Over The Hill

To misquote an idiom "One hill's loss is another hill's gain!" and so whilst Leum Uilleim will have to wait until another day, or more accurately, another train day, Beinn A'Chreachain and Beinn Achaladair more than adequately filled the gap.

With the bridge over the Water of Tulla still down at Dun Aigheannach the options were to walk-in on a reasonable track to the next bridge beyond Gorton Bothy and then take to the lower hills of the north east ridge of Beinn a'Chreachain or to stay on the southern side of the river and take the wet, winding and very undulating path through Black Wood of Rannoch towards Crannach until we reached the lower waters of the Allt Coire an Lochain. The general consensus, or, in Alan's view, rebellious choice, was to take the Black Wood of Rannoch option.

Contrary to the weather forecast, we were enjoying blue skies and sunshine as we left the Crannach behind and made our way steadily uphill above the tumbling waters of the Allt Coire an Lochain to the head of the gully at around the 600m height, at which point we crossed the river and headed directly up the broad grassy slopes towards the small bealach between the 894m and 961m tops on the north east ridge. The views as we gained height were just wonderful as the sun highlighted the remnants of the heavy winter snows on the distant tops.

From the 961m top, it was a relatively easy ascent over solid ground interspersed with a few slabs of hard packed snow to reach the rock strewn dome and cairn marking the summit of Beinn a'Chreachain, at 1081m. This was Munro number 60 for me and number 100 for Lindsay, and so it was out with the Angel and Fairy cakes for a hilltop celebration; and, for some of us just to sit and soak up the views over the wilderness of Rannoch Moor that the clear day was offering us, while, for "Don Juan" an unexpected encounter with the only other person we were to see all day presented him with a chance to brush up on his French!

The ridge between Beinn a'Chreachain and Beinn Achaladair boasts four minor tops, all of which are themselves above Munro height, although not qualifying as Munros, and making the traverse of this ridge a delight, especially with the great weather which was still around, long after the time at which we were forecast low cloud and rain showers.

From the 813m Bealach an Aoghlain it was a very steep and rocky climb, involving a few minor scrambles to negotiate the odd slab of rock or hard packed snow to reach the summit plateau of Beinn Achaladair and the lone cairn marking the north east point of Achaladair at 1036m; the actual summit cairn, at 1038m being some 300m further along the plateau. And, yet a second celebration, as Lindsay notched up Munro number 101. The weather as we stood on the summit today, was in complete contrast to my last visit here, in February 2013, when an icy sleet and cloud reduced visibility to only a few metres. Today, Rannoch Moor, Stob Ghabhar with Stob Dearg (Buachaille Etive Mor) beyond where all clearly visible - just wonderful.

Reluctantly, we left this fine summit and descended to the bealach at the head of Coire Daingean from where we negotiated the numerous humps and bumps that make up this complex bealach as we descended down towards Coire Achaladair for the long, wet and boggy return to Achallader Farm.

A long, challenging but marvelous days walking with stunning views and great company.