This was my second attempt to climb the Graham Meall Tairbh. I had attempted to do the round of Ben Inverveigh and Meall Tairbh in August 2024. Because of the weather conditions, with heavy rain and wind, I decided only to climb Ben Inverveigh.

There had been weeks of heavy rain and knowing the reputation of the boggy sections on Meall Gairbh I decided against completing the circuit.

Whilst Beinn Inverveigh meets the height requirements of a Graham the drop between it and Meall Tairbh is only 144 metres and Grahams must have a drop of 150m all round to count. The walk up Beinn Inverveigh was worthwhile but I decided to attempt to climb Meall Tairbh on its own in September 2024. I couldn't have asked for better weather this time and thankfully most of the boggy sections were much drier.


I travelled up from Glasgow by bus and started the walk just before ten o'clock. This is the River Orchy ....

....and as seen a month earlier when in spate.

Rather than use the West Highland Way to reach Inveroran and the start of the climb up Meall Tairbh, I decided to walk along the road to Inveroran. It saves having to climb about 170 metres and then dropping down the same amount. Directly ahead is the 1108 metre high Munro Meall a'Bhuiridh.

It's a very quiet road and.....

.....the views are excellent. On this still morning the Munros Stob Ghabhar and Stob a'Choire Odhair are reflected perfectly in Loch Tulla.

Meall Tairbh comes into view - its summit is at the far end on the left.

The Inveroran Hotel - I'm already thinking of a pot of tea in the afternoon!

To start the climb I'm using an all terrain vehicle track which starts opposite the hotel...

...and continues for a few hundred metres across the rather wet hillside.

The image below shows the panorama of hills looking west together with the photograph.

Eventually the track disappears and I decide to walk towards the first of the waypoints that I've entered in my GPS. This is the view looking up Glen Fuar with the tree covered ridge above the river leading up to the Graham Beinn Suide (far left). Beyond the ridge is the string of isolated Munros that dominate this area.

From left to right Ben Starav, Glas Bheinn Mhor and Stob Coir an Albannaich (none of which I have climbed). On the right are the slopes of Stob Ghabar.

I couldn't resist using this photo taken on my mobile phone of the entire group of Munros taken a little further up the hill.

From left to right Ben Starav, Glas Bheinn Mhor, Stob Coir an Albannaich, Meall nan Euan and Stob Ghabar.


The terrain is fairly rough but fortunately not quite as wet as I expected.

The hillside obviously has no path but there are short sections of deer tracks which can sometimes be used if you come across them.

Looking back to Inveroran and Loch Tulla.

The climb is steady with very few sections that are particularly steep

I've included a few photos such as these.....

.....to give an impression of the hillside. In good conditions a pleasant walk but in wet weather it would be a very different matter.

The Munros Stob Gabhar and Stob a' Choire Odhair are seen to the north.

At around 600 metres above sea level the gradient slackens off and...

...there is now about 1 km gentle walking towards the summit.

There's even a track (again probably made by deer rather than humans) for a short distance....

...but there's then a slight drop to a boggy area around a lochan...

....before the climb up to....

....a more rocky area with....

...some bands of quartz embedded in the rock - this is not dissimilar to those found on Beinn Udlaidh nearby in Glen Orchy.

I reached the summit cairn at 665m about 2 hours 45 minutes after leaving Inveroran, taking about half an hour longer than I expected. Not having a path and having to work around some wet areas inevitably slows down the walking pace. The view from the summit is excellent in every direction.

The image below shows the panorama of hills looking south together with the photograph.

To the left in the far distance are the Munros around Crianlarich - Stob Binnein and Cruach Ardrain.
Directly across Glen Orchy is the Corbett Beinn Udlaidh whilst in the centre is the pointed summit of Ben Lui with Ben Oss to its left and the round summit of Beinn a' Chleibh to the right. Further in the distance to the right is Beinn Bhuidhe.

The image below shows the panorama of hills looking west together with the photograph.

There's a 90 degree panorama of hills stretching from the Corbett Beinn Mhic Mhonaidh to the left, with the Ben Cruachan area Munros to the right of it. Over to the right of centre in the photo are Ben Starav, Glas Bheinn Mhor, Stob Coir an Albannaich, Meall nan Euan. On the far right the hills in Glen Coe can be seen.[

img]https://www.steverabone.com/MunroWalker/img1501.jpg[/img]
A section of the west facing panorama photo has been enlarged and reveals that Ben More on the Isle of Mull can just be seen - look under the red circle. It is 72km away and shows how clear the day was.

The image below shows the panorama of hills looking east together with the photograph.

The Munros and Corbetts around Bridge of Orchy and Tyndrum are visible in this image with Rannoch Moor to the left beyond Loch Tulla. Beinn Dorain is prominent in the centre of the photo. In the foreground is Lochan Coir Orain and above it Beinn Inverveigh, the hill I climbed in bad weather in August 2024.


I decided to follow a different route on the way back heading directly towards Inveroran and slightly east of my uphill route.

I then reached what appears to be a deer track that headed downhill for a considerable distance towards the remaining trees in the plantation seen above.

Near the trees the track disappeared, the ground became more marshy and the insect life appeared! There was no breeze and vegetation conditions were ideal for biting insects. The original vehicle track was reached at NN27359 40994 and then it was a short walk back to the Inveroran Hotel for a very welcome pot of tea. I then walked back to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel for a meal and then it was on the evening train back to Glasgow.


If you want to see the larger panoramic images they can be viewed on my website at:
https://www.steverabone.com/MunroWalker/meall_tairbh.html

The panorama diagrams were generated on this German website:
https://www.udeuschle.de/panoramas/makepanoramas_en.htm

To read the account of my climb of Beinn Inverveigh click here
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=125872