Beinn Suidhe an co

[Benaden887]

Beinn Suidhe and Meall Tairbh 25/3/17 18.5km 1035m 8.5hrs

I drive up to Victoria bridge cp. Bridge of Orchy. The sun is out - clear skies cold with a hint of spring - the hills still lathered with the white stuff. Little at ground level but plenty of snow melt gives for a boggy walk.
Having looked at routes others had taken I opt for the track thro the forest saving the need to cross the Shira river. From the cp a way winds W to a stepped gate, past the Druimliart monument of Gaelic poet Duncan Ban MacIntrye - then a barred gate. Enter the trees, the track bends back on itself - drops to a fence with gate then W to open hillside. Views of the Stob Gabhar group across the glen and Beinn Suidhe - my goal - lying between the glens of Strae and Kinglass. More forestry to where the path ends and cat tracks lead to the treeline edge sees Beinn Suidhe rocky NW face.
Cross the burn at a small island which once held homesteads then strike uphill to the craggy face. I take a line left up the side of the crag - a water course, it`s snow and ice - so slip slide my way to the top. Past a small top then over snow to the cairn of Suidhe for food and drink. Here I take stock. The views are stunning. The sun is warm - 14c says my digital wrist, midges are out and we could do with a breeze.
Meall Tairbh as the crow flies is 5km distant, a wee dogleg thro two outcrops should add 1.5km. I can`t really see my route as the bright sun is merging all the snow levels. OK. down a broad ridge for a snow hidden lochan. I come off SE too early but the snow banks on the E side are firm and deep so I stomp my way into the glen below. After a 300m drop - cross a wet basin, climb around Creag nan Taghan and down to gain the lower slopes of Meall an Laoigh. Now 17c and I`m toiling. Welcome to lochan county. Many water pools and hidden burns - it`s up and down over a snowfield - after sinking in a couple of deep holes and skirting two lochans, I eventually reach the heather slopes of Meall Tairbh. Follow a burn up hill to a stoney top an cairn and rest. Great views here of Loch Tulla and surrounding hills all done by a much younger me. Less snow here. Thoughts of adding Ben Inverveigh are quelled by cramp. The 5.2km to walk out is long and wet - I splash my way down toward the Allt Tolaghan water and cross - my feet are wet anyway - to reach the WHW - road and car.
So a good day. seen enroute, deer an deer, birds sheep and cattle, plenty folk , noone on my route. Clouds of midges, not yet biting.

A Cairn to Duncan stands on the site of his home while working for Breadalbane as a gamekeeper. Moving to Edinburgh he served in the city guard. Most famous for the poem “In praise of Beinn Dorian” among many others . He is buried in Greyfriars church yard.
The inscription on the cairn - read by many, understood by few, is in Gaelic.

[Collaciotach]

Donnachadh Bàn nan Òran ........ Moladh Beinn Dobhráin abair bard

[Benaden887]

Donnachadh Bàn nan Òran ........ Moladh Beinn Dobhráin abair bard

thks