Over The Hill

The Fhidhleir Ridge had been on the cards for some time, it was just a matter of getting our act together for this 2 car walk, and today everything gelled, and here we were striding up the estate track in Glen Kinglas heading for the far end of the north east ridge of Stob Coire Creagach. It was a glorious day so far, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low twenties - great for a day in the hills.

We left the estate track at the pylons beyond Abyssinia and followed them until we gained the ridgeline where we turned south south west to the first minor top at 596m. From here the ridge runs south west with easy grass slopes on the right, while to the left, crags and gullies drop quite steeply down into Glen Kinglas.

From the 596m minor top, we tracked the undulating ridgeline, choosing our points of view from a number of small ledges that overhang high above Glen Kinglas. As we walked south west along the ridge, the skies behind us darkened considerably, and we could see quite a heavy band of rain slowly creeping south, heading our way. We managed to make the summit cairn on Stob Coire Creagach (817m) just before the rain arrived, and by the time we had found a sheltered spot below the summit, it was heavy enough to warrant dragging out the waterproofs before we settled into a somewhat wet lunch break.

Lunch over and it was still raining, so we waited a little longer hoping the rain might clear, but no luck, so we eventually picked up our rucksacks, took the obligatory summit photo and headed off west across the much gentler and broader grassy ridge towards Binnein an Fhidhleir, detouring on our way to the minor top at Creag Bhrosgan (771m), at which point the rain ceased and the sunshine returned - happy days. Creag Bhrosgan is probable the best viewpoint on the ridgeline to observe the rugged "Old Man's Face" of the north face of Beinn an Lochain as it towers above the tree-lined lower slopes.

The summit of Binnein an Fhidhleir boasts a slightly larger cairn than that of Stob Coire Creagach, and also contains the remains of the old Trig Point. From its top, the broad grassy ridge extents west before dropping steeply down to Cairndow at the head of Loch Fyne. As we descended this section, just above Fuineadh Choire, we watched a small herd of about a dozen deer dash from the steep coire sides across our path and disappeared just as quickly down the hillside to our right. With the deer gone, we continued our descent, on a fairly gently slope, towards the aerial masts at the base of An t-Sron where we had a short walk along the busy A83 to the lay-by opposite the Dunoon turn-off, to collect our strategically placed 2nd car, saving us a long walk back up the glen to Butterbridge.

A brilliant walk, and a great day - thanks Alan.