Over The Hill

This was an unofficial walk, with six members of the HWDR group taking part. We followed the route described in Walkhighlands, starting at the car park off the A85 between Tyndrum and Dalmally, NN239278, and previously done by John and party in August 2013. I don’t think the route has changed since then. The weather was still, dry and warm.

The River Lochy was very low after a long dry spell, and fording was easy from the car park. We went under the railway using the cattle creep. The Walkhighlands route we found to be up to date and accurate. It was an increasingly difficult climb up to the edge of the forestry boundary, with tree branches overgrowing the path in many places, many boggy sections despite the long dry spell, and no breeze whatsoever. We stopped for a cuppa just before leaving the forest, while we still had shade from an increasingly warm sun, but were soon driven onwards by midges, flies, and the odd cleg.

The climb towards the ridge to the East became increasingly steep, and the path unclear in places, but was mercifully dry. The sun was now very strong, and still no discernable breeze to cool us down. Towards the top the climb steepened even more and the rocky ridge turned into a bit of a scramble. At this altitude, approaching 1000m, the breeze did become discernable, much to our relief and pleasure. We had clear views across to Loch Awe, a few light clouds over Ben Cruachan dissipated, and all was well with the world.

We spent some time at the summit and visited both cairns, with magnificent views in every direction. Ben Lomond to the South East, Ben Nevis to the North West, and everything in between. There was a slight haze in the far distance, but Mull and Jura were visible, Jura only just. With a bit of imagination, the Paps could be guessed at. This was our lunchtime, and research shows that the temperature would have been around 16 degrees, and in the full sun and a light breeze this was just delightful.

After our leisurely lunch we descended the rocky but well-defined path to the bealach, which would then take us on up to Beinn a’Chleibh. This was a relatively short ascent after the Big One, and less steep, thankfully. We visited I think three cairns along the flattish top, short, dry grass to walk on, a luxury. We had afternoon tea here before we began the descent to the bealach again, and by now our rucksacks were much lighter as we had drunk a couple kilos of water each, and it was all downhill. From the middle of the bealach we took the well-defined path which leads to the forestry gate that we had come through on the way up.

Ben Lui is 1130m, or 3707ft, which to me is more impressive. Everyone, I’m sure, enjoyed the day immensely, and we can all take great satisfaction in our achievement on such a hot day, hottest of the year to date I do believe. Big success! Many thanks to all who came along, and to the weather faerie (bit more breeze next time, maybe)?

We retired to the Crianlarich Hotel for a most welcome refreshment, where the coffee was excellent and the Guiness delightful, or so I’m told.

Peter Knox