As has become my routine, I spent a solo autumn week in the Highlands. As I was coming from Snowdonia at the end of Gentian meet, I didn’t really fancy driving too far north, and settled for an extended stay at SYHA Crianlarich. This gave plenty of options for bagging new Grahams or returning to interesting Munros, according to weather and preference.
Having stayed at Ruth’s house on the Sunday night, it was only about a three-hour drive up on Monday morning. I parked in Glen Douglas to tackle the pair of Grahams on the north side, Tullich Hill and Beinn Bhreac. I had driven through a heavy shower minutes earlier on the shore of Loch Lomond, but started the walk in bright sunshine! Very long and tussocky grass made for hard going on the first ascent, so I was glad when the gradient finally eased near the summit. It was interesting to look back over the glen and see the 56 grass-rooved magazines of the ‘Defence Munitions’ facility, not shown on the OS Map! The reward at the summit was a good view over Loch Long to the Arrochar Alps.
Thankfully the grass on the descent to An t-Sreang and reascent to Ben Reoch was shorter. A few drops of rain fell as I ascended, but the worst of the shower missed me and blew down Glen Douglas. I had lunch in the shelter of the summit rocks, with a view over Loch Lomond, then continued along the gentle ridge to Beinn Bhreac, which had some interesting crags – probably a landslip – near the top. That just left an easy descent on an ATV track down the grass to Invergroin. Then it was only a short drive to Crianlarich, where I checked into the hostel before picking up provisions at the village shop.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2059159
Tuesday was forecast to be a more showery day with persistent cloud at around 700m, so I opted for Graham-bagging again, hoping to stay mostly low enough to have a view. I drove up to Tyndrum then west down Glen Lochy to Corryghoil, where I found plenty of parking space at the start of the track into Succoth Lodge, as well as signs for hydro and electrical works up the valley. I hoped that these would not disrupt my plans.
Although my walk started in the dry, I had had to don my full waterproofs within a few minutes as a heavy shower passed – a repeat pattern for the day. The mixed woodlands around the Eas a’ Ghaill were attractive with the early autumn colours, with easy walking on the tracks to Succoth Lodge, then very boggy walking on the traversing track south. Eventually it became indistinct and I lost it entirely, and was glad shortly afterwards to pop out onto the firebreak that would lead up towards my first objective, Meall nan Gabhar. It turned out that a large new track had recently been built up this firebreak, for maintenance of the electricity pylons that run up it and over the moors above. This made for much quicker and dryer progress than expected! Many of the pylons had men working up them on ropes – clearly a major project given the number of personnel involved and the size of the access track.
Once I was past the main northern buttresses of Meall nan Gabhar, I struck up to the right to make my way steeply up to the ridge, a climb that was, as the guidebook had remarked, easier than it looked! A bit below the ridge, I was into the cloud, so I didn’t hang around for long as I passed over both tops and then Meall nan Tighean. Another shower passed over as I descended west towards the forest. This section unexpectedly gave the best views of the day, with Meall nan Gabhar looking quite impressive from among the trees, and also intermittent views towards Beinn na Sroine to the north, and Beinn Bhuidhe to the south.
It was helpful that I had checked the layout of the forest tracks in advance on plotaroute, as there were quite a few changes since my Landranger map was printed! Once out of the forest, the climb up to Beinn Bhalgairean was straightforward but pretty unmemorable, back in the mist, as was the easy walk out to the road along the forest tracks.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2059797
Wednesday was forecast to start wet but clear to give a bright and calm afternoon, so I got a late start, around 10am, for my biggest walk of the week. My first objective was the Graham, Fiarach, above Dalrigh, where I parked. The walk up was damp but easy, along forest tracks beside the attractive rivers (in spate!) then ATV tracks up the hillside and various trods along the ridge. I was in and out of the mist, so didn’t get many distant views, but the summit itself featured an unusual protruding rock dyke, running several hundred metres across the moor.
The going got increasingly boggy and tussocky as I continued south then northwest to the bealach with Beinn Dubhchraig, so it was actually a relief to reach the short grass of the steep 500m climb back up. A clearer spell had given me decent views as I ascended, but a heavy shower arrived just as I reached the Munro summit and obscured the views ahead. At this point, of course, I met the well-walked Munro-baggers’ path, which at least meant I didn’t have to think too hard about the navigation towards Ben Oss. By the time I was down at the bealach, the shower had passed and it was getting sunny. Beinn Dubhchraig, Loch Oss and Ben Oss looked particularly good, glistening after the rain! A couple passed me going the other way, returning from Ben Oss having bagged it and Beinn Dubhchraig, and we chatted briefly.
Another brief shower brought a drop in the cloud-base as I started to descend from Ben Oss, and I needed to use the compass for a few minutes, but cleared out again a few minutes later. I enjoyed the views down Coire Laoigh, and towards the previous day’s first hill, Meall nan Gabhar, the other side. Ben Cruachan also came into view from the summit of Ben Lui, as did the Crianlarich Munros beyond Ben Oss.
I lingered for a while on the summit taking photos and enjoying the scene, then descended by the well-walked path down the northeast ridge and into Coire Gaothach, then down beside the burn to pick up the track all the way back through Cononish to Dalrigh, finishing around half an hour before dark. It had been a great decision to start late and persevere through the morning mist and heavy showers!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2060686
The next day had the opposite forecast, with a dry morning then rain pushing in, so I started promptly for a walk up the nearby Munro, Beinn Challuim. I found a route on walkhighlands that seemed more attractive than the guidebook route, going up via Gleann a’ Chlachain and the northwest ridge. Starting at Auchtertyre, the first few kilometres were easy walking up the track through the glen, with some low cloud patches enhancing the view back into the valley and towards Fiariach (the previous day’s Graham). A very boggy crossing of the glen followed, up to the nearly-600m Bealach Ghlas-Leathaid, right at the head of Glen Lochay.
Soon after that, I entered the mist, which was broken here and there but never cleared the summit properly. Nevertheless, the ridge was an enjoyable one, with a few dramatic slabs to climb up/around and some sections of easy scrambling on the crest. With glimpses of blue sky above, but no horizontal view, I didn’t linger long on the summit, setting off down the standard route towards Kirkton and bearing right further down, away from the path, to return instead to Auchtertyre. By the time I’d driven back to Crianlarich, the rain had arrived – well timed!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2061559
Showery, windy weather was the theme of the rest of the trip! Friday seemed like it offered two relatively good weather windows, early and late, with a front passing over in the middle of the day. I bagged a Graham in each! The morning choice was Beinn Damhain, above Inveranan. The hydro track into Lairig Arnan made for an easy ascent to 350m or so, with the occasional shaft of sunshine breaking through in the east, but fairly persistent light rain falling. Then the burn up to Lochan Beinn Damhain, followed by the surprisingly rocky northeast ridge, made a pleasant onward route to the summit, just about clear of mist despite the rain. Ben Vorlich was intermittently clear in the view to the south. I returned to the car the same way.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062408
I kept an eye on the rainfall radar through the early afternoon and then set out around 3pm for my second walk, up Meall Odhar, west of Tyndrum. This time the lower slopes were climbed with the help of a zigzagging track through the old lead mines on Sron nan Colan. The views in all directions gradually improved as it got sunnier, and once on the ridge I could see Ben Oss and Ben Lui up the Cononish glen. The ridge to the summit gave pretty easy walking, with a path forming in a few sections – clearly this is one Graham that does get visited fairly regularly thanks to its convenient location. A little light rain unexpectedly returned as I descended the same way back to Tyndrum.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062410
The dryest part of Saturday was the middle of the day. With conditions looking less bad further east, I chose to walk up another Graham, Creag Gharbh, south of Loch Tay. Starting just outside Killin, most of the ascent is very easy, on a tarmac hydro road up to Lochan Breaclaich, then a good gravel track to within half a kilometre and a 100m ascent of the summit.
The views over the expansive, flat moors to the south and east were fairly unremarkable, so the highlight of the day was definitely the summit view along Loch Tay, even though Meall nan Tarmachan and Ben Lawers the other side were not clear at that point. I continued to the eastern top of Meall Odhar, then dropped back down to the track and followed it back to the car. Above the forest, I did briefly get views of the Munros, and could see that there was a little snow above about 1100m! Then rain returned as I made the final descent through the forest.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2062998
Sunday would actually have offered a nice, sunny afternoon, but the necessity of driving home meant that I only had the morning available for walking. Still, I did get some sunny spells and only intermittent spots of rain on my short walk from the Glen Ogle pass up to Meall Buidhe. I followed a track up through the forest to a transmitter, then headed across the moor southeast to the summit, which gave good views south over Loch Earn to Ben Vorlich.
Continuing north to Beinn Leabhainn, I was rewarded with views Meall nan Tarmachan and Ben Lawers, with the snow-line now down having dropped to around 800m. Once I’d sat admiring it for a few minutes, sheltering behind the summit cairn from the very strong wind, I made the short descent back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2063903
The drive home went pretty well, pausing for lunch at Abington and only delayed a few minutes by the roadworks south of Lancaster. Not a great week weather-wise, with no entirely dry days, but I feel I made good use of the less wet and windy periods. Nine new Grahams and four revisited Munros seems a reasonable haul, all things considered!
My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LtJ68jU27huBUjWN6
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