Over The Hill

As we drove past the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve car park and on along the winding, twisting single track road that leads to Bridge of Balgie, we had beautiful views to our left of the Tarmachan Ridge, and to our right of the Ben Lawers Range, a promising start for the day ahead.

We parked on the small parking area on the opposite side of the road to the old "green hut", now looking a bit dilapidated but still standing. It was a bit of a squeeze getting our 3 cars in, but we managed it and soon we were booted up and set to go. We returned along the road for about 700 metres before heading across the wet heather moor towards the 635m top of Meal nan Eun.

Our first objective, the Munro of Meall A'Choire Leith, was clearly visible with its steep heather and grass slopes dropping down to meet the Gleann Da-Eig at its base. On this pathless hillside, we headed generally north east, skirting around the peat bogs and wetter areas as we headed downhill towards the Gleann Da-Eig, which we crossed relatively easily once we had found a convenient point where we could leap between the boulders to cross the main stream.

Still on a north east heading, we crossed the lower slopes of Coire Gorm and the burn flowing from its higher reaches, to start up the steep slopes of Meall A'Choire Leith. It was a long, relentless climb, ahead all we could see was more steep slopes, so it was at least a relief to stop and look behind, as the views of the Tarmachan ridge were a fitting reward for our efforts.

The summit of Meall A'Choire Leith is like a huge featureless dome, and even as the steep slopes leveled of, the summit was still some way off across the flattening summit plateau, the cairn nestling at the centre of the dome. Our arrival coincided with the only cloudy period of the day, with dark clouds drifting over the summits of the Lawers range which looked majestic as we settled down above the crags to the east of the summit cairn for a welcome lunch break.

One Munro under our belt, we set off for our second objective of the day, the Corbett of Meall nam Maigheach whose summit sits west of the cairn on Meall A'Choire Leith, and so it was head down and a fairly quick descent directly down the steep slopes we had so recently climbed. We headed for an obvious little kink in the Gleann Da-Eig which we would have to cross, and again found a point where a hop & skip would get us across the stream.

Over the stream, and it was another uphill slog over the heather and peat hags, picking our way towards the summit. Whereas Meall A'Choire Leith was a flat featureless dome, the summit of Meall nam Maigheach was rutted with peat hags and ditches, which again seemed to last forever before the summit cairn came into sight. We had lovely clear visibility, but I guess that both of these summits would offer a challenge in navigation should they be attempted in conditions of poor visibility.

If anything was the prominent feature of today's walk, it must be the Tarmachan ridge, it was resplendent from every top we visited, and so it was from the summit of Meall nam Maigheach, with the sun glistening over the waters of Lochan na Lairige. Two tops down, one to go.

From Meall nam Maigheach, it is only a short step to the minor top of Meall Luaidhe, but it is worth a visit, if only for the views west towards Loch an Daimh and the huge bowl of crags around Stuc an Lochain. With such fine weather, and no great hurry, we indulged in an afternoon tea break before we departed south for the last 2k downhill hike back to the car park.

This final section was a relatively easy descent over a gently slopping grassy hillside, and it was here that an unusual rise in one of the small gullies caught my attention, and on further investigation turned out to be an old stone bridge over a stream. On clearing some of the heather from around the stonework, it proved to be quite a neat construction, which we assumed marked the route of an old cattle or drovers trail, pre-dating the current road which runs a short distance further down the hillside. On closer inspection of the OS 25,000 scale map, a track is indeed shown which runs from the cairn and Ben Lawers Nature Reserve sign at the northern end of Lochan na Lairige to a point further along the existing road just before it reaches the forest boundary above the Bridge of Balgie, although we saw no trace of the path on the ground surrounding the structure.

None of the summits we visited today are in themselves exciting as far as summits go, however the fine views they offer of the surrounding, more majestic summits make this a walk well worth doing, especially on a day of clear visibility. And of course, a stop in the Bridge of Lochay Hotel, the second in a week, is always a perfect way of rounding of a trip to the Killin and Lawers area.

Great walk - Thanks Michael