Over The Hill

A wet and very boggy hillside greeted us as we climbed up through the bracken and heather alongside the burn flowing down from the higher reaches of Coire Croe, a burn that was showing the effects of the heavy rains over the last few days, and was returning to the water levels we are more accustomed to, rather than the dry rock beds we have seen throughout the summer months.

The swollen waters added a bit of excitement as we boulder-hoped across the narrowing stream as it splits into a prominent V shape and continued to follow the course of the left branch as we headed generally northwards to it's source in the grassy Bealach a'Mhargaidh, flanked to the north by Beinn Ime, and to the west, by the rocky outcrops of our objective, Beinn Luibhean.

It would have been nice to take a short break at the bealach before the final climb to the summit of Beinn Luibhean, however, the rain which had accompanied us right from the start, was now turning to a rather cold sleet, and therefore we decided just to continue to the summit, with the prospect of finding some more shelter among the rocky outcrops that surround the mountain top.

Fickle as the weather is, no sooner had we departed the bealach than the sleet and rain stopped, and we were under blue skies and white fluffy clouds - just the incentive we needed for a sharp dash up through the rocky outcrops to a summit from which Beinn Ime and The Cobbler dominated the nearby views with a mixture of low cloud and mist still hanging around Glen Croe and The Brack.

We were fortunate to enjoy a pleasant break on the summit before cloud and rain once again drifted over us as we set off down the long, grassy south ridge on a direct line to our parked cars, clearly visible on the roadside far below us in Glen Croe.

A day of very mixed weather, on a great, and often overlooked, mountain - Thanks Michael.