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The Cruachan horseshoe has been on my to do list for a while, so with a half decent weather forecast my 16 year old and I headed off from Glasgow for a day on the hills. When we got to the "car park" at the Falls of Cruachan station there were already a number of cars lining the road.
We duly headed off up through the wood on a path that is so well defined that it is almost a trench in places. The trees surrounding the path in places provided handy grab rails with which to pull yourself up some of the bigger steps.
(Looking back to Loch Awe).
The wooded area ends when you reach a stile to cross the high fence. The stile has seen better days and is a bit shoogly. The path from the stile to the access road to the dam was very boggy and at one point my right foot disappeared in the sludge
(Getting near the dam).
The Walk Highlands guide says takes you to the left side of the dam, up onto the dam itself and then along the landrover tack on the west shore of the reservoir. Having looked at the map it seemed much more nature, to me at least, to go along the right side of the reservoir and head to the shoulder of Stob Garbh.
(Looking up the burn that flows from the Lairig Torran).
(Looking across to Cruachan).
(Loch Awe snaking its way down to Ford).
The walk from the side of the reservoir to the south ridge of Stob Garbh was very pleasant. The path is quite faint and disappears in boggy sections. However, visibility was good and the grass underfoot not too long, so we spotted where we wanted to get to and headed for that spot.
(Who needs a path).
Our route brought us across is oddity. I looks like a metal fence post of some sort rising from a metal and concrete base.
Alistair enjoying his day so far.
Once we reached the ridge of Stob Garbh the wind was strong and cool and we each put on our jackets from our rucksacks.
Stob Diamh.
Looking across the Cruachan the weather looked not too bad. However, the strong wind was blowing lower cloud in our direction.
(Looking back towards Stob Diamh).
The walk along the ride via Drochaid Ghlas and onto Cruachan was very enjoyable. It was on this section that we started to meet people heading in the other direction.
Unfortunately, when we reached the top of Cruachan there was no view to the west as the weather had closed in a little. However, it was still clear enough for a couple of pics at the broken concrete trig point.
Given the weather on the summit was not great we decided against heading onto Stob Dearg - that will be for another day. We descended to the bealach and then picked up the rather eroded path that follows the burn down to the top of the reservoir.
The route back to the car was simple enough; follow the landrover track to the head of the dam, climb down the ladder and then pick up the path back through the trees to the car.
As sods law would have it, by the time we got back to the car the clouds had cleared to leave a beautiful blue sky.
All in all it was a good day out on some really nice hills. It reminded me of Snowdon approached from Pen - y - Pass, except without the hordes of tourists and summit café
