walkhighlands

When you do not know your Ardtainaig from your Ardeonaig.

Fionas: Creag Gharbh

Date walked: 27/07/2023

Time taken: 3.5 hours

Distance: 14km

Ascent: 395m

Driving along the A84, I noticed that my driver's side wing mirror was missing. I believe that I use my mirrors a lot so I deduced that it had dropped off either on the campsite or during my drive north. The photograph was taken later, when I went back to look for it. I say my wing mirror; I should have said my wife's wing mirror as it is her car and I was preparing myself to have to 'face the music'.

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Now my intention had been to climb the SHEE OF ARDTALNAIG. I parked up just past the phone box and headed off up the track. The walls on the hillside opposite seemed to match up with the map but I had walked down Gleanne a' Chilleine when doing Creagan na Beinne, which I had done almost five years earlier and nothing seemed familiar! On reaching a farmer rounding up the sheep with his son skilfully manoeuvring a quad bike, I asked about where the track headed around the hill and he told me that I needed to be three miles down the road. I had intended to park at Ardtalnaig but arriving from the east, arrived at Ardeonaig first! I was looking for a phone box as a landmark. Both have old telephone boxes! I said that maybe I would do Creag Gharbh instead. He said "It'll be nice up there today. Have a nice time". I had been concerned that I had got in the way of him rounding up his sheep but she was extremely friendly and welcoming.

​As I had already walked almost a mile and gained some height, I thought that rather than going back down to the car, I should just change my objective. The problem was that I was carrying just an A4 printout of my intended hill and not the full 1981 Landranger First (metric) Series Sheet 51 Loch Tay map, which was back in the car. :roll: I knew that much of the route was on good tracks and visibility was excellent so while breaking the rules, I would be able to complete the walk safely. Furthermore, I did not did not want waste time as I needed to sort out the mirror and return the car to my wife as she needed it for a hospital appointment the next day.

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Shee of Ardtainaig map


I then turned over the map to see what was on the other side. :lol:

Creag Garbh p.jpg


I was not in so much of a curry that I did not stop to take photographs of the 'toffee coos'.

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I even assembled my tripod for this one. Really, I could nave done with my 100mm lens but I did not take it with me on this trip.

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I had not realised that I was on the Rob Roy Way. I first came across a young woman while walking the track that runs next to the pipeline. We chatted for a while. She had found the West Highland Way busy and had been kept awake by people snoring in the hostels so this time she had chosen a quieter route and was using B&Bs.

​I continued around to the location of the communications aerial, which has now been removed, leaving just a concrete base. Then I headed up to Meall Odhar. The photograph below looks across to the trig. point of Creag Gharbh with the Tarmachan Ridge beyond.

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The dip between the two tops was a bit swampy but it was not difficult to find a way across and the slopes up to the summit were easy.

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Looking towards Ben Vorlich and Stùc a' Chròin. This was the last photograph that I took.


As I approached the upward route, I saw another walker. He had gone the wrong way by continuing along the pipeline track towards Ruadh Mheall and had retraced his steps. I could hardly comment on his poor navigation! :lol: He was a 66 year old man from Wisconsin. He seemed to be a bit overdressed for the weather and looked clumsy over the terrain but he kept on going and was good company on the way down. I gave him a lift the three miles down to Ardtalnaig before driving slowly back to Strathyre to look for the mirror off the car - without success. I did get a temporary fix at the garage on the A85/A827 junction near Killin. My wife WAS NOT happy!

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A few days later, I had both mirrors fixed as the passenger mirror had a chip out of it and the mechanic told me that the passenger mirror was about to drop off too. Now everything is as good as new.

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Comments: 1



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Yorjick


User avatar
Location: Dornoch
Occupation: Teacher
Interests: Outdoor activities and photography
Activity: Mountain Walker
Mountain: Slioch
Place: Guirdil
Gear: Simond Camaro ice axe
Member: Pint and Peak Mountaineering Club Formerly Worcester Mountaineering Club and Leeds University Youth Hostelling and Hiking society.
Camera: Pentax K-70 Pentax K3iii
Ideal day out: A Graham, Corbett and Munro in the same day, preferably followed by a night in a bothy!
Ambition: Complete the Corbetts
Munro rounds: 1

Munros: 282
Tops: 226
Corbetts: 217
Fionas: 66
Donalds: 10
Wainwrights: 173
Hewitts: 158
Sub 2000: 22
Islands: 19



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Statistics

2023

Trips: 10
Distance: 137.1 km
Ascent: 5621m
Munros: 1
Corbetts: 2
Fionas: 6

2022

Trips: 7
Distance: 1106.8 km
Ascent: 8448m
Munros: 2
Corbetts: 7
Fionas: 2

2021

Trips: 6
Distance: 75 km
Ascent: 4995m
Munros: 3
Fionas: 3

2019

Trips: 12
Distance: 121.7 km
Ascent: 6428m
Munros: 4
Corbetts: 6
Fionas: 2
Sub2000s: 1

2018

Trips: 12
Distance: 184 km
Ascent: 11834m
Munros: 2
Corbetts: 9
Sub2000s: 1

2017

Trips: 14
Distance: 282.75 km
Ascent: 14942m
Munros: 9
Corbetts: 8
Fionas: 6

2016

Trips: 32
Distance: 583.76 km
Ascent: 27369m
Munros: 10
Corbetts: 16
Fionas: 12
Sub2000s: 4

2015

Trips: 4
Distance: 83.7 km
Ascent: 3944m
Munros: 3
Corbetts: 3


Joined: Sep 17, 2008
Last visited: Mar 08, 2024
Total posts: 250 | Search posts