Walk Report: Cruach Ardrain & Beinn Tulaichean
For the last two weeks I have been in Scotland having a fantastic time walking up the Scottish hills. While up there I wrote walk reports every evening and from tonight I will start typing them up on here:
Tuesday 19th July
Well, I'm now in Scotland doing some walking in the Highlands. Apart from doing the West Highland Way last year I have not really done any walking in Scotland and it is very different. It's a lot bigger and a lot less crowded; I didn't see anyone all day today but that could have been because of the weather. I was in decisive about where to walk today, the bad weather putting me off something big, and in the end I decided to head off up the hills directly behind the hostel thinking they may be a little easier. [incidentally I was staying at the Crianlarich youth hostel in the west highlands, which is almost next door to the railway station on the west highland line from Glasgow to Fort William. This was very handy and much better than I would get later in the holiday. Crianlarich is a very small community on the junction of the A85 and A82 trunk roads served by a small general store, which I used for all my culinary needs despite it's slightly higher prices than a town-centre superstore.]
Right behind the youth hostel is a Community Woodland and I started the walk by walking through that and into the forest beyond. Now I was following the instructions given by Ralph Storer in his book "100 Best routes on Scottish Mountains", specifically route 6. Storer's instructions took me along the forest roads until I came to an old path beside metal and wooden posts, which Storer describes as "Execrable" and suggests you avoid it as much as possible. I must have forgotten his advise because I walked up the whole boggy, water-logged length of it, even the Harvey map marks this route as marshy ground. It was with considerable relief that I reached the tree line and climbed onto the hillside, my first goal having the very Scottish sounding name of Grey Height. This was merely the start of the ridge around the head of the valley (or corrie as they say in Scotland) [Coire Ardrain], and I continued up to Meall Dhamh before beginning the ascent of Cruach Ardrain. The path I was following took me across the steep western slopes depositing me at the southern end of the mountain.
This suited me fine as I headed away from Cruach Ardrain down the hill towards another Munro (though much smaller) called Beinn Tulaichean. As I was approach the summit the weather threw everything it had at me, biting rain and extremely strong winds that I could hardly walk in. In desperation I sought some shelter against a rocky outcrop and despaired of the conditions and anything else I could think of; eventually I poked my head up and gingerly made my way to the summit cairn, which turned out to be very close to where I had been sheltering. Returning to my shelter I had lunch and gazed out at the glorious views that were miraculously revealing themselves to me as the weather cleared in the lee of the hill affording tremendous views across to Loch Voil. Setting off again I headed back up to the top of Cruach Ardrain and once again the wind tried to stop me as I crossed the col between the two munros, this time to little effect. Climbing up Cruach Ardrain from the south I followed the path to the south-westerly summit cairn. In the wind, rain and low cloud I could easily have though I was at the top but having been warned by Storer I descended the dip beyond and found a rise taking up to another summit cairn, this time the true summit.
The continuation of the walk was to descend steeply down the path next to the summit down to what Storer calls a Bealach (the Scottish name for a col, I guess) and then up to Stob Garbh. At this point I lost the path and had to find my own way around the rock faces onto the top. My compass was heavily used as I found my way along the top of the ridge to the summit cairn at the northern end. Stob Garbh apparently used to be a Munro but was subsequently demoted for having too small a re-ascent making my tally for the day just two Munro and a Munro top. Heading off in the right direction I discovered a path and continued along the ridge over Stob Coire Buidhe towards Crianlarich until my progress was halted by a fence. Storer makes no mention of it although it is marked on the map. Turning to the left I tried to find a stile over it, but none could be found and when I came to a t-junction of fences I decided the only was I would be able to get down would be to cross the fence so climbed over. Descending the steep grass slopes I now had no path and no idea where the path I had been following had gone. When I approached Creag na h-Iolaine I discovered a steep and bracken-covered slope with no means of getting down. Perhaps crossing the fence had not been such a good idea! With considerable difficulty I descended the slope through the bracken not knowing where I putting my feet until I reached the tree-line.
Ralph Storer's instructions hadn't said it would be this difficult! He said there was a "clear" firebreaks, but I could see none so made my way to where the map indicated was a firebreak; there was none. So instead I had to try and descend the hillside going under the trees weaving around the trunks of the trees; luckily the undergrowth was relatively clear under the mature conifers. Following a stream down I made my way to a forest road, ironically the firebreak appeared on my left just before I reached the road. After a energetic hour spent trying to get past a fence, a cliff, bracken and then trees I slowly made my way along the forest road back to where I had started. Passing once more through the Community Woodland I returned to the youth hostel. All in all it was a good, enjoyable walk, even if the weather was a little rough at times, I coped; another victory for me over bad weather. The problems at the end of the walk are best forgotten as being beyond my control. Unless they are the norm for Scotland...
Tuesday 19th July
Well, I'm now in Scotland doing some walking in the Highlands. Apart from doing the West Highland Way last year I have not really done any walking in Scotland and it is very different. It's a lot bigger and a lot less crowded; I didn't see anyone all day today but that could have been because of the weather. I was in decisive about where to walk today, the bad weather putting me off something big, and in the end I decided to head off up the hills directly behind the hostel thinking they may be a little easier. [incidentally I was staying at the Crianlarich youth hostel in the west highlands, which is almost next door to the railway station on the west highland line from Glasgow to Fort William. This was very handy and much better than I would get later in the holiday. Crianlarich is a very small community on the junction of the A85 and A82 trunk roads served by a small general store, which I used for all my culinary needs despite it's slightly higher prices than a town-centre superstore.]
Right behind the youth hostel is a Community Woodland and I started the walk by walking through that and into the forest beyond. Now I was following the instructions given by Ralph Storer in his book "100 Best routes on Scottish Mountains", specifically route 6. Storer's instructions took me along the forest roads until I came to an old path beside metal and wooden posts, which Storer describes as "Execrable" and suggests you avoid it as much as possible. I must have forgotten his advise because I walked up the whole boggy, water-logged length of it, even the Harvey map marks this route as marshy ground. It was with considerable relief that I reached the tree line and climbed onto the hillside, my first goal having the very Scottish sounding name of Grey Height. This was merely the start of the ridge around the head of the valley (or corrie as they say in Scotland) [Coire Ardrain], and I continued up to Meall Dhamh before beginning the ascent of Cruach Ardrain. The path I was following took me across the steep western slopes depositing me at the southern end of the mountain.
This suited me fine as I headed away from Cruach Ardrain down the hill towards another Munro (though much smaller) called Beinn Tulaichean. As I was approach the summit the weather threw everything it had at me, biting rain and extremely strong winds that I could hardly walk in. In desperation I sought some shelter against a rocky outcrop and despaired of the conditions and anything else I could think of; eventually I poked my head up and gingerly made my way to the summit cairn, which turned out to be very close to where I had been sheltering. Returning to my shelter I had lunch and gazed out at the glorious views that were miraculously revealing themselves to me as the weather cleared in the lee of the hill affording tremendous views across to Loch Voil. Setting off again I headed back up to the top of Cruach Ardrain and once again the wind tried to stop me as I crossed the col between the two munros, this time to little effect. Climbing up Cruach Ardrain from the south I followed the path to the south-westerly summit cairn. In the wind, rain and low cloud I could easily have though I was at the top but having been warned by Storer I descended the dip beyond and found a rise taking up to another summit cairn, this time the true summit.
The continuation of the walk was to descend steeply down the path next to the summit down to what Storer calls a Bealach (the Scottish name for a col, I guess) and then up to Stob Garbh. At this point I lost the path and had to find my own way around the rock faces onto the top. My compass was heavily used as I found my way along the top of the ridge to the summit cairn at the northern end. Stob Garbh apparently used to be a Munro but was subsequently demoted for having too small a re-ascent making my tally for the day just two Munro and a Munro top. Heading off in the right direction I discovered a path and continued along the ridge over Stob Coire Buidhe towards Crianlarich until my progress was halted by a fence. Storer makes no mention of it although it is marked on the map. Turning to the left I tried to find a stile over it, but none could be found and when I came to a t-junction of fences I decided the only was I would be able to get down would be to cross the fence so climbed over. Descending the steep grass slopes I now had no path and no idea where the path I had been following had gone. When I approached Creag na h-Iolaine I discovered a steep and bracken-covered slope with no means of getting down. Perhaps crossing the fence had not been such a good idea! With considerable difficulty I descended the slope through the bracken not knowing where I putting my feet until I reached the tree-line.
Ralph Storer's instructions hadn't said it would be this difficult! He said there was a "clear" firebreaks, but I could see none so made my way to where the map indicated was a firebreak; there was none. So instead I had to try and descend the hillside going under the trees weaving around the trunks of the trees; luckily the undergrowth was relatively clear under the mature conifers. Following a stream down I made my way to a forest road, ironically the firebreak appeared on my left just before I reached the road. After a energetic hour spent trying to get past a fence, a cliff, bracken and then trees I slowly made my way along the forest road back to where I had started. Passing once more through the Community Woodland I returned to the youth hostel. All in all it was a good, enjoyable walk, even if the weather was a little rough at times, I coped; another victory for me over bad weather. The problems at the end of the walk are best forgotten as being beyond my control. Unless they are the norm for Scotland...
posted by David Keates at 5:46 pm
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