Over The Hill

The weather looked much more favourable than it was yesterday on Beinn na h-Uamha, and we were hoping it would remain so, as two of our fellow club members had had what they described as an "exiting adventure" in very, very thick misty cloud on Beinn Resipol yesterday at the same time as we were tackling Beinn na h-Uamha, and we did not want to repeat their experience today. And, according to the Resipole camp site staff, who very kindly allow walkers to park their cars at the reception area, we were in for "some good dry weather for today".

Just beyond the camp site reception area we turned onto the new nature trail track through the woodlands, over a small steel girder bridge and through a kissing-gate to gain a good track that climbs north above the woodlands before it merges with a newly constructed track which re-enters the woodlands high above the gorge carrying the Allt Mhic Chiarain, which can be heard, but not seen as it tumbles down towards Loch Sunart.

The track eventually broke free of the woodlands and curved around the hillside until it ended by a high deer fence and gate, at which point we took to the open hillside on a faint path which headed east up the sides of the ever deepening river gorge towards the east ridge of Beinn Resipol, which was beginning to make its appearance as we reached the head of the gorge and onto a slightly flatter and broader area of rough heather and wet grassland.

Below the rocky east ridge, the outflow from Lochan Bac an Lochain merges with the small stream coming down from Glac Gharbh, and it was here that we had our first clear view of the 770m bealach that would be our route to the summit, which at this point was still covered in cloud, and as yet unseen. The ascent of Glac Gharbh was quite steep but fairly straight forward, as we weaved around a few rocky areas and scrambled up a couple of grassy sections, to emerge on the flat, open bealach, just to the south of the larger of the lochans which are dotted around the bealach.

We now had our first view of the summit, as the clouds began to clear, and Beinn Resipol's large wall like cairn was easily seen against the emerging sky-line. One final climb up among the rocks and we were on the summit ridge and heading towards the mighty cairn, just in time to see the clouds departing and the skies clearing.

This was a planned linear route, and so we were to make our descent east, along a very pleasant ridge, with a clearly defined path, at least for the initial part over the main upper, narrower section of the ridge. As height is lost, and the ridge broadens considerably, it was then a matter of the best line forward as we headed towards the Bealach nan Carn over undulating ground which at times was quite boggy in places.

The high point of Bealach nan Carn is marked by two cairns which sit a little to the east of the track which runs from the old Corrantee mine-workings to Ariundle, our final destination. From the bealach to Ariundle is 6kms, 4kms of which are on the mine track, and these were the least enjoyable 4kms of the whole day. Although we saw no signs of cattle on the hillside until we were nearer to Ariundle, there is obviously a great deal of movement of cattle long this track; it was the muckiest of cattle tracks ever, and anyone unlucky enough to have slipped and fell would probably have found themselves a very unpopular person in the car on the way home - not a pleasant 4km at all - enough said!

Beinn Resipol is a great mountain, with a nice approach from Resipole - I would suggest, that unless you desperately need to do a linear walk, then forget about either returning to, or even starting from Ariundle, as the 4km trek on "that" track will spoil your whole day - especially if you are starting from Ariundle as it has to be tackled before you even start on the hill proper.

Nevertheless, this was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and the weather held as was predicted - Thanks all for your ever enjoyable company.