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An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin


Postby tomyboy73 » Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:03 pm

Route description: An Caisteal and Beinn a'Chròin, near Crianlarich

Munros included on this walk: An Caisteal, Beinn a' Chròin

Date walked: 19/06/2011

Time taken: 6 hours

Distance: 14 km

Ascent: 1126m

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I was hungry, and little hills and corbetts hadn`t filled me up. I needed a munro or two to take away the emptyness inside me. The sky was grey, but i didn`t care. I was on my own, but i couldn`t be held. I was off, bag packed, route planned, pedal to the metal, heading north. Bone fide hill nut. Before i left i checked the weather. Glasgow-rain. Arrochar-rain. Oban-rain. Crianlarich-sunshine :D . As i drove along , Rolling Stones belting out on the stereo, I could see the sky ever so gradually changing from grey to white to blue :) and then back to white again :( By the time i reached Crianlarich it was bright and sunny, but of course i had to turn around and head back to the start of the walk, it was white, with a hint of blue :roll: Once suited and booted i made to climb the stile over the fence but the field was so muddy i walked along a bit to the cowgate, climbed that and headed over the less soggy parts using stones and grassy stumps to avoid an early mudbath, that could, and would wait till later. There is a road that goes right round to the sheep creep from the car park if you don`t fancy the hop skip and jump. Once under the railway line i walked along the track looking for a path up the hill towards An Caisteal. When i came to a gate in line with the end of the treeline on the other side of the river i noticed a faint path of trodden grass meandering up the hillside. I knew to head off at this point after reading the WH guide but expected the path to be more obvious, thought twice about it but decided to use my gut instinct and go for it throught the dewy grass. The faint walkway kinda followed a little mountain stream and past a strange little tree.
018.JPG
strange tree means you`re on the right track

As you make your way up onto Sron Garbh a more obvious path appears with different routes sprouting out of it, luckily some clever bugger had taken up some white painted canes and stuck them in the ground marking the way to go. :thumbup: Three or four of these sticks helped me up onto the ridge and just as well, as for the past fifteen minutes or so, the cloud had been coming down on me even at this low level. However despite making this sound quite bleak it was actually quite warm and i was only wearing shorts and tshirt and the cloud lifted for a good while as i walked towards twistin hill,
019.JPG
twistin hill
, giving me a sneak peak of the Bealach Buide linking the two munros. I couldn`t believe Beinn a`Chroin was as close.
022.JPG
bealach between the hills

You basically walk up the ridge until you reach near the top where there`s a couple of little scrambles and by this time I was surrounded in cloud and it would stay like this until i started to descend Beinn aChroin.
031.JPG
An Caisteal summit

It was quite atmospheric with all the clouds making shadows of the surrounding rocks as i made my way down the rocky, steep path towards my second munro of the day. Across the bealach and up onto aChroin with a helping hand pointing the way.
036.JPG
thumbs up
I was soon meeting other walkers who were doing the route in the opposite direction, the last of whom informed me i was almost at the summit. They were quite glad too i think, to learn i had only taken an hour to get there from summit of An Caisteal. By the way there is one dodgy wee scramble here if you don`t like them, but easy enough if you like to get you hands dirty. :)
037.JPG
scramble
039.JPG
beinn aChroin summit

I didn`t stay at the top long and soon moved off down the other side which is quite steep where you come across another peak rising up, you can either go over this or around it onto the path. I went over and only then did the clouds clear and i started to get good views either side of me as i descended down the long ridge. Once i canme to the river i followed it back down the glen occasinaly crossing the river back and forth before i eventually found a path. I wish i hadn`t, it was just a bogfest, at one point i was in it on all fours up to my elbows in mud. :lol: It took me 3 hours to make both summits but the long walk down the ridge and through the bogs took another 3, but i`d had fun and i was full up. :)
074.JPG
looking back
:wave:
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Last edited by tomyboy73 on Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tomyboy73
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby pollyh33 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:47 pm

That's a smashing report Tommy, plenty of detail and useful photos. Three things bothered me though....how on earth did that tree grow into that shape??? How did you end up on all fours in a bog??? And what's with the shorts and gaiters combo???? :lol: :lol:

PS keeping my eye on your hills tally!! Just finished day 2 of WhW battling my two worst enemies ... Midgies and curly hair!!! But will be back climbing the hills soon- look out!!
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby tomyboy73 » Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:52 pm

pollyh33 wrote:That's a smashing report Tommy, plenty of detail and useful photos. Three things bothered me though....how on earth did that tree grow into that shape??? How did you end up on all fours in a bog??? And what's with the shorts and gaiters combo???? :lol: :lol:

PS keeping my eye on your hills tally!! Just finished day 2 of WhW battling my two worst enemies ... Midgies and curly hair!!! But will be back climbing the hills soon- look out!!



Thanks Pauline,
The tree..i don`t know, the walk back is the boggiest ever, one foot sank in a little, my next foot went all the way in and as i tried to lift my first foot out i lost all balance as it sucked me back in and over i went :lol: and what`s up with the shorts and gaiters ?????? i usually always wear shorts when walking and after my close encounters with ticks lately, the gaiters are a must.
Good luck on the WHW. I had a week of sunshine and not one midge in sight when i did it :)
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tomyboy73
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Posts: 1080
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby Paula Hubens » Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:55 pm

Well done! You do have an eye for the strange things out there. I like the tree and the thumbs up rock! So it is true about the boggy-sloggy on the way down from Beinn a' Chroin? Sorry that you got sucked in.
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby tomyboy73 » Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:35 pm

Paula Hubens wrote:Well done! You do have an eye for the strange things out there. I like the tree and the thumbs up rock! So it is true about the boggy-sloggy on the way down from Beinn a' Chroin? Sorry that you got sucked in.


Thanks Paula, it is very boggy. And i do seem to see things others dont see :shifty:
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tomyboy73
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby Jabber » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:00 pm

Well done on the walk there. Going to do a weekend of Camping when I go for these at Beinn Glas camp site once the midge are a bit calmer....has it perks especially with Drovers Inn being within hobbling distance 8)...Oh and they are Westie friendly so pooch is camping too!
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby Juliejjot » Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:57 pm

Hi Tommy,

Like your report :thumbup: - me and Jude did An Caisteal & Beinn a 'Chroin a couple of weeks earlier (June 25th) - it was a miserable day, very dense cloud for most of the ascent (we nearly got lost). Lucky for us we bumped into a group of walkers from the 'Scottish Intrepid Aventures Chill out Group', and we tagged along with them. We're in on their photo's too. :lol: Typically on the way back down the cloud started to disappear and glimpses of blue sky and sun could be seen. We were very lucky too in regards to the boggy areas in that we managed to avoid most of it - although we did have to navigate around a herd of cows! Once back at the car the sun was splitting the sky (agghh!!). :x Planning to go out again this Sunday.
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby ChrisW » Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:50 am

Brilliant, I laughed out loud at the "all fours in the bog" thing, thinking back to my own similar experience :lol: You look to have made the most of a pretty grotty day :D
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Re: An Caisteal & Beinn a`Chroin

Postby tomyboy73 » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:09 pm

Juliejjot wrote:Hi Tommy,

Like your report :thumbup: - me and Jude did An Caisteal & Beinn a 'Chroin a couple of weeks earlier (June 25th) - it was a miserable day, very dense cloud for most of the ascent (we nearly got lost). Lucky for us we bumped into a group of walkers from the 'Scottish Intrepid Aventures Chill out Group', and we tagged along with them. We're in on their photo's too. :lol: Typically on the way back down the cloud started to disappear and glimpses of blue sky and sun could be seen. We were very lucky too in regards to the boggy areas in that we managed to avoid most of it - although we did have to navigate around a herd of cows! Once back at the car the sun was splitting the sky (agghh!!). :x Planning to go out again this Sunday.


Hi Julie, thanks. where are you going this sunday ? i`m at home with the kids, don`t think the weather will be too good. Me and Jim did Ben More & Stob Binnian a few weeks ago, didn`t do a report, it was fairly straightforward if a bit steep and wasn`t a day for the camera. But i`m sure you could do that as no chance of getting lost :lol: Say Hi to Jude for me.
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Sub 2000:6   Hewitts:6
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