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Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers


Postby cerberus » Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:14 am

Route description: Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas

Munros included on this walk: Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers

Date walked: 22/08/2020

Time taken: 3.38 hours

Distance: 12.48 km

Ascent: 923m

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I arrived at the car park at 8:30 a.m. (should have been earlier but I had forgotten about all the average speed cameras and 40 mph speed limits on the road) - the roads in general were also unusually busy for this time on a Saturday morning. But I was eager to make the most of the weather (and it seemed as though a lot of people had the same idea) as the car park was already beginning to swell.

I parked up and then had a final check over my gear and then set off. From the carpark there is a road you need to cross and then directly in front of you is the access path for Beinn Ghlass and Ben Lawers. Although, the carpark gives you a good head start in terms of altitude, I was still a little surprised at how steep the incline was right from the start - you seem to be gaining altitude very quickly.

As you progress you'll see heather patches on either side and you'll cross a couple of wooden bridges. You then come to a fork in the road and this is where you can either choose to go straight on to summit Beinn Ghlas or you can turn to the left to bypass it if you're just aiming for Ben Lawers. I went straight on and the ascent to the top of Beinn Ghlas is fairly steep with some fairly tricky rocky sections near the summit.

Once you're at the top, you can then take a moment to take in your surroundings and take a breather and then set off for Ben Lawers. The path at this points levels for a bit and then dips down in advance of the ascent to Ben Lawers. The ascent to Ben Lawers is fairly steep and there is a well trodden trail which guides you up. Similar to Beinn Ghlas you are faced with a fairly steep rocky section before you reach the summit.

When I reached the trig point the cloud had dropped and the wind had picked up an I found that if I walked about 20 mtrs or so passed the trig point there was a little mound you could rest behind which acted as a bit of a wind break and we stopped here for our lunch. After we had finished, we set off back down Ben Lawers (almost as tricky going down as it was going up!) and when we reached the fork in the trail - we went right (as opposed to back up Beinn Ghlas) and this then led us on the track along the base of Beinn Ghlas and back to the car park.

I enjoyed bagging my first 2 Munros - hopefully, I'll add plenty more in future and I now have a point of reference for future as to what to expect as it was certainly a lot more challenging than I was expecting.

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cerberus
Walker
 
Posts: 6
Munros:2   
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Joined: Aug 20, 2020

Re: Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Postby Stuart Blakeley » Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:52 pm

Well done on your first Munro's! What was the car park like at that time? Was it full? We're up on Sunday and heard the car park gets full real quick at the weekend!
Stuart Blakeley
Munro compleatist
 
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Re: Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Postby cerberus » Tue Aug 25, 2020 9:10 pm

Yep.. we got there around 8:30 and the car park was pretty full.. only a handful of spaces left. When we got back - there were some cars parked on the road.
Stuart Blakeley wrote:Well done on your first Munro's! What was the car park like at that time? Was it full? We're up on Sunday and heard the car park gets full real quick at the weekend!
cerberus
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Re: Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Postby KatTai » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:05 am

Gorgeous photos! The first time I went up I couldn't see a thing and was stood at the small cairn on Bein Ghlas wondering if this was the summit or if there was still further to go :lol:
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KatTai
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Re: Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Postby cerberus » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:19 am

KatTai wrote:Gorgeous photos! The first time I went up I couldn't see a thing and was stood at the small cairn on Bein Ghlas wondering if this was the summit or if there was still further to go :lol:


LOL!! - I know what you mean!!.. it's a good spot to catch your breath before you crack on. I think going by what others have said, i was definitely lucky with the weather and the views! :)
cerberus
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Re: Bein Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Postby KatTai » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:42 am

cerberus wrote:
KatTai wrote:Gorgeous photos! The first time I went up I couldn't see a thing and was stood at the small cairn on Bein Ghlas wondering if this was the summit or if there was still further to go :lol:


LOL!! - I know what you mean!!.. it's a good spot to catch your breath before you crack on. I think going by what others have said, i was definitely lucky with the weather and the views! :)


Fortunately I got the views the 2nd time :D
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KatTai
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Posts: 1136
Munros:52   Corbetts:16
Fionas:12   Donalds:2
Sub 2000:53   
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Joined: Feb 12, 2015
Location: Angus

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