After an enforced break from the standard routine last year, Ruth and I resumed normal service with a Christmas trip to our parents’ house in Minehead, and New Year week in the Highlands. Ruth’s boyfriend Josh joined us for both trips.
We drove down to Somerset after work on Wednesday 22nd, and the next day took a local family walk in the afternoon, starting in Bossington, walking down to the pebble beach of Porlock Bay, up to Hurlstone Point, then back around the slopes of Bossington Hill.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1780128
Christmas Eve was damper, so Mum and I just took a quick stroll down to Minehead seafront before listening to the carol service from King’s in the afternoon. Christmas Day was so wet that we didn’t leave the house at all! And finally, on Boxing Day morning Dad and I went for a trail run over Periton Hill. Then after lunch we tackled the long-ish drive north to Ruth’s house via mine, not meeting any significant traffic or delay.
Our New Year destination was about as close as any in the Highlands could be, as we were staying in Callander for the week. It was less than three hours’ drive from Natland to Stirling, where we paused for a walk up to the castle, lunch in an excellent café nearby, and grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s. A further half hour’s drive brought us to our Airbnb flat close to the centre of Callander – not the prettiest property we’ve stayed in for New Year but very convenient, cosy, well-equipped and quiet.
Tuesday’s forecast was relatively promising with light winds and a good chance of cloud-free summits from mid-morning onwards, so we decided to start with the highest nearby hills, Stob Binnein and Ben More. We tackled them from the south, starting at Inverlochlarig, in order to include the two southern Munro Tops of Stob Binnein. The walk began, just before sunrise, with a steep 600m climb directly up the hillside to Stob Invercarnaig, which we were surprised was well-enough walked to have a clear path that significantly aided progress. From there, the angle eased, although we were walking in the mist as we continued up Na Staidhrichean. Above around 700m, there was a reasonable coverage of fairly crisp snow.
On the Munro Top of Stob Coire an Lochain, the cloud parted for a few moments to give glimpses of the Munros to the west, Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain, but then closed in again. We continued up to Stob Binnein, where we were pleased that the cloud broke up more convincingly to reveal the westerly half of the view, the higher hills looking beautiful with their sunlit snow caps.
We continued north, dropping down around 300m to the bealach between the two Munros, passing at a distance one person going the other way having ascended Ben More from the north. A steep 300m reascent, passing a few other groups going down, brought us to the summit of Ben More, which was in cloud as we arrived but cleared out as we ate our lunch in the shelter of the summit rocks, giving good views towards Ben Lawers in particular, as well as back to Stob Binnein.
We retraced our steps down and back up to Stob Binnein and Stob Coire an Lochain, with more excellent views south and east, then turned east to follow the ridge to the other Munro Top, Meall na Dige. Nobody had been this way since the snow fell, so I broke the trail for the others. Descending southwards, we reached the snowline around an hour before sunset, and got back to the car just before dark. A great winter day in the hills!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777446
Wednesday was milder, wetter and windier. Josh was working, while Ruth and I opted for an afternoon walk up the popular Trossachs Graham of Ben Venue, hoping that the best of the weather would be late in the day as forecast. We followed the standard route up from Loch Achray via Gleann Riabhach and up the ridge, staying below the cloud except for the final 100m or so, but not really seeing any distant views. The wind seemed to pick up as we approached the twin summits, which were extremely blustery, and was definitely stronger as we headed back down the valley than it had been on the ascent. We passed only one other person, a fellrunner descending.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777448
The wind dropped a little on Thursday, so Ruth and I headed to another Munro, Meall nan Tarmachan. This was Ruth’s choice as she hadn’t previously done the full and much-celebrated ridge. The mild weather meant there was no difficulty driving up to the top of the pass between Ben Lawers and Meall nan Tarmachan to start the walk at around 450m. We went clockwise, starting with the walk west along the traversing tracks below the ridge, in order to have the wind behind us as we returned east along the ridge.
Sadly, once we were up on the ridge, we were persistently in the cloud and couldn’t enjoy any views. Nevertheless, the path was easy to follow with almost all the snow having melted as the summit temperatures were well above freezing. We could still appreciate the pointy summit of Meall Garbh, and the frozen lochan between there and Meall nan Tarmachan. We passed one group of three going the other way along the ridge, and a few others on the lower slopes as we descended by the main path.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777452
New Year’s Eve was a very wet day. Ruth and Josh opted for a quick walk up Ben Ledi, but I wasn’t very motivated by that plan as we’d done it in similar conditions a few years ago. Instead, I walked solo, directly from the flat, heading southwest to the 427m Marilyn summit of Beinn Dearg. Most of the ascent was on good forest tracks, as far as the transmitters on Ben Gullipen. Then the final kilometre or so was on a surprisingly well-walked trod along the ridge. The mist had been right down to the village, so there were again no views to enjoy. I descended past remote Lochan Balloch and along its outflow burn to reach forest tracks above Loch Venachar that led me back to Callander in a loop of around 15km.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1777455
New Year’s Day’s forecast in the Trossachs was no better, with storm force winds expected and frequent showers. It looked much better to the south though, so I started the day with a parkrun at Plean Country Park, just south of Stirling, while Ruth and Josh took a stroll around the park. This was a tough, rough and hilly course that made for a good challenge to start my running year! It turned out, in post-finish conversation, that the man who pipped me to 6th place had been the man we passed at a distance on descent from Stob Binnein a few days previously!
Afterwards, we headed a few miles northeast to the Ochil Hills, which we had not previously visited. We parked in Tillicoultry and started by following tracks traversing west to Silver Glen. There we picked up a large track up onto Ben Ever, and a well-trodden path from there up to Ben Cleuch, the highest hill in the range and high enough to be a Graham. For the first time since Tuesday, the cloud was above the summit, and we had good views over the surrounding peaks of the Ochils, and the Forth valley to the south.
We had a bite to eat in the shelter of the summit cairn, then re-emerged into the strong winds to continue along the ridge, after a short detour to The Law, to Andrew Gannel Hill, then down and back up to King’s Seat Hill. A good path led from there back down the ridge to Mill Glen and Tillicoultry.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1778035
The final day of the trip looked a bit more promising on the high hills, with the forecast suggesting passing showers and manageable winds. We decided to tackle Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’ Chroin from the south, starting at Braeleny, just a couple of miles up the lane east of Callander. Although our walk started fairly dry, by the time we’d covered the three kilometres along the track to Arivurichardich the rain had become heavy enough to merit waterproof trousers.
It only got wetter as we ascended gradually north onto the ridge, and by that point Ruth and Josh had decided they only wanted to visit Stuc a’ Chroin (although I would still have been up for the full planned circuit). We did get a few views over Gleann an Dubh Choirein towards Ben Vorlich as we ascended, but the rain never paused, and the summit itself was well in the cloud. We didn’t stop for long at the cairn before returning the way we’d come and heading back to the flat to warm up and dry out over tea and cake.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1780096
Overall, a disappointing week of weather, with only the one good day in the Highlands proper, plus one in the Ochils. We did well to stay motivated enough to get out in the hills every day despite the rain, wind and low cloud! I can add a couple of new Grahams and a couple of Munro Tops to my tally at least.
My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/w7arSqy3cnuQmySbA
David Pettit's photo blog 