12 May 2004 saw Frank and me driving up the private road to Achallader Farm at 9:30 a.m. The day before we had climbed the rocky ridges of Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh. Today a different, more grassy and much longer traverse awaited us. The plan was to climb Beinn a’Chreachain, Beinn Achaladair and Beinn an Dothaidh. The weather as fine and so we walked along the track that leads to the Water of Tulla with a feeling of expectation and joy. Two helicopters took turns in picking up material for building fences from a spot near the bridge of the A 82 over the Water of Tulla. They deposited the poles-and-wire-packages by Lochan a’Chreachain and below Meall Buidhe.

We reached the Water and walked along its southern bank to the fenced enclosure of Crannach Wood. We crossed the fence by a stile and continued uphill until a footbridge appeared by which we crossed the railway line. Then we continued on a well-trodden footpath through the beautifully open and light forrest for about 30 minutes until we reached more open ground. From there we struck a direct line up into the direction of Coire an Lochain and reached the Allt Coire an Lochain after having climbed the perimeter fence of the forrest plantations. Before tackling the steep grass slope leading to the col between point 961m and Beinn a’Chreachain we had a break and ate some of our provisions. Then, on we climbed up the ever steepening green slope. We reached the col about 3 hours and 30 minutes after having set off from the farm and soon afterwards arrived at the summit of the first Munro where we sat down at the cairn, munched our sandwiches and enjoyed the spectacular views of Rannoch Moor, the Black Mount, the Glen Coe hills, the Mamores and distant Ben Nevis. Not to mention the Loch Laggan hills further to the east, Ben Alder and the Cairngorms visible in the northeast. A very central viewpoint.

Before a couple of other walkers … [Read More]

12 May 2004 saw Frank and me driving up the private road to Achallader Farm at 9:30 a.m. The day before we had climbed the rocky ridges of Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh. Today a different, more grassy and much longer traverse awaited us. The plan was to climb Beinn a’Chreachain, Beinn Achaladair and Beinn an Dothaidh. The weather as fine and so we walked along the track that leads to the Water of Tulla with a feeling of expectation and joy.

Two helicopters took turns in picking up material for building fences from a spot near the bridge of the A 82 over the Water of Tulla. They deposited the poles-and-wire-packages by Lochan a’Chreachain and below Meall Buidhe. We reached the Water and walked along its southern bank to the fenced enclosure of Crannach Wood.

We crossed the fence by a stile and continued uphill until a footbridge appeared by which we crossed the railway line. Then we continued on a well-trodden footpath through the beautifully open and light forrest for about 30 minutes until we reached more open ground. From there we struck a direct line up into the direction of Coire an Lochain and reached the Allt Coire an Lochain after having climbed the perimeter fence of the forrest plantations. Before tackling the steep grass slope leading to the col between point 961m and Beinn a’Chreachain we had a break and ate some of our provisions. Then, on we climbed up the ever steepening green slope.

We reached the col about 3 hours and 30 minutes after having set off from the farm and soon afterwards arrived at the summit of the first Munro where we sat down at the cairn, munched our sandwiches and enjoyed the spectacular views of Rannoch Moor, the Black Mount, the Glen Coe hills, the Mamores and distant Ben Nevis. Not to mention the Loch Laggan hills further to the east, Ben Alder and the Cairngorms visible in the northeast. A very central viewpoint. Before a couple of other walkers who … [Read More]

12 May 2004 saw Frank and me driving up the private road to Achallader Farm at 9:30 a.m. The day before we had climbed the rocky ridges of Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh. Today a different, more grassy and much longer traverse awaited us. The plan was to climb Beinn a’Chreachain, Beinn Achaladair and Beinn an Dothaidh. The weather as fine and so we walked along the track that leads to the Water of Tulla with a feeling of expectation and joy. Two helicopters took turns in picking up material for building fences from a spot near the bridge of the A 82 over the Water of Tulla. They deposited the poles-and-wire-packages by Lochan a’Chreachain and below Meall Buidhe. We reached the Water and walked along its southern bank to the fenced enclosure of Crannach Wood. We crossed the fence by a stile and continued uphill until a footbridge appeared by which we crossed the railway line. Then we continued on a well-trodden footpath through the beautifully open and light forrest for about 30 minutes until we reached more open ground. From there we struck a direct line up into the direction of Coire an Lochain and reached the Allt Coire an Lochain after having climbed the perimeter fence of the forrest plantations. Before tackling the steep grass slope leading to the col between point 961m and Beinn a’Chreachain we had a break and ate some of our provisions. Then, on we climbed up the ever steepening green slope. We reached the col about 3 hours and 30 minutes after having set off from the farm and soon afterwards arrived at the summit of the first Munro where we sat down at the cairn, munched our sandwiches and enjoyed the spectacular views of Rannoch Moor, the Black Mount, the Glen Coe hills, the Mamores and distant Ben Nevis. Not to mention the Loch Laggan hills further to the east, Ben Alder and the Cairngorms visible in the northeast. A very central viewpoint. Before a couple of other walkers … [Read More]

The last day of the May 2003 campaign. After having suffered a set-back in the Mamores the day before, we decided that the last day would be spent on a hill which had less resistance to offer than Sgurr a’Mhaim on a showery, wintry day in May. So after having crammed our baggage into the car we set off from Fassfern and headed south for two hours reaching Loch Tay by noon. From the NTS visitor centre we walked up into the Nature Reserve, crossed the Burn of Edramucky and headed up the broad shoulder of Beinn Glas on the very well-trodden path. Further up on the hill the weather turned (moderately) foul with strong winds, considerable wind chill and some snow. After an hour and half we had reached the summit of this mountain, touched the cairn and headed back in the direction we had come from, Ben Lawers being no objective this day. Before the path drops to the Burn of Erdamucky, still on the ridge, we paused, had some tea and a sandwich and with the views getting better by the minute checked out the Tarmachan Ridge, Meall Corranaich and Meall a’Choire Leith which, taken together, could be another fine day out on these OS 51 hills. We reached the car after less than three hours. An easy Munro, ticked off as last Scottish hill of 2003. Haste ye back!!

2011 Staying in Glen Lyon on the Roro Estate allowed us to gain easy access to two great foursomes. One to the north – The Glen Lyon Four – and one to the south – Meall Greigh to Ben Lawers.

The tour of the second row of four Munros was the aim of this day. Staying on the private road along the south bank of the River Lyon we drove our car to Roromore. Works close by forced us to leave the car half a kilometre west of the farm. We followed the track past Roromore through the meadows along the River Lyon for a few kilometres, reached the large tree plantation south of the track and stayed on the track until we reached Inverinain. Maybe two hundred metres past the cottage a steep and caterpillar-marked track climbs diagonally through the trees for about 200m. At a height of 350 to 400m it turns due west and leads around the crags of Creag Dubh. Then the track zig-zags up to a height of 550m and peters out on grassy and and squishy terrain. Heading southeast first and gradually in a more southerly direction Frank and I climbed the north ridge of Meall Greigh more or less sticking to the obvious line of fence posts. The combination of undulating terrain and strong westerly winds made progress a little slower and energy consuming than we had expected. But the views were good and especially the dark north-east face of Meall Garbh was interesting. Before final pull to Meall Greigh we paused and replenished our batteries.

After that the main east-west ridge was not far away anymore and we were greeted by very strong winds indeed. Walking upright to Munro No. 1 of the day was not easy at all. However, finally we both touched the summit cairn and immediately retraced our steps to the beallach between Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh. There the winds eased off a bit since the bulk of Meall Garbh protected us from the worst. Up the well-defined and east … [Read More]