibhean #2
- 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
- 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
Well, it was straight up a fairly steep ridge ‘till I reached the top
- Climbing up the Luibhean ridge
By now the wind had picked up. And it was still raining. So, it was horizontal rain
And my face was getting quite exfoliated
In fact, I’m surprised there was any skin left, as I was getting a good battering at times
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
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.
- Easing off toward the top
- Picking a route through the rocks
- The rain coming on again
- 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
- Summit cairn
No lucky
- 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!
- A break in the clouds at last
- Rest and Be Thankful
- 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.
- Beinn Narnain from the back
- 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
I didn’t slip
It did provide a good aspect of the water tumbling down over the rocks though.
- The first water crossing
- Pipeline
- 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
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
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
Did it look a tad wide, deep and fast flowing to risk it? Correct again
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.
- The bogfest route back to the road
- A final view of the slanting bridge at the start of the walk
- 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