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Well having had the best laid plans for the weekend involving climbing Ben Vrackie and doing some additional wee wanders around the Athol area on the Saturday, then doing the round of four Glen Lyon munroes on the Sunday I checked the weather forecast on Friday night and those plans went out the window. The weather was meant to be what can only be described as disgusting on the Sunday so a quick reshuffle and rethink was on the cards.
The plan then became Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers on Saturday followed by not going out much on Sunday. I managed to persuade a friend to come along for the walk and off we set at 0800 on Saturday morning.
After a two hour drive we were on the hill just the back of 1000. The first kilometre out of the car park is always the hardest for me as my legs havent warmed up and I realise how big the task ahead is. Needless to say we soldiered onwards and upwards.
The summit of Beinn Ghlas was reached in reasonable time, and half our sandwiches consumed looking at the wonderful view down to Loch Tay. The dog had been enjoying himself whilst truly embarrassing me by chasing sheep! What a little turd he truly is. Its a good job he's cute!
- A view of Loch Tay from our lunch spot
Setting off after our quick pitstop Ben Lawers looked close enough to touch so off we trotted down to the saddle and then the climb came... gosh its steep! The dog didn't seem to mind and must have covered three times the distance that we had as he was off chasing sheep again (the little turd) and shuttling between me and my (fitter) companion.
- The view down the northern glen from the saddle
As we were tackling the final ascent the cloud started to blow in which was rather annoying as we would be robbed of our summit views! The top was reached with much huffing and puffing on my part. The dog plonked on top of the trig as is now tradition and we hung around for a couple of minutes waiting for the clag to clear, which it didn't so we started off back down, as we were half way down to the belach the cloud lifted of course.
Gutted.
Oh well we got the fine views from he way up and the way down.
- The dog on the Trig point and my mate in the background in the could on the summit
- The summit clear of clag just after we had left!
- Views of Beinn Ghlas on the return leg.
We took the bypass path back around Beinn Ghlas back to the wildlife park and back to the car. Its funny as soon as I can see the car my legs get tired, I am sure its a psychological thing as it wasnt that long a walk really.
- On the walk out we could see for miles and miles and miles
We were rather lucky with the weather being sunny for most of the day apart from the 3 minutes or so that we were on the summit, gah. Well I guess thats an excuse to come back
We stopped off at our friends for tea on the way home and had a wonderful home made steak pie and some excellent chat, what a great way to end a great day