by Kenny Monaghan » Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:12 am
Date walked: 17/09/2011
Time taken: 3.5 hours
Distance: 8 km
Ascent: 506m
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Left home at 7 o'clock and arrived at the dam for 9.25, got the jackets on and headed up Meall Bhuide, we folowed the instructions on the way up which said to go onto the faint path when reaching the Cairn, this took us pretty much straight across the peat bogs which skirted round the side of Meall a'Phuill before climbing on to it's summit. It took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to the top of Meall Bhuide and with a bit of luck the clouds shifted which allowed us to take in a fair view of the surrounding area.
We sat for about 15 minutes having a snack and some juice before heading back down and as often happens we found the path took us a different route from the one we had come up so we decided to stay with it to see what the difference was if any.
The path took us across the top of Meall a'Phuill before desending back on to the road at the Dam, this path would have been better for going up as it was stoney most of the way, there is still some peat to walk across but it's only a couple of hundred metres and none of it is as wet or awkward as it was on the way up.
The way to the second and probably the correct path up is to pass the first Cairn on the road and continue walking for about 400 to 5oo metres down the dip on the road past the Cairn and you'll see another not so obvious Cairn, the banking at the side of the road is worn away where people have walked up it so it is fairly easy to spot. The Dam wall will be behind you and the path sets out to go straight up the hill, it is a bit steeper intially but the benefit of a better path makes it worth the extra 500 metre walk.
The starting point for this walk according to my sat nav was 426 metres up.
