Over The Hill

It was in March 2013 that we made the journey from Bridge of Orchy to Corrour on the West Highland Railway to climb a snow covered Beinn na Lap; today, in glorious sunshine,, we were making the same journey, only this time we would be heading for the Corbett of Leum Uilleim or William's Leap as it is more commonly referred to.

Leaving Corrour Station we walked along a very well made estate track parallel to the railway line thinking this is lovely, what a wonderful track. It was very short lived, this "wonderful" track just suddenly stops as you cross the footbridge over the Allt Coir a'Bhric Beag and is replaced by a boggy ATV track which heads steadily up the An Diollaid ridge where the bog is finally replaced by solid ground and a narrower rocky path.

The going is relatively easy, and with the great weather we were experiencing, we were in no hurry, after all our train departure from Corrour was not until 18:25, so we had plenty of time to just enjoy the day and the views that were opening up all around as we gained height along the broad easy ridge beyond Tom an Eoin and onwards towards the summit of Beinn a'Bhric.

We chose to have a leisurely lunch break on the summit of Beinn a'Bhric and to take a short stroll over to a rocky outcrop which offered a greater panorama south over the expanse of the Blackwater Reservoir and Rannoch Moor, where we could clearly see the shimmering reflections of the traffic moving along the A82 towards the Buachaille Etive's, beyond which we could see the mighty Ben Starav and it's neighbour, Glas Bheinn Mhor. With views such as this, it took a lot of effort to leave this rather beautiful top, which I guess many a Corbett Bagger misses in their quest to head directly for Leum Uilleim.

A short descent east from the summit of Beinn a'Bhric followed by a climb up rock strewn slopes soon had us aiming for the very obvious, and very large stone mound upon which is perched an equally large cairn; at 909m, just 5m short of Munro height, it begs the question, "Does this class as a Munro if I stand on top of the cairn?"

It would not be an Alan walk if we did not detour at some point to take in some outlying top that the casual walker would ignore. And so it was that we left our packs around the cairn and set off down the south ridge of Leum Uilleim towards the 846m un-named top, a kilometre away. Ironically, this was probably the most energetic part of the day, initially descending some rough, rocky ground before making a short rocky climb to the 846m top. It was however, well worth the additional effort, as once again this spot offered some wonderful views south over Rannoch Moor, and provided a chance for a little rock hopping, not quite scrambling, but some fun anyway.

We retraced our route back to the summit to retrieve our packs before heading east off the summit until we took a point at which to drop off the steep rocky ridge and descend via the grass and heather slopes below the rockier ridge line, contouring around as we made the descent towards the broad open expanse of heather mounds that we would cross on the last stage of our walk on the final approach to Corrour Station.

As we neared Corrour, we were reminded of the hour or so we had spent in the warmth of the bar sampling some very nice local beers as we finished Beinn na Lap and awaited our train. Therefore, it was a great disappointment to find that they no longer open the bar, or indeed the building, to us mere walkers, preferring instead to open only as the train arrives and deposits those arriving for a fine nights dining in the restaurant before catching the late train back to Fort William - Criminal!

A great walk on a beautiful day - Thanks Alan