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Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th


Postby mrssanta » Wed Sep 27, 2017 10:53 pm

Munros included on this walk: Meall Greigh

Date walked: 23/09/2017

Time taken: 18 hours

Distance: 12.7 km

Ascent: 900m

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About 30 years ago not long after we were married, Rudolph and I had a lovely week camping near Killin, in a campsite overlooking Loch Tay. We had beautiful weather and went up some hills, including Ben More, Stob Binnein, the Tarmachan ridge and the Lawers ridge.
At that time the visitor centre was open. Rudolph dropped me in the car, where I sat in the sun and knitted - as I recall it was a pink fluffy tank top which I probably wore once or twice then gave away as it was not "me" at all - Rudolph then drove the car to Lawers and cycled back to the start. We had a lovely day and got to the top of Meall Garbh and looked over at Meall Greigh which looked a long way away. We felt we had had enough for the day. So we missed it out.
That little red balloon has been mocking us for years, and it was time to turn it blue.
Having heard about difficulties with parking at Lawers we decided to walk up from Fearnan and camp just on the edge of the moor above the forest. We'd then go up the ridge to the top, and back down the same way.
We knew it was going to be grotty weather everywhere on Sunday so we decided to go for it anyway as at least it was not going to be too windy in Perthshire.
Here's our route.

meall greigh.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts


We set off from Yorkshire in good time mid-morning, were bowling along up the A19 when I suddenly remembered I had not packed my walking poles - and worse than that, no boots!! All I had was my old trainers with almost holes in the soles. There was nothing for it but to turn back and go and get the boots so by the time we got going again we had lost a good hour. :oops: I have to say Rudolph was very good about it. At least we had not got to Fearnan before I realised!
After a quick stop in Edinburgh to drop some stuff at CWH's halls of residence, we were away again, this time to stop in at Perth Tiso's to pick up some maps that Rudolph had asked to be set aside for him. And then finally we reached Fearnan about 6.15pm, a little later than we would have liked, and parked on the street signposted to Culdees Bunkhouse.
We walked up the track and past Boreland. There's a huge parking area there and I'm sure nobody would have minded if we'd parked there. There was a lot of noise and excitement from some young men out the front playing with a caber. The track continues and zigzags a couple of times getting more overgrown all the time until it pretty much disappears altogether under a fallen tree; a steep climb up a grassy thistly bank then brings you out onto a metalled road at about 340m although it's not clear from the map where that starts and finishes.
P9232122.jpg
looking over Loch Tay

P9242139.jpg
Track in the woods leading up onto the moor

Anyway onwards and upwards, we came across a padlocked gate with a nice bit of wooden deer fence to climb, and a little further on another similar gate which brought us out onto the moor. A few yards further on and we found a nice place to camp with views over the loch and running water nearby, in a fairly sheltered spot. We got some lovely moody evening views from our camp site.
P9232124.jpg
Lights coming on in Fearnan

P9242125.jpg
Moody Clouds over Loch Tay

It was getting dark by this time so we cooked our tea and went to bed.
In the morning it looked bright... ish, with some sunshine ... and a rainbow - but it was not long before the rainbow was overcome by the rain and that was about it for views.
P9242128.jpg
Morning from the campsite

P9242129.jpg
and the other way.

P9242131.jpg
rainbow. It's been a good month for rainbows!

P9242132.jpg
rain. Ho hum. See you later, tent

Never mind, we were in good spirits as this was no worse than expected. We set off initially along the Landrover track which wound up onto the ridge. Leaving this track when it neared the crest of the ridge we went uphill and uphill some more following an ATV track we came across, and then a bit more uphill and eventually we reached a cairn. Now I had expected to reach the subsidiary summit just to the north west of the top but this looked like a top kind of cairn, and there was a fairly steep descent beyond which we would not have expected from the subsidiary summit, so we used the wonders of modern technology (MX Map mobile and/or Viewranger) to check and right enough we were on the summit.
P9242133.jpg
Rudolph's 200!

P9242135.jpg
me on the top.

Coming down was a bit more interesting. As you can see from the trace, a straight line on a bearing would not take us where we wanted to go. There were some features to the landscape but the visibility was pretty poor. Actually we are rather proud of the line we took which was not at all far off the line we took going up.
P9242136.jpg
This is a cairn. Or is it a ruined shieling house? Anyway it marks the spot where a vague path aims uphill towards the summit. On the way up we decided it was a bit of ruin and went on a bit further, finding the path/ATV track a bit later.

P9242137.jpg
The cairn as you would see it from the track on the way up. Not hard to see.

P9242138.jpg
Going back down the track towards the forest

It was wet when we got back to the tent so we sat inside the bothy bag and checked the weather forecast for the best place to go next. Both the Met Office and MWIS suggested going West, so that is what we did. A great excuse to stop by the Real Food Cafe for late lunch/early tea.
Last edited by mrssanta on Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mrssanta
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby Alteknacker » Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:08 pm

Once again, 10/10 for grit! I would just not want to do this - which is, no doubt, one of the reasons I'll never compleat...
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby gammy leg walker » Fri Sep 29, 2017 8:25 pm

Congratulations to Rudolph on his 200th
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby mrssanta » Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:26 pm

gammy leg walker wrote:Congratulations to Rudolph on his 200th

and thank you from Rudolph :)
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby ancancha » Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:47 pm

Congratulatons on the 200th Rudolph :clap:
Probably a good way to go up to this one. I remember a particularly boring trudge up from the Souvenir shop side :( Still once the height was gained it was good fun :D
Hope the weather gods are in better fettle for your 201st adventure mrs santa :wink:
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby Graeme D » Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:55 pm

Well done Rudolph! ...... and God bless the Real Food Café! 8) :lol:
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby Rudolph » Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:57 pm

Thanks to all for your good wishes on the 200.

All these summits and I'm still two behind the boss. Still it's nice to get that hill out the way. 30 years is a looooong time for a pack animal.

:D
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby dogplodder » Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:24 pm

Congratulations to Rudolph on his 200th..... and no you don't strike me as a pink fluffy type at all! :lol:
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby mrssanta » Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:08 pm

dogplodder wrote:Congratulations to Rudolph on his 200th..... and no you don't strike me as a pink fluffy type at all! :lol:

Thanks
No I'm not, but pink has its uses in a house full of boys - they don't pinch pink things as often!
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby jmarkb » Tue Dec 05, 2017 1:44 pm

Just wanted to say thank you for posting: I wasn't previously aware of this route, but we did a variation on it under fresh snow the weekend before last, and it made a good shortish winter day out.

We missed the first zag in the track :oops: , went through the gate and up another overgrown set of zigzags a little further right, not recommended. Once out on the hill, we followed a branch of the track (lower than the one shown on the map) to a bridge over the Allt Da Ghob (also not marked) and then followed the fence via Bealach Creag a'Bhannaich round to the summit.


Greigh.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby mrssanta » Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:26 pm

jmarkb wrote:Just wanted to say thank you for posting: I wasn't previously aware of this route, but we did a variation on it under fresh snow the weekend before last, and it made a good shortish winter day out.

We missed the first zag in the track :oops: , went through the gate and up another overgrown set of zigzags a little further right, not recommended. Once out on the hill, we followed a branch of the track (lower than the one shown on the map) to a bridge over the Allt Da Ghob (also not marked) and then followed the fence via Bealach Creag a'Bhannaich round to the summit.

Glad to be of use! that looks like a good walk for a nice cold high pressure day
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Re: Meall Greigh - 30 years later.. and Rudolph's 200th

Postby jonny616 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:32 pm

Well done on the 200 R.
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