Over The Hill

The parking area at Inverlochlarig may be at the end of a rickety drive on a single track road along the banks of Lochs Voil and Doine but we nevertheless had to squeeze the cars in the few remaining spaces, this being the starting point for the very popular summits of Stob Binnein and Beinn Tulaichean. Our destination however, would be the lone Corbett of Stob a'Choin, on the southern banks of the River Larig.

The ascent started easy enough with a walk along the northern bank of the River Larig taking us deeper into the heart of this glen, the steep slopes of Beinn Tulaichean towering above us to our right, and the rocky crags of Stob a'Choin looming just ahead of us on the other side of the river. We passed beyond the footbridge, ignoring this crossing, which has a tendency to lead to a rather boggy approach to the lower slopes of Stob a'Choin, opting instead to continue for a further 500 metres on the good track until the sheep pens around Drumlich where, with the waters at quite a low level we had no problems fording the river to gain the south bank.

Once on firm ground across the river, the real climb begins; steadily at first up the grassy slopes which gradually get steeper, eventually requiring a bit of grass scrambling, with the odd hand full of grassy tufts required to assisting our progress up the steeper sections. Above the 400m height, and across an old broken boundary fence, the natural course of ascent takes you into the gully, which we have been paralleling on our right since crossing the river, until an obvious crossing point is met, and we crossed over to the west side of the gully.

Yet another grassy scramble up out of the gully above which there was a clear view west to the skyline of the north ridge, a broad gully, of broken rock interspersed with grassy layers, leading directly to the ridge. A steady pull brought us to the skyline at about the 700m height on the ridge, leaving us with a clear view of the summit ahead, albeit, with still a couple of little scrambles before reaching this twin topped summit, its cairn being on the lower, top, while the summit sits a little to the south. In windy, but otherwise perfect conditions we settled below a rocky layer to enjoy the extensive views and a leisurely lunch.

We may have reached the summit, but the climbing was not yet over, as our descent was via the minor tops of Meall Reamhar and the 836m top both of which are reached via bealachs and a series of grassy humps, all of which added to the total ascent for this mountain. Skirting around the 836m top to stay on the leeward side of the gusty, cool wind, we joined the north ridge over Creag nan Saighead for a very steady, but quite undulating descent back to the banks of the River Larig, this time making our crossing by the footbridge to regain the good track back to Inverlochlarig,

A brilliant mountain, hard going at times, but the views are stunning, and it has character.

Thanks everyone, great day.