Over The Hill

As we stood on the southern cairn of Ben Starav just over a week ago, (click to read report) we had a great view of Beinn nan Aighenan to the south. It looked a fairly short walk down the ridge to the grandly named Bealachan Lochain Ghainneamhaich, and a short crossover and climb to the summit of Beinn nan Aighenan. So much so that Lawrie was set on doing this walk as soon as we got our next day with good weather prospects.

And so, here we are, eight days later back in Glen Etive parked just above Coileitir Cottage, set and ready to go with the promise of clear skies and virtually no wind. It's just Lawrie and myself, as unfortunately no one else could make it at short notice, pity, I think it going to be a great day.

We set off down the now familiar track to cross the River Etive, and then negotiated the boggy path around Coileitir Cottage to the bridge across the River Mheuran. We then followed the path heading towards the northern ridge of Ben Starav for 500m before veering off left onto a lesser path which follows the west bank of the Allt nan Meirleach directly to the Bealachan Lochain Ghainneamhaich (from not on just referred to as bealach 766m).

It's a narrow path, boggy in sections but distinct enough to follow, which gains height in easy stages with quite stunning views opening up ahead as the whole ridge line from east of Glas Bheinn Mhor to the north ridge of Ben Starav come into view. The skies above were clear except for some thin cloud cover which drifted in and out, helping to keep the sun directly off our heads. Slowly the path rises above the river as it narrows and flows through quite a deep gorge, the path at times running rather close to the edge of the gorge.

In the near perfect visibility, we could clearly see our way ahead, with the route beginning to rise more steeply towards the bealach 766m. Initially, we had to drop down slightly to cross the waters tumbling down the gully from Coire Dearg, and then we were in the final section of boulder and rock, heading for the bealach. Up until this point, I had considered the going fairly straight forward, but suddenly, over this section I did begin to wilt a little and was extremely glad to top the last few metres onto the bealach 766m and take a welcome seat on the hard granite rocks.

The bealach reached, we now had a clear view of our first Munro of the day, Beinn nan Aighenan, some two and a half kilometers to the south. The unfortunate point was, having just made 766m altitude to the bealach, we would need to drop 150m in height before then climbing through another 320m to the summit of Beinn nan Aighenan. So, fortified again with a trusty banana and a drink, we set off down a boulder path to the lower bealach, before climbing the steep, rocky zigzag path to the summit cairn. En route to the summit, we met 2 guys coming down, we had seen their rucksacks tucked behind a rock back at the bealach 766m, who were doing the round, and hoping to get all five Munros done today, good luck to them!

Unlike the 2 guys, we had taken our rucksacks with us, why?, well it was lunch time, which we spent leisurely on the summit of Beinn nan Aighenan before retracing our steps back to bealach 766m and the ascent of Meall Tri Tighearnan, the minor summit which has to be climbed en route to our second Munro of the day, Glas Bheinn Mhor. The going here was much better than the hard rock and boulder we had previously been climbing over, the ridge is a broad grass ridge with a good path with only a minor section of rocks as you approach the summit of Glas Bheinn Mhor, and we made good time up the ridge and onto the summit cairn, which sits slightly back from the ridge path.

The views from this summit are quite spectacular, looking west along the whole ridge to Ben Starav, south to Beinn nan Aighenan and then east to Stob Coir an Albannaich. We left Glas Bheinn Mhor by the southwest ridge, which at first is still a good grassy ridge, but suddenly becomes very steep and rocks strewn as you make the final descent to the cairns on the bealach at the head of the Allt Mheuran. From here, a stalkers path runs the entire length of the Allt Mheuran back to the footbridge west of Coileitir Cottage, but it is by no means an easy path - a look at the map will show that the entire west slopes of the Learg Mheuran is festooned with gully's cut into the surface of the hillside all full of small streams which flow directly into the Allt Mheuran. The result is that this "path" is a virtual river at best and a bog for most of the way. Still, at the end of such a great day, 2 hours of slogging down a water-logged, boggy path is well worth it.

This was a fine walk, in excellent weather. - Thanks Lawrie for the great company.