Over The Hill

Saturday evening's weather forecast for Sunday was quite horrendous, with heavy rain and a high probability of thunderstorms almost everywhere. And, so we left our options for Sunday open, with the Corbett of Meall Dubh as our first option and an All Day Breakfast in the nearest hostelry as our only other consideration. Surprisingly, we awoke on Sunday morning to find a low mist quickly clearing to quite blue skies, and so the All Day Breakfast was off the menu and it was into the cars and off to our start point along the A87 just above the dam at the head of Loch Loyne.

Parking was very scarce, but we managed to find an old disused access track to one of the water-intake points for the dam, from where we headed uphill over the very deep heather clad hillside on the west bank of the Allt Garbh-Dhoire, down which a fair amount of water was cascading, forcing us to go beyond our intended crossing point at the edge of the forest boundary, before we eventually found a point at which we could safely cross the river.

Once across the river, we headed east over a relatively gently sloping, albeit still very heather clad, hillside towards the cairned top at 674m, and only just made it before a bank of rain swept in from the south and had us scurrying in our rucksacks for our waterproofs and wondering if this was the start of the forecast heavy rains and thunder, although, we thought, ever hopeful, that the skies did not look to threatening, and maybe this was just to be a passing shower.

In heavy rain, and low cloud we made our way along the low depression that is formed between Carn Dearg and Carn Tarsuinn and is dotted with small lochans along it's course. Had it not been for the torrential rain this would have been a perfect spot for a break, but not today, and so we headed on towards the Bealach Odhar at the lower point of the south west slopes of Meall Dubh. From the bealach an obvious small coire runs diagonally down from the upper heights of Meall Dubh, and it was to the south side of this that we headed for what was, once again, a relatively easy and gently climb towards the summit.

Our luck was back again, and as we started this final climb, the rain stopped and once again we had reasonably clear skies, a bonus as we reached the rather large cairn which marks the 788m summit and were able to enjoy quite extensive views, especially west over Loch Loyne and Loch Cluanie and onwards to Glen Shiel and the Kintail mountains. Unfortunately, the views east are not so pleasant, as almost at summit height there stands the Millennium Wind Farm blighting the landscape, and I believe more units are to be added to this already large farm.

We made the most of what was turning out to be quite a pleasant day weather-wise and took a leisurely break around the cairn before making a direct descent north east towards the boundary of the Beinneun Forest, where some deft footwork got us over a high, but very old and wobbly deer fence to pick up a good forest road for our return to the start point.

It truly was our lucky day, as no sooner had we arrived back at the cars than the almost pure black skies that had been creeping up on us as we came through the forest just burst apart and an almost tropical rain storm hit us. Once again the "Yellow Duck" came to our rescue as we all dived inside the back and slammed the doors shut. This time the rain did not stop, staying with us for almost the entire drive home and heavy enough to cause a minor landslide in Glen Coe, which thankfully only closed one side of the road, which a nice policeman and some workers were frantically trying to clear of mud and rubble as they controlled the flow of traffic through the mess. A lengthy detour via Connel Bridge would not have been a happy prospect at this stage of the journey.

Another great day in the best of company - Thanks All