Over The Hill

The mountains to the north of Loch Tay are, as we know, very popular and well frequented, while those on the south side of the loch are often admired from afar but never visited on the scale of their northern neighbours. And so today we hoped to redress the imbalance a little, as we headed along the very narrow and twisting road from Killin to Ardtalnaig, with Creagan Na Beinne and Ciste Buide a'Claidheimh firmly in our sights.

Our first challenge was finding the old, and as we realised, very overgrown track on the northern side of the Ardtalnaig Burn which climbs the lower slopes of Meall nan Oighreag in a series of zigzags before leveling off to a more gentle rising contour as it curves in a wide arc first east then north east heading all the time towards the 658m minor top at the bealach between Beinn Bhreac and Creagan na Beinne.

We stayed with this track, which although overgrown and most probably had never seen any vehicular traffic for many a year, was nevertheless clear enough to follow, and easier than the surrounding heather and scrub grass that covered the adjacent hillside. We eventually left the track some distance west of the bealach and detoured directly uphill towards the trig point on Beinn Bhreac (716m), for no other reason than that it was there; and who among us can resist a trig point?

From the trig point we could clearly see the summit plateau of Creagan na Beinne some 3½ kilometers to the south and the maze of peat hags we would have to negotiate as we descended to the bealach and then started a long, but relatively easy ascent towards our next top.

In contrast to the its lower slopes, the summit plateau of Creagan na Beinne is covered in short stubbly grass, and the plateau itself forms a broad and featureless expanse with only a few rocky knolls to break the flat surface. Thankfully, a fairly large cairn marks the actual top and so we were not left wondering which slight pimple in the flat expanse was the actual summit.

As if to remind us not to become to complacent with all the fine weather we have been having lately, the temperature dropped as the wind rose considerably on the summit, and we actually went hunting in our rucksacks for an extra layer and a hat or two just to ensure that we stayed warm as we tried to find some sheltered spot in order to have our lunch before continuing.

Not to be outdone the southern slopes of Creagan na Beinne proved to be just as scarred by peat hags as their northern counterparts were on our ascent, although these slopes were somewhat steeper, especially as we reached the lower levels on the approach to Dunan. A feature of our descent was the great aerial view we had of the "moraine bumps" clustered in the floor of the glen to the north of Dunan cottage.

Dunan, sitting at the meeting point of Glen Almond and Gleann a'Chilleine, marked the turning point of our route. From here we turned northwards and struck uphill, quite gently at first, but then increasingly steeper as we ascended the deep heather clad slopes towards the summit of Ciste Buide a'Claidheimh. It was a hard climb, but worthwhile as we were rewarded with some wonderful views south along the beautiful Glen Almond, and west over the glen towards Meall Mor and Creag Uchdag. Ciste Buide a'Claidheimh (759m) boasts a fairly long name, maybe that is why it has probably the most insignificant cairn you will find, if you can find it!. I guess given a hint of poor visibility or covering of snow finding it could present quite a challenge.

A long summit ridge of almost 3 kilometers stretches north from the cairn giving a very gently descent towards the final, and much steeper descent down to the farm buildings at Claggan. The ridge has two distinct features, firstly a great rock fissure at Bual a'Claidheimh, where a huge slice of rock has broken away from the main ridge creating a deep cleft; and secondly its peat hags, or possible more accurately its peat hag (singular) for there is almost an unbroken peat scar running along the entire length of the ridge. In dry conditions, such a we had, this was a bonus, as walking in the base of the scar was actually quite easy going, but oh what a nightmare this would be in wet conditions.

At Claggan, we had our greatest challenge of the day, wandering through a field of cows, calves, and one big bull which just lay and stared at us as we passed by - I know I had one eye on the fence to my left and one on the gate ahead, mentally working out which was the nearer!

Another great day in the hills - Thanks Alan