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26th. May, 2015:
This was the first day of a trip to Ben Alder Forest with Chalky and Sasha the Dog after a comfortable night at Ben More Lodge in Crianlarich.
There was much debate about which train to catch – the 7.47.am. with no cooked breakfast or the 10.20.am. with a cooked breakfast – so, inevitably, a combination of greed and sloth saw us on the later train and heading out of Rannoch Station at about 11.15.am. Easy road and then track walking brought us to construction traffic on the route north from Loch Eigheach but the sun was out and there were great views, first south east towards Schiehallion and then west over the Blackwater Reservoir to the Glencoe peaks and the Mamores. We left the track and struck up east onto the south ridge of Carn Dearg (Corrour) and followed a sketchy path to the cold and windy summit before descending east north east to gain some shelter in the bealach. Then it was up a bit of a grassy trudge onto Sgor Gaibhre and the first sight of Ben Alder Cottage as some clag began to blow in. We then turned north over the top of Sgor Choinnich before a decent glissade (or bum slide, according to taste) brought us to the next bealach and a long descent eastwards into an extensive corrie. Sasha the Dog managed to put a number of deer to flight and getting her back on the leash took a while – but, exhausted after her run, she was slow to descend and it took us longer than it might to reach the bothy, arriving a little after 7.00.pm. after eight hours on the hill. Chris from London was already in residence and there then followed a pleasant evening of chat and cooking around the fire (fuelled by coal that Chris had carried in) before an older guy arrived in the dusk soon after 10.00.pm. Apparently he’d had a twelve hour epic trip over Beinn Eibhinn, Aonach Beag and Gael Charn before finishing over Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil – not bad for a 76 year old!
Next Report:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=54365.
