The Occasional Munroist
| Route | http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=32 |
|---|---|
| Distance | 22.4km |
| Munros | Carn nan Gabhar, Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain & Carn Liath |
The target was Beinn a'Ghlo which is near Blair Atholl. It is actually 3 munros - Carn nan Gabhar, Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain & Carn Liath. There is no great technical challenge to these hills, you won't have "hand on rock" at any time during the day and there is no real "exposure" to sheer drops. That said, they are not uninteresting grassy lumps either, there are nice tops with good views (on a clear day...). There is also a fair amount of effort required, it's just over 22km and 1480m of ascent.
The route starts from a rough parking area beside Loch Moraig near Monzie Farm. Getting from Blair Atholl through Old Bridge of Tilt, Middlebridge and up to the car park can be a bit "interesting". If in doubt look for signs pointing to Monzie, oh, and watch out for Red Squirrels on the road! Incredibly I was the 6th car there at 08:15 and I was the 4th displaying an Edinburgh residents parking permit. As it was a Sunday morning it was a lovely quiet run up the motorway and A9 and it took just over 1.5 hours to get there. This definitely makes me think that Sunday is by far and away the best day to get out walking given how far away from Edinburgh I can get in a couple of hours.
When I arrived at the car park I reckoned up that the cloud level was at about 2000 feet. The tops of all my target hills were well into the thick cloud but thankfully it was dry and not looking as if any rain was due for the day. As the previous day was incredibly hot this was something of a relief.
After a quick walk the first mile up a dirt track a shooting hut is reached (923678) where the route heads off across a bog and on to the ascent for Carn Liath. It quickly became clear that if there had been a lot of rain this walk would not be much fun. Several times I had to take run-ups and do long jumps over the various streams which crossed the path. Even on a good day some gaiters might be handy for this stage. As I began the ascent of Carn Liath I spotted a group of 4 guys who I would follow over the next few hills (more of them later), other than them I had the first 2 hills completely to myself. This is not a busy area for walkers which definitely adds to the appeal. This is a fairly straightforward if a little hard-going ascent. This wasn't a day for hanging around in the chilly damp cloud so other than throwing on an extra layer the summit got very little attention.
The next top on the route is Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain and it is fairly easy to reach along a clear path which drops away from Carn Liath before ascending once more. The drop is not that great and I found myself taking this in pretty quickly. The next top provided a bit more shelter so it was time for a stop to grab some lovely homemade flapjack and restore my flagging energy levels. This hill is a lot broader and less distinct so the low cloud made navigation a lot more challenging. I took a bearing as a precaution and carefully time my walking but still managed to overshoot the path down to the bealach (963724) by about 200m. Without some idea of how fast I can walk I think I could easily have completely missed this path. Thankfully as I hacked back to the right spot the cloud lifted a little and I could see my next target, dropping some height along the way helped me find my way back onto what is actually a very well worn path.
Having successfully reached the bealach it was time to make the ascent on the highest peak of the day - Carn nan Gabhar. At this point I became aware of the group of 4 guys ahead of me once more and I passed them coming down from the summit as I got within a few hundred metres of the top. I didn't hang around long as the low cloud was making this top particularly cold and unwelcoming, thankfully by now it had lifted to about 3000 feet so I knew that just below me was some nice views and a lot warmer spot for my lunch. As I came back to the bealach between Carn nan Gabhar and Airgiod Bheinn I passed the group of guys who were clearly having a debate over the route. In fact at this point I think there were 10 people within a fairly small area, the only point in the day that could be evenly vaguely described as "busy".
My plan was to wander over the end of Airgiod Bheinn and back down into the valley for the long walk out. As I passed the group I had a feeling that I had made a decision for them as they quickly followed me up the hill. At the top I had taken the chance to grab my lunch and a few photos. The group quickly caught up with me and the "leader" came up to ask me if I knew of a route down. Having only a brief description (and my map) to go on I had to confess to a certain amount of ignorance, at which point he uttered the classic line "I don't have my map with me today". He tried to explain that this was fine as he had walked the hills by himself a couple of weeks ago and knew where he was going but was looking for a different way down. He also confessed to getting a bit lost on the same hill as me so it's a miracle they didn't end up in the wrong county...
After lunch the weather improved considerably and finally the cloud lifted off all the tops. Sadly it was now time to head down and the end of Airgiod is definitely not for the weak-kneed. There are a lot of rocks and then there is a lot of loose scree which had me sliding all over the place. Once I reached the stream in Allt bealach an Fhiodhe it was time to get the head down and march out the last 4 miles back to the car. The dryness of the recent weeks made this a fairly pleasant and easy task. The peat was solid and bouncy which took most of the punishment out of the long walk back. After a bit of rain this part of the walk would be very muddy and quite a hard trudge. Eventually the rough path leads back to the main track and a final mile and a half of harder, less forgiving, work for the legs.
I got back to the car in just over 7 hours and thankfully did not feel completely wrecked by my first munros in a year. This was a good start and I will definitely be trying to get a few more hills in this summer.
Comments