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Top Notch Walk

Top Notch Walk


Postby Oldman » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:17 am

Route description: Beinn a' Chochuill & Beinn Eunaich

Munros included on this walk: Beinn a' Chochuill, Beinn Eunaich

Date walked: 18/06/2010

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 13 km

Ascent: 1210m

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Weak Cold Front clearing Highlands overnight leaving a bright sunny day with little significant cloud and a 10 mph northerly wind - excellent!! Time for another walk so daughter (Siobhan Flute to you) and I set off nice and early. We had a comfort break at Tyndrum's famous Green Welly and started our walk at 8.51AM. We researched the walk on Walkhighlands of course and the description together with the Walk Reports builds up a very good picture of the actual route. Being a careful kind of bloke (almost to the extent of being boring) I checked my GPS thing at the start of the walk. The Eastings were perfect but the North/South coordinates placed us 500m north of our actual position - in poor weather that could be a bit dangerous. I then checked it at the two summits and got exactly the same result - anyone else have this problem? I believe it could be down to atmospherics. Anyway, once we had tucked the car just off the road we set out on the nice easy track -
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 003.jpg
pretty obvious track
- The walking is easy and soon it's time to take to the hill as described by Walkhighlands
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 022.jpg
Just about time to get off of this track and find a path
The walking is now very good on dry grass and the views really open up as promised
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 018.jpg
towards the head of Loch Awe
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 025.jpg
easy going
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 042.jpg
Cruachan Range
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 047.jpg
This GPS still puts us 500m north of our actual position dad
Soon it was up th the beallach . Daughter arrived first and gave whoops of joy at the panorama which suddenly appeared. I quickly followed and did the same - try it at that point, there is a great echo!!
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 054.jpg
Dad look at that view!!!
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 072.jpg
Thank you Lord for giving us all this!
So then, after admiring and being entranced by the panorama for some time it was off to the summit
another two bumps to the first target.jpg
That's not the top yet, there's another couple of bumps to go
Finally we're there - absolutely amazing! The views defy any verbal description!
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 094.jpg
Give me five - what a place - brilliant!
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 085.jpg
Cruachan from the cairn - a target for this summer
We spent a good half hour at the top eating - sugar butties for me, corned beef for her, and drinking irn bru - what a treat! But then we had to think about our next target - Beinn Eunaich - and the route is pretty obvious.
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 118.jpg
Beinn Eunaich from top of Beinn a'Chochuill
As you get closer the route is even clearer and looking back you can see exactly where you've been.
just been up there.jpg
Just been up there - aint I clever!
Looking ahead the climb looks quite steep but it's not really and towards the top quite rocky which it is but not as awkward as Schiehallion where the rocks are much bigger.
a bit rocky now.jpg
Rocky at the top
Beinn a'Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich 135.jpg
Yeah, it's rocky but quite easy
The cairn suddenly appears and there you are, the second top of the day - brilliant!
Second today, give me five.jpg
Secod top and just look at that sky - cirrus at about 25000ft you know.
The views from this top are equally splendid and we spent a long time admiring hem. Then it was off down on an easy descent along the grassy ridge. If you keep your eyes peeled you may see some interesting things like a Ptarmigan with it's family of chicks. They are too young to fly of course and mother was keeping a very close eye on them but I was able to get close enough for a couple of pics.
Ptarmigan Family 001.jpg
Ptarmigan Family 007.jpg
It was down to the peat haggs next and onto the final short steep, but not too steep, descent to the track. That final mile or so reminded me that I had feet because they heated up something terrible by the time we got to the car - what a treat taking the boots off. Luckily we had also left a reserve of water at the car because, although we had consumed five litres between us on the walk we were still thirsty and drank the reserve with delight - apart from the pint or two we poured over hot feet. What a brilliant walk, one of my best so far. Can't wait to get out again. Cheers Y'all.
Oldman
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby wurzel » Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:47 am

Oldman wrote:I checked my GPS thing at the start of the walk. The Eastings were perfect but the North/South coordinates placed us 500m north of our actual position - in poor weather that could be a bit dangerous. I then checked it at the two summits and got exactly the same result - anyone else have this problem?

Turn it off and switch it back on again away from tree canopy, and away from any steep areas of ground (in other words somewhere with unobstructed view of the sky). I've had mine do that and I think it's a problem with what's called initialisation when the unit acquires the satellites when it's switched on.

And nice photos.
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby Oldman » Sat Jun 19, 2010 5:26 pm

Thank you Wurzel, I'll bear that initialisation thing in mind - never was much good with these electrical battery technical things.
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby Grandpa'sBoy » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:57 pm

Hey Grandpa (Oldman!)

It's your favourite Grandson here. I can't wait to get up some of those mountains in a few weeks time. You'd better keep in training so you can keep up with me!

And Daddy says 'no more sugar butties'!!!

Have you thought of a good mountain for me to climb with you?

RPD

PS. Wee sister says she'll stay at the bottom with Grandma. It looks like too much effort to climb to the top, especially as there are no shops up there to spend your money in.....

See you soon. :D
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby siobhan_flute » Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:00 pm

FANTASTIC walk, Oldman, and always a pleasure, thanks! (Much better than boring Ben Chonzie the other week :? )

I saw one of the Ptarmigan chicks flying so must correct you on that one before someone else does :lol:

Can't wait for Cruachan, just need another free day which is hard between our busy schedules. Oh, to be one of the guys who frequent this site who are also able to frequent the hills!
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby magicdin » Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:07 pm

high fives all round - you deserve it - looks a great day out :D
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby bazer100 » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:05 pm

thanks for sharing, some nice pictures and a great part of the world, well done

baz
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby monty » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:50 am

Nice report Oldman,
Excellent pictures on a sunny day. The walk up the rock boulders looks steep. Well done :D

I use memory map on my mobile phone and it only goes awry when the battery is getting low. :D
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby Paul Webster » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:54 am

Good report Oldman - cracking photo of Ben Cruachan - can understand why it's now next on your list!

Strange about the GPS - ours have never been so far out. I can see it's an e-trex - does it have a black picture of a globe on the front, or just plain yellow (the plain ones are newer and have a much better receiver)?
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby Oldman » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:34 am

Paul, regarding my GPS thing, it's about 3 years old now but I've only ever used it as an extra nav aid as I really don't trust either it or myself to use it properly. Until now it's always been OK when used along with my old fashioned nav skills but 500m discrepancy seemed a bit excessive - I thought that if it happened to anyone else in a difficult situation they could be in trouble. It is always best to alert folk to any problems (real or imagined) you might come across. I will bear the initialisation thing in mind and will probably now start learning to use the thing properly but I don't want to become too reliant on technology - we more mature folk don't really trust it. Thank you all and good walking.
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby walk aboot » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:31 pm

Top notch photos of the ptarmigan chicks too :D . You might want to think about adding them to the wildlife section too, so more folk see them :) .
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Re: Top Notch Walk

Postby kinley » Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:56 pm

Nice report - great ptarmy shots 8)

The chicks I saw on Ben Loyal last week were a few weeks younger but still able to fly short distances (and crash land :lol: )

For GPS - it does sound like an initialization problem. If turning on a GPS a distance from last use (say > 50km) then I always re-initialise the unit - i.e. restart from scratch through the GPS menu.
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