


The walk into the bothy took a couple of hours of very straightforward walking along the landrover track. Eventually the bothy came into view and we met with a few lads who were already installed. Plenty of room at the bothy though with two large rooms.
After a little consultation with the guys at the bothy and after unfolding our crisp, new map we settled on the obvious target of Beinn a Creachain for the following day.

A splendid sunset looking down to glencoe across Rannoch Moor and a (reasonably) good nights sleep later saw us ready to ascend first thing on sunday. Following the landrover track soon brought us under the west highland railway line from where we followed the gentler contours upwards. The sun was already burning hot even at 9am and the first hour or so was heavy going with plenty of stops for water, chocolate and sunscreen but the views were already starting to reward us. We could even see north to the Stob Coires where we should have been!!


As always, once we were into a rhythm the going became easier and soon we could see Creachain smiling down on us. The ridge looked a little tricky from down below with plenty of snow but we decided to continue and assess it when we got there.

As we climbed the views down to Lochan a Creachain opened up and we could see the broken ice sheet on the water. Not the time of year for a dip so we pressed on upwards finding that the ridge was clear of snow and an easy stroll in the sunshine.


Once on the top, the views were stunning with snow capped peaks for miles and miles around in all directions. Difficult to imagine a more perfect place to spend your sunday afternoon. We lingered on the summit with the place to ourselves for the best part of an hour soaking up the sun and the vista before dropping down to the bealach.

We decided not to continue to Beinn Achaladair as that route would take us further away from the bothy which we were intending to return to as we had no other plan in mind having been forced into the late change.
We quickly descended down the gradual slopes towards the railway which made for a pleasant walk through the woods, allowing us to collect some dead wood for that night's fire.

After fording Tulla water (the footbridge marked on the os map is now virtually non existant) we plodded back to Gorton, tired and hungry but very content after our improvised adventure had been such a huge success!

We had Gorton to ourselves on the sunday night and enjoyed a roaring fire and some dirty rum and brandy before retracing our steps to the car in the morning for the 5 hour drive back south.
All in all a wonderful adventure in truly amazing weather in a unique part of the uk.