Over The Hill

Our original destination for today was Glen Coe, however, the weather forecast was for heavy rain and possible thunder storms, and so we settled for Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas, the forecast being slightly better, no thunder storms, just rain, heavy rain as we were to find out. But, the advantage is that these are "friendlier" mountains in bad weather, plus the fact that Janet had yet to add these to her list of Munro conquests, and so Loch Tay it was for us today.

Waterproofs on from head to toe and we were off up through the nature reserve where the trees and shrubs in the new plantation had grown somewhat since our last visit to this area proving that regeneration is very possible if the sheep and deer are prevented from getting at the young growth.

Beyond the reserve we elected to head directly uphill and tackle Beinn Ghlas first, the logic being that a return via the track above the Burn of Edramucky would give a faster and easier descent in the poor weather; and so we took to the steep path that twists and winds its way up the southern ridge of Beinn Ghlas. The rain was incessant, and the visibility was extremely poor, so much so, that if we put a few metres between ourselves that one was immediately lost to sight. Thankfully, this is not a problem on this hillside, the path being continuous and quite obvious with no awkward turn offs or detours. Nevertheless, we still ensured that we maintained a reasonable contact with each other as we progressed and finally reached the very small and indistinct cairn marking the summit at 1103m.

Descending to the bealach between Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers we sought shelter from the wind and rain as best we could among some rocks for a very brief break to take on some sustenance before striking off up the steep and eroded path to the summit, which, in contrast to Beinn Ghlas contains one very large cairn and an equally large Trig Point, and from where, on a fine day, the views are quite magnificent; sadly not today, and so we delayed no longer than was necessary to take the obligatory summit photos and headed back down to the bealach from whence we came.

We now had some respite from the wind and heavy rain as we contoured around the northern slopes of Beinn Ghlas, over the 850m bealach at the head of Coire Odhar and tracked the course of the Burn of Edramucky on the fine path which eventually re-joins the path which takes you back through the nature reserve and the car park at the end of our walk.

An interesting walk given the conditions; but it did achieve two objectives, it gave us a do-able walk in poor weather, and it gave Janet two new Munros, so a successful day for all.

Thanks everyone.