Over The Hill

The weather forecast for today was good, hence the amount of cars already in the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve car park when we arrived mid-morning, it looked like the hills would be busy today. Rather than begin our walk to Meall Corranaich from the more popular start point further along the Glen Lyon road at the head of Lochan na Lairige beside the cairn and nature reserve sign, Lindsay was going to take us via the nature reserve and the bealach at 870m between Beinn Ghlas and Meall Corranaich. I liked that idea, as it should avoid the notoriously wet and boggy section across Gleann Di-Eig.

We left the car park and joined the throng of other walkers as we made our way along the path through the nature reserve to the gate at the far northern end which leads you onto the lower slopes of Beinn Ghlas. It was here that we parted company with the "throng" as we swung north heading along the upper reaches of the Burn of Edramucky towards the bealach at 870m. This route gains height with little effort and we were soon at the bealach, gazing at the very steep and craggy slopes of the southwest shoulder of Meall Corranaich towering above the bealach.

As we surveyed the shoulder of Meall Corranaich from the bealach there was no evidence of a path of any sort leading up through the crags. It was then a pleasant surprise to find that as you walk towards the lower crags a narrow but obvious path appears and it is this path that climbs steeply, weaving between, over or around the numerous crags as it takes you upwards towards the broad summit plateau sitting above the shoulder. The views over towards An Stuc, Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas are well worth a backward look as you ascend the path, although our views were at times obscured by a low cloud which drifted in and out, contrary to the weather forecast which had promised clear skies all day.

Once on the summit plateau, it is only a few short steps to the summit cairn, which is a mixture of rocks and discarded iron fence posts, evidence of the boundary line that this summit sits astride. As to views from the summit I cannot comment, as we were now above the cloud base, and among the mist that had been obscuring Ben Lawers earlier in the day. We walked a short distance southwest of the main cairn to a secondary cairn which sits atop some rocks and had a pleasant lunch break during which the drifting clouds did occasionally part and offered some great views towards Tarmachan and Loch Tay.

Lunch over, we set off down the north ridge of Meall Corranaich towards the minor top at 1018m before descending over the broad grassy ridge to the bealach at 775m above Coire Liath, where we caught sight of a fairly large deer herd grazing far below at the base of Coire Liath. From the bealach a narrow path leads uphill on grassy slopes to the summit dome and cairn on Meall A'Choire Leith, where some of us had trod only a week earlier on a previous walk.

In the solitude of the summit we had a vital decision to make - which route were we going to take back to our cars. A circular route down Coire Gorm and contouring around the Gleann Di-Eig would most probably end up in the bogs we had avoided by choosing to ascend via the nature reserve, so that was ruled out. We opted for the rather unconventional idea of re-tracing our steps and re-ascending Meall Corranaich from where we would descend the southwest shoulder to Sron Dha Mhurchaidh and then drop down towards the nature reserve and car park.

We therefore set off back down to the 775m bealach, and then, rather than stay directly on the ridge, we headed into Coire Gorm via a good path which eventually re-joins the ridge path once at the head of the coire. The misty cloud descended on us again as we came out of the coire and hung around as we climbed the final steep path back to the summit cairn on Meall Corranaich.

We descended southwest from the summit for about 300m, taking the path which leads up from the Gleann Di-Eig, before we dropped off over the grassy slopes towards a minor top at 941m from which we stayed on the grassy tops above the crags and continued to descend generally southwest. We soon picked up a faint track, which wound its way around and down some fairly steep slopes and intermittent crags, and at one point crossed a short but very steep crag on a very narrow path, which required a bit of careful placement of big boots!

Eventually, we were on the southern, grassy slopes of Sron Dha Mhurchaidh directly above the nature reserve, and spotted a convenient stile crossing the deer fence surrounding the reserve and joining the path, approximately half way up the reserve. So without much ado, we made a bee-line for the style, and soon found ourselves back in the reserve, and a short step from the car park and our cars.

Back in the, now almost empty, car park we were very much pleased with ourselves at another great day in the hills, and looking forward to our drinks in, once again, the Bridge of Lochay Hotel - I'm sure we should get shares in this hotel, we have spent so much time there recently.

A marvelous day - Thanks Lindsay