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My plan to take it easy this weekend was changed by the weather forecast...but who can ignore a beautiful Saturday?
I was looking for something close by and pretty easy and opted for Ben Eunaich and Ben a'Chochuill, which would mean I could return to one of my favourite camp spots, in front of Kilchurn castle. Marco who fancied a easy walk as well, said he would join me and together we had a look at some of the walk reports. The circular route seemed so easy, that I decided not to print out the description ...after all on a sunny day with huge tracks...it seemed impossible to miss the path
...'cough' well I should have known better.
The start of the path is easy to find...head up to the castles farm on the wide farm track which starts to lead up the mountain. From here (without a walk description),I started to get confused.
Even though the path was clear, to figure out which Munro is which, was a bit tricky...I studied my GPS and could have kicked myself for not paying more attention...was I supposed to keep on going straight ahead or turn right???
Looking ahead I saw some walkers ahead of us, who started to climb up a rather steep bit to the right. Looking at my GPS I realized they were on the straight way up to Ben Eunaich...I remembered something about a steep descent and realized that was the way down...but as I prefer steep ascent than steep descent...I decided to follow the other ones...(one needs to play sheep once in a while) and at least I found the path.
The path I found ended up being a path after the first 20 meters.
Suddenly we were on a grassy slope (rather wet and slippy) , but as others seemed to walk up a bit to the left of us, I knew were on the right way up. As we caught up with them, one man shouted over 'The path is over here'.
Ahh and thank you!
We moved across and even though the track we found was only a little bit better than the grassy slope, it made it easier.
The ascent was pretty steep, but levelled out after a while and we soon reached the top of Ben Eunaich . The wind was ice cold and while we had a break, we met a few others walkers including 2 fell runners who put me to shame with the speed they walked/ran down the hill (how can people run down steep hills??) By the time we continued down the hill and up the next one, the path again was really clear and easy to follow. The views across Glen Coe and the north side of Ben Cruachan which were impressive and it was one of those days when hillwalking can be really rewarding and easy.
We reached the top of Ben a'Chochuill, but decided not to stop for long as the wind was freezing. From the top I tried to find the way down and yet again I was confused, as it all seemed rather steep.
We discussed the different options and to return the way we came and head down the grassy slopes next to the burn Allt Lairig Ianachain, seemed the most logical. From the GPS reading I guessed lots of people would come up that way and I was surprised when we did not find a track. The grassy slope was however pretty easy and let us down the hill in a gentle way, back on the wide farm track at the bottom of the hill, from were we returned to the car.
The hike was followed by some sightseeing and a pint to say good bye to the hills for a while, as in less than 2 weeks, I will yet again travel to Nepal for a 16 days hiking and hill walking trip in the Langtang area.
- The way up the steep hill
- The view on the way up- lol
- Some other views on the way up
- On the way to Ben a'Chochuill
- View towards Glen Coe
- The north face of Ben Cruachan
- View of the cairn
- Me on top of the cairn
- Across to Ben Cruachan again
- Back to Ben Eunaich
- On the way down
- Ben Eunaich from the distance
- Sunset over Loch Awe
- A hard to beat bathroom...
- The 2 Munros in the morning, with the view across Loch Awe
- Early morning mist on the water
- Kilchurn castle
- The castle again (only open from April to Sep)
- Looking up from Loch Awe
- St. Conans Kirk - worth a visit!
- The inside