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Summer hols 2014 started early for us, in the last week of June. Originally the plan was to tackle some of the more difficult Cuillin peaks, but we had a last-minute change of plans and went camping to Deeside for a few days - still had a few Munros to tick of on the eastern side and weather forecast seemed better for this part of Scotland. And no regrets whatsoever. The end of the week saw us popping up all over the Highlands - Glenfinnian, Torridon and eventually a flying visit to Skye. 6 trip reports to write altogether and what a week! Paaah... Now, I'm going to be a busy writer for the next few days
Before our camping trip east we decided to take a stroll down south. Kevin had an unfinished business with one peak from Lawers Ridge and I haven't done anything in this area so far. A plan was hatched then for one-day visit to Loch Tay
Many years ago, in 1994, Kevin climbed Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh, bud he didn't bother to continue to An Stuc as back then IT WAS NOT A MUNRO! It used to be just a top and was promoted to M status in 1997. Now, Kevin was forced to come back and correct his omission
As for me, I hoped to be able to squeeze 3 Munros out of the day and reach my half way point - a good start to our walking week.
Weather was uncertain. Patchy cloud and a chance of showers, plus cold wind. Therefore, we made Lawers & Glas our "plan minimum" and would only continue to An Stuc if we had enough time and energy. As it turned out, we reached Lawers in less than 2.5 hours and had more than enough stamina and determination to add the third Munro to our little trip.
After 3 hours spend in the car (most of which with my stomach twisted and turned... motion sickness can be a terrible nuisance!) I was so eager to run up the path that Kevin had to keep me on a leash
We started traditionally from the National Trust car park and up the path leading through the nature reserve. One glimpse up made me sigh - cloud was still hanging low...
We didn't give up our hopes for at least SOME views and rushed up the path... I must admit, I felt a bit guilty when we started overtaking people on the nature trail
We marched quickly like two soldiers: left-right-left-right!
Marching up towards the cloud...
At the top of the nature trail circuit, we stopped just for a gulp of water and a few snapshots. We could see Loch Tay below us and the cloud looked like it might lift after all:
Panther ready to take 3-a-day...
We passed the outer gate, left the nature reserve behind and started the steep-ish trudge up the southern shoulder of Beinn Glas. The angle may be a bit annoying, but we kept a good pace, overtook a few more people and didn't stop until higher up, where we had at least some views to admire:
Across the glen, Meall nan Tarmachan sent us a wink
Kevin has done it, I haven't. Another hill high on my priority list!
There's not much to say about the climb to the first Munro. It's a yellow-brick-road type path and on a Saturday, as you can imagine, there were people everywhere. I managed a few quiet meows without attracting too much attention:
This would be an ideal hill for me to enjoy in winter conditions. Such a shame we live so far away, it makes a winter trip to this area a bit impractical. Don't mind doing it in summertime anyway
Happy skipping-hopping cat almost on the summit (oh, and the clag was lifting!):
View south-east towards Loch Tay from the top of Beinn Ghlas:
North, past the small summit cairn, with a lingering shower on the horizon:
Meall Corranaich to the north-west:
Our second target was still in cloud, but the linking ridge looked interesting:
Ben Lawers from the col:
A glimpse back to Meall nan Tarmachan:
As we started the ascent of Ben Lawers itself, we saw more people in front of us, some going up, some down. Busy like A9
These hills are definitely NOT a target for those seeking solitude.
The well-worn path down Beinn Glass looks a bit like a scar on the mountain's green surface... Sadly, these hills are paying the price for being so popular. Notice the bypass path to the right - we used it on the way back to avoid the re-ascent of Beinn Ghlass.
Yep, not my favourite style of hillwalking, step-by-step on a stony staircase...
...but in a very good time of 2hrs 20 minutes I was posing by the indicator on the very summit of my Munro no.140.
It was still cloudy on the summit, no hope for any views at the moment, just a lonely trigpoint in the mist
We walked a short distance along the eastern shoulder, found a few rocks to sit on and waited patiently while sipping tea. And... surprise, surprise! The cloud started to disperse:
Loch Tay and Lochan nan Cat (a very appropriate name for the latter, I must say
):
The eastern shoulder can be used as a descent route, but we had other plans:
View back to Beinn Ghlas:
Someone mentioned a lonely trigpoint in the mist?
Obviously not so lonely any more! People kept coming and coming... But none of them continued past Lawers to the next Munro...
...which was exactly what Kevin wanted to do! He was desperate to add An Stuc to his statistics:
From where we were standing, the view of An Stuc fully justified its name. The hill appears as a steep, conical lump, almost perfectly regular in shape:
We started descending to Bealach Dubh and weather improved as we kept going
Any chance for a smiling sun for my half way point?
Views on the way down:
Back to Lawers:
Lochan nan Cat (Meow!):
The ridge drops to 942m and then the steep slopes of An Stuc give a good workout. Here, the ascent path can be seen:
A quick break below the crags of Creag an Fhithich - this is an enchanting spot... And it feels more remote as well. We met a few people heading up to Ben Lawers, but it was much quieter here than on the first two Munros...
Past the bealach, I picked up speed again and started marching up with the sole aim to get to the summit as quickly as I could. I felt like I grew wings - ha! My half-way point is waiting up there! Not a pot of gold, but certainly worth the sweat!
In just over an hour since we left Ben Lawers, I dropped my rucksack by the small cairn of An Stuc, kissed it (the cairn, not the rucksack
) and shouted WOW! I made it!
There was another group of walkers nearby (ascending from Lochan nan Cat) and I didn't want to make a foul out of myself with too much wild meowing
The summit of An Stuc was quite windy so in my "50%" picture I look... well... a bit untidy:
The wind had an unpleasant, cold edge, so I quickly pulled on my windproof jacket, hat and gloves, and went on celebrating, jumping, hopping and climbing small rocks around
Kevin congratulated me and then said, happy to have eventually ticked off his "omission":
"To be honest, what is it here to celebrate? You still have another 50% Scottish mountain to climb!"
I just laughed. HE IS JEALOUS, because it took me only 5.5 years to do 141 Munros, he needed 23 years to do the very same thing
But his joke made me wonder - why do we celebrate all these round numbers - 50, 100, 200, half-way... Did sir Hillary have a celebration half-way up Everest? Does Hussein Bolt get his medal half-way the 100m distance?
Maybe it's the way us, hillwalkers, see the 282 Munros - as a long-term challenge. If we didn't set ourselves short-time targets, would we bother to finish?
This could be a subject for a discussion on the general forum. Now, philosophical debates aside, let's return to An Stuc and the lovely views this mountain has to offer. After the steep climb, when one arrives on the summit, there are good panoramas in every direction, starting from back to Ben Lawers:
The glen of Allt a'Chobhar and Beinn Dearg beyond:
The ridge continues to Meall Garbh...
...and then to Meall Greigh. If we had transport arranged, we could take in all five Munros in one walk, but we had to return to National Trust car park, so these two have to wait for another time:
Cloudy weather on the northern horizon:
The south also looking grey, but we were basking in sunshine... Thank you, weather gods, wherever you are!
Lochan nan Cat, Cat Gully... Ain't it a purrr-fect place for a Panther to have a small celebration?
Kevin with a big smile, so glad to finish Munros in this area. But no pain no gain, he'll have to re-do them all with me now
Eventually, we set off on our way back. We considered skipping the summit of Lawers, but the western slopes looked steep and unfriendly, so we ended up re-climbing BL on the main path. My knees started sending warning signals at some point and I wondered why - it wasn't such a strenuous day after all!
This time when we landed by the trigpoint, it was clear and we could enjoy the views we missed earlier.
Back to An Stuc:
Down to Beinn Ghlas:
Just to save time, we took the bypass path below Beinn Ghlas, walking in the shadows of the crags in the western corrie:
The bypass path eventually joins the main route just above the nature trails. We returned to the car park after 6.5 hours, good timing, I thought. But only after returning home I checked our recorded GPX route to find out, that we ascended over 1400m that day
B**dy hell, no wonder my knees were protesting! Funny, it didn't feel like that much at all!
It was a superb day even considering the cloudy start and sore knees towards the end, well worth the long drive from Inverness. Now I started counting my Munros "downhill" rather than "uphill" - how many left to do?
Of course completing the M's is not the most important issue, it's as much about enjoying the days out and meowing with utter happiness on every step of my way! Meow!
The next couple of stories will be from Deeside - Panther's Dee Days