Over The Hill

In a past life I was a analyst of sorts, so maybe that's why any pattern of events still makes me think there is something deeper beneath the surface. So it is with Alan's walks, and I think I may have cracked the code. It's quite simple really, think of any mountain, preferably a high one, think of a difficult route, never the "standard Munro bagger's route", find a few gullible stooges to go with him, and there it is, his next "must do" walk.

This time it was An Stuc, he's been on about it for ages, sure that there must be a way up the steep and rocky slopes that rise up from Lochan nan Cat. And here we are, parked up at the Lawers Hotel and making our way past the Horn Shop, Machuim Farm and on up the muddy path through the ferns and trees, over the small footbridges and huge stiles until we are in the open hillside above the Lawers Burn, heading towards the Dam and the outflow from Lochan nan Cat.

Give Alan his due, he did say this one was only for a good weather day, and so far its holding up well, clear blue skies with just a few clouds and a light wind - just as the MWIS forecast. And so we arrived at the head of Lochan nan Cat full of the joys of a lovely day, and a towering range of hills sweeping above us, from Ben Lawers to our left, onto An Stuc, Meall Garbh and round to Meal Greigh on our right, the whole ridge was in view and looking spectacular.

With hardly a pause at the Lochan, we surveyed the rocky west side of Cat Gully and decided that if we hugged the base of the crags we could zigzag our way up the steep grass and rock strewn slopes, heading for a prominent V in the rock, formed by a couple of very large boulders about half way up the gully. We set off at a steady climb, everyone finding their own preferred route and obstacles to negotiate, the ground under our feet was wet and the rocks very slippery in places, but at this stage it was hard, but not as difficult as it looked from down at the edge of the Lochan, a false sense of security came over me, which was soon to vanish in the later stages of the scramble.

The Lochan lies at 710m and the gully rises 408m to the summit top at 1118m. Somewhere around the 900m height we had a much clearer view of what lay ahead of us for the final 200m of ascent, and this time we did pause a little, just to reflect on where we were going. By now our paths had diverged a little, with Alan directly on the left, myself and Jim heading for a small narrow pass in the centre, and Lawrie, Ian and David to our right. The physical distance between us was minimal, it was the terrain that was keeping us apart at this point. We were all quite happy to continue on our own line of ascent, and so I followed Jim, not just because of the route, but he of course had the tablet and I reckoned I could at least grab his rucksack if nothing else should he slip!

Once Jim and I started up our own little gully, we lost sight of the others and concentrated on getting ourselves up a rather tricky piece of rock which was very wet and had a little flow of water pouring over its surface. It took me a couple of attempts, and a stretched helping hand from Jim, but we popped out the top and onto a more solid surface only to find Alan standing their waiting for us. So now as three, we negotiated the final section and topped the summit where we were joined by Ian, Lawrie and David, who we had last seen down around the 900m height.

Literally a few steps from our ascent point was the summit cairn and around 7 or 8 other walkers who had come over the ridge path from Ben Lawers, the route we would now take, Lawers being our second objective of the day. However, it was lunch time, our first stop of the day, so we found a nice spot on top of An Stuc and enjoyed the views and a spot of lunch before setting off down the steep and narrow path that takes you to the Bealach Dubh, and then ascends just as steeply to the mighty Ben Lawers, the highest and most prominent Munro in the region.

On a day such as today, Lawers must offer some of the most extensive views that you can get, the 360 panorama is just outstanding, it makes you want to linger longer than you should, especially as we still had a few hours walking ahead, albeit mainly downhill. And so we headed off east down the ridge from the summit of Lawers, which at first is quite steep, narrow and rocky, but soon broadens into a wide, easy sloping grassy hillside, down which we walked, heading back towards the dam and the path alongside the Lawers Burn for our return to the Lawers Hotel.

This was a cracking day on the hills, the climb up Cat Gully was exciting, and the views from the tops and ridge just outstanding, even the slight, but heavy shower we had as we made our way back from the dam could not dampen the day - and the pint of Ossian in the Lawers went down a treat.

A great day - Thanks Alan