1st munro on Fhionnlaidh

[basscadet]

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So my mate Gordon is born and bred in Ballachuilish, but has never been up a munro!

The time was nigh to put this right.. We had the map out on Saturday night, and decided on Beinn Fionnlaidh on account of it having the gentlest slopes around..
Bizarreley, just the day before I had set out to do this hill from Glen Etive, but the winds and motivation were such that I didn't make it..
We drove round to Glen creran and set off about 9.30. There was plenty of cloud on the tops, but we were both hopeful of the sun burning through.
We got up some pace across to the farm, and had to shoo away some cattle to get through the gate and onto the track.
I took us up to the bridge, before I looked at the map and saw we were going the wrong way
We retraced our steps, and shooed the cows out of our way again, to get on the right track.. Pretty soon though was the turn off, and we made our way steeply through the bonny scots pine forest, and out onto the meadow above.



There was a path of sorts but it was pretty boggy, and the clag was lowering down to meet us.. Not a very good start to Gordons first munro..
Its a long laborious ascent, and as we climbed, it got wetter and windier.. Many interesting boulders appeared an disappeared in the mist..



Pretty soon, we were up on the slabs, and we picked our way easily to the summit.. No views, dreichit weather.. Not sure Gordon was convinced that hillwalking is quite fun



So we started our descent with the rain getting hurled into our faces, back the way we came.. I managed to take us in the wrong direction for a time somewhere on the descent.. All those lumps are a pain to navigate in the mists for sure.. but we did find a nice lunch spot on our 'detour' and got back on track without any hassles

As we got down a bit, the views opened up before us.. The clag had lifted a couple of hundred meters while we were up top





There were also quite a few of these littletreasures.. I love a fluffy catepillar!



After a fair bit of slip sliding and wet a*ses on the way down, we met the track in the sunshine, for the quick trot back to the car, and despite being soaked at the summit, I was dry by the time I got back
Oh it was fun to be out with Gordon - we both had a great time, I just wish his first munro could of been in better weather..

[ChrisW]

Great stuff B, shame about the weather for Gordons first but I guess if he's going to get into this munro lark he'd better get used to it love that 4th photo as the clag is lifting

[laconic surf]

Thought this was you starting your second round
Well done tae Gordon, better to let em know what they're in for by taking them out for a good soakin in case the bug bites - don't want them thinking it's all sunkissed wandering

[Graeme D]

I'd say that's Gordon well and truly initiated by the sound of it.

[basscadet]

Och Gordon is a Harris-Ballachuilish half breed, so it's not like he isn't used to a bit of wind and rain.. Doesn't seem to bother him at all! Even in jeans, aldi non-waterproof walking shoes and dodgy waterproofs he seemed contented in the deluge

[Fudgie]

Looks like you'll need to give your camera lens a clean

Well done on persevering in unpleasant weather.

[Stuart Angus]

Man did you have bad weather but at least you got some hills in this weekend , which is more than can be said for me and my lazy ass I did Fhionnlaidh from Glen Eitve like you intended in a very hot May day, it's great from that side.