Over The Hill

"High pressure will bring a fine day to all mountain areas with excellent visibilities and almost unbroken sunshine." so stated the MWIS report for the West Highlands for Saturday, and with no walk planned for our group as most people were away for the late September Bank Holiday, it was just me and myself heading up Glen Dochart early in the morning, with a temperature of minus 2 degrees showing on the dashboard as I headed for the car park at the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve.

On previous visits to the Lawers Range I had always been impressed by the views of the Tarmachan Ridge, lying to the west of the Lawers Range. We, as a group, have plans to do the ridge walk sometime in the future, but I was keen to have a preview of what was to come by climbing the primary summit that gives the ridge its name, Meall nan Tarmachan.

Leaving the Lawers car park by the vehicle barrier in the lower car park it is only a few short steps before you reach a Finger Post with a sign "Meall nan Tarmachan" pointing you onto the path leading away from the vehicle track. The path heads north west as it takes you gently uphill passed the car park and over a slight rise until it reaches another vehicle track which it parallels for a short distance before eventually dipping down to meet the track.

The path continues immediately across the main track, switching and heading generally west as it heads towards the nose of the southern ridge of the un-named top at 923m. The nose is reached at around the 720m height, and the path again switches direction as it heads north towards the 923m top. Throughout, it is a relatively gently climb, on a narrow, but good and well maintained path over the heather and grass slopes. The views over Loch Tay and the Lawers Range open up as you gain height, and on a clear day as it was, offered quite a contrast. Loch Tay being completely covered in a low autumn mist, while the Lawers Range was lit up by the crisp morning sun and clear blue sky.

The 923m summit is an open grassy dome from which you can gaze down upon the Lochan na Lairige and its dam directly below. From the minor top, the path descends towards the bealach, crossing a stile in the deer fence before crossing a set of large stepping-stones laid across the boggy area at the bottom of the descent.

Once across the narrow bealach the path starts to climb very steeply up the craggy south east face of Meall nan Tarmachan. It's a short sharp climb, and the path soon levels to a more gentle slope as it continues north-northwest passing directly beneath the summit, which sits at the edge of the steep grass and rock slopes to your left, and takes a more gentle approach to the summit plateau. The path crests the plateau a little to the north of the actual summit cairn and then swings south for the final few metres to the summit cairn.

Its from the summit that the magnificence of the ridge can be seen, with the sharply pointed Meall Garbh dominating the ridge and Beinn nan Eachan beyond; it must certainly be a wonderful walk - but that is for another day. Today, I have had the weather and views promised by the MWIS - and let's hope it is similar on the day we return to do the entire ridge, and the sooner the better.

After a lingering lunch at the summit, I retraced my steps, and was glad of my early start, as I passed the hordes of later walkers heading for the summit as I made my way downhill and back to a very over packed car park.

The odd point of the day was driving passed the Bridge of Lochay Hotel in Killin as I drove home, it seemed so strange not stopping for the usual end of walk pint - another reason to get back and do the ridge with my fellow walkers.