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Fired up by the fact that we missed the ascent on a previous trip, due to the inclement weather, Claire and I decided to tackle the fine Beinn Narnain. Enthused by watching an old YouTube video of Muriel Gray tackling this hill (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo5EXnNvNdo ) and with weather promised to be reasonable all week we set off from a sunny Glasgow. However, although I noticed that those wonderful girls and guys at
www.mwis.org had changed their mind overnight regarding the weather, we went with high hopes.
Alas where Ms. Gray found a wide track scarring the side of the hill, the view afforded us gave us no such vistas.
Oh what is it about those Arrochar Alps? - every time I go into the Succoth Car Park am I going to face a pea soup of mist!
One day, perhaps, one day, I tell myself quietly. Determined to ascend the hill from the Arrochar side of the hill and following my map, we sought Muriel's 'M25 motorway' track to find instead a rocky, muddy waterfall of a route through some woodland which rose steeply ahead of us. Claire gambolled up the hill ahead of my more tortoise-like pace as the scrambling started before the tree line was cleared.
The hill was enveloped in a sea of fog ahead and it was clear that this was going to be a challenge to navigate in the mist and drizzle, not helped by the autumnal nip to the air. As a novice in map reading and navigation, this would prove to be a trying and sobering experience. Stopping for any length of time was turning me cold and draining my vigour, confidence and temperature.
I fell heavily in the by now boggy ground on the ascent - it was not the last fall or slip I would make on the day which drained my last vestiges of humour as my trusty old right boot began to let in water.
It was difficult to tell the difference between Creag Na Fhithich and Cruach nam Miseag as false summit followed false summit - The only thing I had to guide me was the path beneath my feet. Which when is was firm and rocky was my friend but when marshy and wet was a curse.
By the time we reached the buttress of The Spearhead, which I'd been looking forward to with the great picture in the walk descriptor on this site, I was miserable, humourless and really just going through the motions. Claire was, in complete contrast, really enjoying herself , stopping for a photo on some indistinguishable cairn - which we thought was the top of Narnain at the time - .....
![BenNar001.jpg]()
- Mystery Cairn en route???
only for more craggy peaks appear like shark fins out of the misty skies. I thought back to Muriel's comments about the false summits and began to curse her cheery pixie face - (Sorry Muriel) Eventually after some more scrambling we reached the cairn at the summit of Beinn Narnain
Hooray.
![BenNar002.jpg]()
- Claire at the summit
![BenNar003.jpg]()
- Misery Guts at the summit of Beinn Narnain
The obligatory summit photos taken we then had to negotiate through thick fog how to get off the summit and down to the Bealach a' Mhaim. The night before the walk I had done some bearings and we quickly found the top of the path. What we soon found though is that the path is indistinct in parts, especially in the conditions we were attempting it in. As the drizzle started to cloud my vision through my glasses, I started to slip even on the stony ground. I was now unable to continue with my glasses on. slowing me down further. As the slopes became softer and boggier on the lower slopes I started to spend as much time on my bahookie as on my feet,
I started to throw my dummy out the pram on the third or fourth fall on my behind and tell anyone aloud - but mostly Claire - I am never gonna do this again. Having lost confidence in where I was on the descent and without distinguishing feature to orientate myself - we found ourselves at the fence at the foot of Beinn Ime. My bad mood was complete.
Thankfully some voices came through the gloom and we meet some walkers descending the slopes of Beinn Ime, en route to Narnain. Under their expert guidance they helped us find the junction of the paths back down the glen between the now invisible Narnairn to our left and The Cobbler to our right.
At last I had the end in sight and the walk down the path gave me time to reflect on the day and the events. My mood improved and after taking off the wet socks/boots/shirts and replacing with the dry clothes in my bag I started to think that this was just a bad day on the hills. Over a pint of lager shandy I apologised to Claire for being a grumpy bugger and we started to plan out next walk. Which Munro should we try? This revival I can only put down to the enthusiasm of Claire who had a brilliant day.
Today I learnt a great lesson - the weather is always to be treated with respect but you have to expect changes - but the challenge of climbing a hill in the worst weather makes the good days on the hills all that better.
