Over The Hill

Wednesday was forecast to be another of those clear, dry days sandwiched between days of wet weather, and so we took the opportunity to recce a route for Beinn Chuirn, a walk that Ian has submitted for next seasons schedule. The area is dominated by the massif that is Ben Lui, and also boasts the Cononish Gold Mine, recently brought back into production by its owners Scotgold who say they have been encouraged by the "high grade nature of the vein" and anticipate production beginning in early 2014, with a forecast output of £65m over the lifetime of the mine. But lets not detract from the walk!

We set off from the Dalrigh car park and headed off on the 4.5km track leading us along the banks of the River Cononish towards Cononish Farm and the Gold Mine. It's a good, well maintained track, and an easy walk, just right for getting us warmed up for the climb ahead. The weather was good and although we could clearly see our objective, Beinn Chuirn, the tops of the surrounding, higher hills, such as Ben Lui were covered in a rolling cloud, which never cleared from them throughout the day.

We passed Cononish Farm and continued uphill on the track for just over 1km before we selected a spot to leave the track and head north-northwest up the steep grassy slopes aiming for a point which would take us above the corrie and waterfall of Eas Anie. Although the hillside was steep, we were aided slightly by a set of ATV tracks which were heading nicely in the same direction as we were. These tracks did generate some debate, as they were obviously made with some form of tracked vehicle which was capable of tackling what was a very steep slope, even to walk up. Nearing the crest of the hillside, we could hear the low hum of machinery, which appeared to be coming from the crest above us, and sure enough, as we topped the crest there lay the answer to the noise, and the tracks - the mining company were sinking a test bore into the hillside above the Eas Anie - just one of dozens they have drilled in their conquest for the "gold in them there hills". We had a quick chat with the two engineers working the drill before continuing our uphill climb, albeit, on a more manageable slope, toward the summit of Beinn Chuirn.

We joined the summit ridge just above the very steep and impressive Coire Na Saobhaidhe, where a low, misty cloud was swirling around the rim and lower corrie which, given the low winter sun behind us generated a series of Broken Spectre's on the rocky sides of the corrie. The spectre's seemed to have a weird effect on some people, who were seen flapping their arms and jumping up and down watching their own shadow encircled by a complete rainbow - what, between mysterious tracks, humming noises and ghostly shadows, this was turning into quite a walk, and we hadn't even reached the summit yet.

Leaving the corrie edge, its a short walk to the summit cairn where we again encountered a single Broken Spectre as we sat below the cairn for a well earned lunch break. At this point we hadn't decided on our return route, so it was out with the maps and after some discussion of the various options, we opted to leave the summit heading generally south west and then south along the line of an old boundary fenceline towards the minor top at 773m, on the long east ridge of Beinn Dubh.

From the 773m top we made an easy gentle descent, crossing the line of our ascent and taking us to the top of the steep slopes to the north of Eas Anie - our intention being to find a suitable drop-off point and scramble our way down the very steep grassy hillside to the mine workings directly below. We spent a bit of time finding a spot from which we felt we could make a safe descent, and finally select a route which gave us a difficult few moments getting off the top edge, and then onto steep, but easier ground and onwards down to the mine workings and back down the track to rejoin our out-bound route at Cononish Farm for our return to the car park.

This was a brilliant days walking, with plenty of interest, although I have a sneaky feeling that Ian may well take an alternate descent from Eas Anie to Cononish on the scheduled walk, especially if there is any snow around, as there may well be on the scheduled walk.

Thanks Ian - always enjoy the intellectual conversation as your walks draw to a close!