Over The Hill

Just another summers day on Ben Lui, water, rain, clouds and no views; well at least we had fun with the water. Climbing Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chleibh from Glen Lochy presents the walker with a combination of obstacles, most of which involve water or bog in their various disguises, all of which have to be negotiated before setting foot on the open hillside. These facts are borne out in the photos for this walk, a great deal of which contain water or clouds, and very little of the magnificent views, so I am told, that can be had from these mountains.

To the casual onlooker, we must have looked rather weird on leaving the car park with rucksacks and full walking gear - except for our footwear, which was a mixture of wet-suit boots, sandals and some very posh Fred Perry tennis shoes, oh and our trousers rolled up above the knees as we made our way down to the edge of the River Lochy, which thankfully was not quite as deep as a few days previous when it was well above my knees; Lindsay did sigh with relief that she would not require the use of her snorkel for the crossing.

Once across the river (and 'under' the railway line) it was boots on as we dumped the alternative footwear beneath a nearby tree for our return, and set off up the north bank of the Eas Daimh. As a foretaste of the obstacles ahead, within a few metres we had to detour around a couple of fallen trees and then it was on along the narrow, boggy track with eyes peeled for the tell-tale and very small cairn which marks the spot to descend to the junction of the Eas Daimh with the larger, but un-named river which flows down the Fionn Choiren and yet another challenge, some skillful footwork as we negotiated the 'rope assisted' crossing of the Eas Daimh.

It was with some relief that we reached the forest boundary fence and gate that would lead us onto the open hillside, having successfully negotiated some rather serious boggy areas where a slip could well mean more that just a wet boot! And as if to celebrate with us, the grey skies disappeared and we were briefly bathed in some lovely blue skies and sunshine. I did say briefly, and it was, as almost as quickly as they came, they disappeared and once again it was grey, wet and a little windy.

From a convenient corner post on the forest boundary we took our bearings and headed east up grassy slopes which became increasingly steeper as we gained height, and once we were above 700 metres the visibility was such that it was compass work, as we continued to head east towards the ridge, aiming for a point around the 950m height, from where we could pick up the ridgeline for the final climb to the summit.

We paused just before reaching the ridge for a lunch break, taken rather quickly as there was nothing to be gained from sitting around in the cloud and rain longer than necessary. Lunch over it was just a few minutes later that we reached the ridge, noticeable by the very quick change in terrain from the grassy slopes we had been ascending to the rock and crags of the ridgeline proper. In the mist, we were denied any sense of height, but there were points where it was obvious that the eastern edge was dropping away quite sharply. There was a slight ridge path for most of the ascent, however, there were a couple of small sections where it was necessary to grab a hand-hold to help you over a few awkward spots.

As always, Ben Lui's twin cairns are cause for discussion, as to which one is actually the summit, the north west cairn being the imposter, and south east, and larger cairn, the true summit. We did not linger long on the summit before retracing our steps north east for a few metres to pick up the steep and rocky path which descends south west in a series of short zigzags through the loose boulders and scree on the higher levels, before it reaches the grassier slopes as it nears the bealach, at 780m.

From the bealach, a good path makes for a quick ascent of the much lower summit of Beinn a'Chleibh, at 916m, just managing to make Munro status. The weather, which had stayed pretty murky, throughout the day, deteriorated even more, and as we descended back to the bealach the wind and heavy rain battered our faces for what was an uncomfortable 20 minutes or so, before things eased and we dropped down the slopes towards the forest boundary. Our return through the forest and its water and bog obstacle course was completed without mishap, and all that was left was a final crossing of the River Lochy to end another successful day in the hills.

As is the custom, we made a scheduled stop at the Crianlarich Hotel for an in-depth debrief and some welcome refreshments.

Thanks everyone for your company - and I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did.