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I'm getting sloppy with posting walk reports these days. This is from a couple of Sundays ago, when the tail end of Katia was hitting Scotland.
The forecast for the Sunday wasn't good, with strong winds, rain and not much visibility on the hills. I really wanted to get out and about, despite the forecast.......I seem to derive some sort of perverse pleasure getting soaking wet on the hills and battered by strong winds
And then there was some sense of solidarity with those at the WH meet in Kintail.......
But I didn't fancy anything too taxing, so plumped for a safe hill that was close to home - Meall Ghaordaidh (or MG). Got to admit that I was looking forward to this little trip. Reports suggest it's a bit of a dull hill and possibly one best saved for when it has a good covering of snow. I was expecting a bit of a battle of man against the elements, although in the end the strength of the wind wasn't as bad as the forecast had seemed to suggest
Anyway, it was a decent drive to Killin and then turning off down the glen lochay road. Seemed to have a bit of trouble locating the start of the walk......
- Helpful sign (that I drove past) marking the start of the hill route
..... odd, given this very helpful sign on the road side
Eventually I was parked up, and setting off in full waterproof regalia.
Views of MG were pretty much nil, but early on up the path passed some old shielings which provided some photo opportunities, which were looking as being few and far between on this walk
- The route up MG
- Early view looking down the route taken
At the sheilings I had thought of a shortcut onto the hill over a drystone wall, but soon discovered it was a bit too slippery and wet to get over, so reluctantly made my way back to the path where I discovered a very helpful set of steps to get me over said wall
- Sheilings and Trees
- Sheilings
Before entering the cloud there was a chance for some reasonable views of the area surrounding the walk, as I made my way up the short distance of the landrover track before leaving that for the hill path.
- A view....
I continued along the landrover track until I reached a small cairn and metal pole, which marked the spot to leave the track and hit the path up onto the hill.
- Start of the route up MG
Early part of the path up was a case of bog
Things didn't really improve much as I made my way up and disappeared into the cloud. But hey, I love bog
I've walked through plenty of it this year
Before the cloud took over there were views back down into glen lochay, although they didn't last long as the rain seemed to be winning the day (until this point the rain had been patchy, but from now on seemed to become persistent).
- View back to Glen Lochay
- And with cloud ha ha ha
The view ahead stayed pretty much the same all the way
- Onwards and upwards
The path up for the entire route is good and even I didn't get lost in the cloud
Lower down though it was less than interesting, with lots of boggy areas, some of which were amongst the worse I had experienced (even worse than the path up Beinn Dubhchraig
) Met a couple coming down, who suggested the wind higher up wasn't that bad. Didn't mention anything about the views though
For some reason, just because this is an easy hill I was thinking I could just flee up it. So very quickly got myself all knackered and had to slow down. But eventually some rocks started to appear through the mist and the nature of the route changed as the path worked it's way through them to the summit.
- A rock....
Soon enough I was on the summit and making my way to the shelter, where a couple were already there with their dog.
- Approaching MG summit shelter
- MG trig pillar
And the views from the summit. Oh what views there are........apparently. Couldn't see a thing
And by now it was getting a touch chilly, although the wind wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be, so I wasn't planning to hang around.
- The view from the hill
- Another view from the hill
On the way down I soon passed the couple that had been on the summit when I arrived. It seemed I could have adopted a dog too, as theirs seemed keen to follow me down until she was eventually persuaded to wait for her mum and dad.
Going down seemed to take no time at all, although the boggy sections seemed to be somehow worse on the way back
This gives an idea of what it was like, but doesn't really do it's boggy-ness justice (a section below this point was even worse).
- The 'bog' path!
It was a case of head down and getting myself back to the car, not that I wasn't enjoying myself in these less than ideal conditions. At one stage a shadow appeared out of the mist coming toward me. Looked like a fell runner by his get up and he bounded off past me and up the hill. A thought entered my head - I bet he passes me on the way down before I get to the car
Continued the down, sloshing through the bog as the rain continued. Eventually dropped out of the cloud and found myself back on the landrover track. Almost back at the car......when the fell runner from earlier scared the willies out of me as he went running past
All of five minutes from the car.....and I'd won my bet with myself
By the time I was back at the car I was thinking a coffee would be in order. So decided to stop off in Killin for a very nice coffee and scone and cream. All very civilised
And tasty too
Then decided to take a quick walk along to the falls of dochart, but by this time it was peeing down so I got a soaking - hey-ho though, I'm a big fan of these falls and wasn't disappointed when I got there
- Falls of Dochart
All in all I enjoyed this little trip. It was a good, easy walk, with good paths all the way - despite the bog and the lack of views. I can quite see why this would be considered a good winter walk and have it added to my winter walking list. The coffee and scone are also a good incentive to return to the area