Meall Corranaich and Meall a' Choire Leith

[colinwatson]

A brighter morning as forecast we we set off to the Lawers range. Passed Ben Ledi and Benvane, where I was last weekend, then on through Killin and up the wee road past Lochan na Lairge to park just beyond the cairn at the summit of the pass. Considering this is a school holiday, the roads were incredibly quiet.

As soon as we got out of the car, we could feel the cold breeze. The start of this walk may be just shy of 2,000 feet, but we paid for it with a chilly start. Walked back to the cairn, then picked up the excellent path leading up to the soggy ground just under Meall nan Eun. The walking through the peat wasn't too bad and didn't take long to get through and the ground certainly got much drier once we were on the slope. Easy grassy slopes led to the ring contour, where we stopped for tea and German biscuits.

Looking down to the peat hags with Meall nan Maigheach beyond

We could look across to the Corbett of Meall nan Maigheach that I had climbed with two of my children many years ago - my elder daughter's first Corbett!

Looking north east from the ring contour

Thus fortified, we pushed on along by a line of fence posts towards the south east ridge of MC. There was a path here that led directly up the hillside. Didn't take much time to reach the summit ridge.

Looking towards the summit of Meall Corranaich

We made steady progress towards the cloudy summit. As we approached it, I thought that the sun might break through, but I was being overly optimistic and it was another misty cairn.

Selfie at the summit

I took a bearing to ensure that we were on the correct path running off the summit and in no time we were out of the clag. We could see the potentially difficult navigation on the north ridge - it would be really easy to take the spur that heads north west.

On the way to Meall a' Choire Leith

There's a pretty clear path to follow, but care should be taken on a misty day. The col soon appeared before the final short climb to the second Munro of the day.

Looking north west from the col

Meall a' Choire Leith from the col

A short walk on a clear path led to the small plateau and the summit where we could have our lunch.

An Stuc from the summit

Looking back to Meall Corranaich with Beinn Ghlas behind

The view north west with Loch Lyon in the distance

As we ate our lunch a noisy raven joined us - I think it was after some of my ham and egg sandwich........no chance!

The mooching raven!

We made our way south west from the top, down easy grassy slopes. Picked up a soggy path on the way to the sheilings. The burn just beyond the shielings was fine today, but after heavy rain, you might need to go uphill a bit to get safe passage. A little bit of re ascent before picking up the final section of path.

[dogplodder]

It's many years since I did these two and before the advent of digital photography - so it's good to be reminded what they look like!

[colinwatson]

Thanks - 1982 was the last time I climbed these hills, then from the NTS car park. It was good to revisit them.