Green is very much the colour of the moment
over much of the southern Highlands just now, and particularly in the grassy
hills of Breadalbane (high Alba - the
ancient name for Scotland) that surround Loch Tay. Marisa had taken time off from her PhD to
acquaint herself with the Highlands before returning to the States and Fiona
joined us from Glasgow for a day.
Killin, convenient as ever for these hills,
was our base and the hill for our first half day chose itself – the always
delightful Tarmachan Ridge.
Meall nan Tarmachan
This 3Km knolly ridge twists and turns over
entertaining bumps and bealachs which will always be best enjoyed on a warm
summer’s evening. We set off from high
on the road between Loch Tay and Glen Lyon close to the old site of the now
removed National Trust for Scotland (NTS) Visitor Centre. An excellent path (they’re all pretty good
around here) leads off the private Hydro/quarry track and climbs up the open
hillside to the skyline before bearing right up the ridge.
Half-way up, we passed an NTS working party
busy repairing the footpath which takes a pounding from the many walkers
enjoying this popular and accessible peak.
The ascent is straightforward and in less than 90 mins, we were standing
on our first Munro of the week: Meall nan Tarmachan (1043m; hill of the ptarmigans).
The blue skies and clear air gave us wide views in all directions and
Marisa seemed suitably impressed with what Scotland had to offer!
Meall Garbh & Beinn nan Euchan
After the climb came the fun part – the traverse
of the Tarmachan ridge up and over Meall Garbh before a short but sharp drop
(take care here) that leads to Beinn nan Euchan. This summit gives excellent views west along
Glen Lochay which now opens up below you.
There were just a few other walkers about, and one runner – a fellow
American who had taken a couple of weeks off to run up and down a selection of
Scotland’s finest peaks before heading down to London to help with the
Olympics!
Steeply down again from our last peak, we
turned south and descended into Coire Fionn Lairige to pick up the end of the
Hydro track which we followed all the way back to the car. This is the best half-day’s hillwalking I
know in the southern Highlands.
Ben Lawers
Whilst the 7 Munros of the Lawers group can
be tackled in one long day, assuming you have 2 cars, it is perhaps more
enjoyable to split them into 2 and take time to savour them more. With Fiona joining us, we did have 2 cars and
so were able to leave one at our finishing point - the new NTS car park, and
take the other to our start point at the large cairn beside the road at the
head of the pass into Glen Lyon.
Meall a’ Choire Leith
The outlying grassy mound of Meall a’ Choire
Leith is awkwardly placed some way north of the main Lawers ridge. There’s no convenient direct path from this
direction so we struck out across the open country using the contours to
negotiate an intermediate mound and then a ridge followed by a grassy corrie
before finally arriving at the mountain proper!
Here we intercepted a good path (at last) and followed it up the short
southern ridge of Meall a’ Choire Leith (926m;
hill of the grey corrie). This is
much more of a Glen Lyon hill than a Loch Tay one and you can see why, given the commanding views
you enjoy of that glen from the rounded summit.
Meall Corranaich
We returned down the southern ridge which in
turn leads conveniently on to the northern ridge of our next peak. This was excellent ridge walking now and
steep grassy slopes on either side helped complement the airy feel about the
walk. In no time at all we were standing
on our 2nd summit and Munro of the day: Meall Corranaich (1069m; crooked hill).
The path descends steeply from the summit to
a high, narrow bealach at 860m that leads on to Beinn Ghlas. Conveniently for us, however, an excellent
path traverses the northern slopes of that mountain and leads directly to the
bealach immediately below Ben Lawers.
Here we were joined by thronging masses of men, women and children (in
varying degrees of happiness) – as well as the NTS working party we had seen on
the previous day! The summit was crowded
but it is the 10th highest mountain in Britain after all: Ben Lawers
(1214m; hill of the loud stream).
We lingered not and were soon back at the
intervening bealach before the short and easy climb to our final peak of the
day: Beinn Ghlas (1103m; greenish-grey
hill). This peak was much quieter
(they were all still on Ben Lawers) and more importantly, we could now see the
car! The much-maintained path took us
all the way back to the new NTS car park which, on sunny summer days such as
this, clearly isn’t going to be big enough!
Postcript - Ben Nevis
She Made It!
On our 3rd day, given the forecast
of low cloud and heavy rain which seemed destined to wash out the Killin
Highland Games, Marisa opted for a dirty dart up to Fort William and a quick
raid on Ben Nevis. Yes it rained, but
not as much as it did in Killin apparently, and we were smartly up and down in
5½
hrs! No views mind…
Two Ex-military Navigators Now in New Jobs!
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