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It hit minus 3 as the road dropped from Tyndrum into Glen Lochay and everything was shrouded in mist by the time Dalmally was reached. There was no hint of hills above as the car was parked at the bridge over the Allt Mhoille, just the distant bleat of invisible sheep and the echoing clank of a steel gate being closed. The air was still and everything looked set for the inversion that conditions promised.
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- Early morning mists up Glen Lochay
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- There's hills in them there mists - at Castles Farm
The early morning mist was a blessing. It masked the relentlessly rising track as it disappeared upwards from Castles Farm. At least you could only see a few yards of the track immediately in front, rather than the dispiriting prospect of all the height and distance ahead as it snaked away. Sometimes ignorance is bliss – or at least less tiring.
After twenty minutes or so a large cairn emerged out of mist, marking the point at which the descent from Beinn Eunaich and Stob Maol meets the outward route. At this stage there was the suggestion of sun and the hint of blue above.
A few yards further and the path came out of the inversion and the day ahead was laid out against a perfectly clear blue sky. There are days when you just know that everything is going to fall into place: this was one of them.
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- Sron an Isean - as the path tops out of the mists
Once past another spectacular blue sight (a building site toilet), the bridge across the Allt Lairig Ianachain was soon reached and I began to look for signs of the path up to the right. 300 metres the guide suggests, but by the time I’d counted 350 steps and nothing had been encountered, I thought “sod it” and just struck off up the hillside. There may have been a cairn marking the route a little further on, but it wasn’t worth waiting for.
So began the only really tough part of the day, a forty five minute slog up the rib that falls from the summit ridge of Beinn Chochuill. One benefit of tackling steeper ground is that water flows off it quickly. As a result, it was easy to find a relatively dry way between damper patches of ground: quite an achievement for this year.
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- Small but perfectly formed - cairn marking the acces to the summit ridge of Beinn Chochuill
It may have been hard work, but the emerging views of Stob Diamh and Ben Cruachan occupied the mind and soon enough the skyline was broached and the views north burst into view. Fragments of hills and lochs were glimpsed between patches of mist that still hung around, but beyond Ben Starav it was difficult to tell if tops were clear and folks could be enjoying a similarly spectacular day. I’ll find out on WH later no doubt.
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- Looking back down to Loch Awe from eastern end of Beinn Chochuill
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- Summit ridge of Beinn Chochuill
With an easy amble across the final stretch of summit ridge, I was pleased to reach the top in just 2 hrs 10 min and not feeling too knackered either. Once stopped however, the chill could be felt in the breeze and it wasn’t a time to hang around once the obligatory photographs had been taken.
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- Ben Cruachan from top of Beinn Chochuill
Turning round, the remainder of the day wended its way in front of me, and stretched across to Beinn Eunaich. Those down in the valley and around Loch Awe were now getting a chance to see blue sky as the clouds below began to break up and drift across the tops.
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- Twisting route across to Beinn Eunaich
Although it’s a depressing drop to the bealach, the slope beyond is relatively gradual for most of the way. It only rears up in its rockier final couple of hundred feet when the large pile of stones appears offering plenty of opportunities to shelter and rest.
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- South to Loch Awe from summit of Beinn Eunaich
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- Looking back through the mists to Beinn Chochuill
After a half hour for lunch and absorbing the views down Kinglass, I worked out which bits of which hills I could still see, then began the descent towards Stob Maol and back down the steep slope to the work track.
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- That wasn't there this morning - view of Stob Diamh and Beinn Chochuill from Castles Farm
Five hours out and I was back at the car, walking past the farm and looking back to the view that wasn’t there in the morning. The weather was scheduled to be grotty for the next few days, so I was more than happy with what had been a surprisingly gentle day.
