The Occasional Munroist

Distance:	21Km
Height ascended:	1900m
Time taken:	7hours 15 minutes
Munros:	Beinn a'Chroin, An Caisteal, Cruach Ardrain, Beinn Tulaichean

Having been doing shorter routes during the Winter I felt that with the longer days of Spring and the clocks going forwards it was time to get back into the longer, bigger challenges. With the recent warm weather there was no risk of any snow remaining except in the most shaded hollows so there was not going to be any need for the heavy crampons and ice axe so I knew I could cover the ground much faster. Even so, I expected this route might take a minimum of 8 hours. This isn't a hugely long walk but the amount of ascent and the steepness of the climbs means this route is definitely hard work and that's what accounts for most of the time.

Having recently discovered the access into these hills from Inverlochlarig I was keen to do as many of the munros in this area from this starting point. Last month was Stob Binnein and Ben More so it seemed logical to move my way along the range. I had originally considered doing this route in two separate days but both walks seemed relatively short and I definitely wanted something that would test my fitness so the combination, although slightly unconventional, seemed like a good option. I'm slightly surprised there aren't more routes published that feature the combination of these 4 munros. I've seen some much longer walks which also pull in the other munros in the range but those are all way beyond my level of fitness.

Having started out from the car park at Inverlochlarig there is a fairly long walk in along a rough track. The going is good and it appears that many of the fords marked on my map have now been run through pipes under the road to improve the access. One thing which particular caught me out is a new plantation on the hillside, the deer fencing around this meant I started up the hillside much further along the road than I had originally planned. The ascent up to Beinn a'Chroin was then a bit of a slog but I think this side is much more interesting than the approach from the North. There is an amazing coire containing Lochan a'Chroin which is a geologically fascinating, if rather boggy, location. With the wind blowing from the North-West I had been sheltered behind the mountain but as I reached the main ridge the wind became much stronger and towards the main summit the wind was channelled up the glen which made walking very difficult. At this point the cloud level was down to about 800m so there was no view whatsoever.

The next stage was to head over to An Caisteal. There is a slightly tricky descent to get off Beinn a'Chroin to reach the bealach and I nearly got stuck on the craggy sections a couple of times. The ascent up to the summit is great fun with the only bit of "hands on rock" of the entire day, it's all rather trivial scrambling but was a good antidote to the hard slogging up steep slopes. I reached the top in only about 30 minutes and I then headed over to near Twistin Hill and then down into the glen.

When I had just come off the top of Beinn a'Chroin I had met the first fellow walkers of the day. Two guys had come over An Caisteal and were similarly battling against the intense wind. As I reached the middle of the glen I met them once more and they seemed rather amused that I was planning to then take on Cruach Ardrain. Certainly I could see their point, it was a bit of a daunting prospect at this point. I had some lunch in a rather pleasant spot by the river before tackling the second big climb of the day.

The ascent to the third summit was a complete b***er and one that I do not plan Cruach Ardrain was reached. The big bonus though was that by this time the weather had improved hugely and the cloud level had lifted to nearer 1200m and I had an excellent view of the area from the top.

The final summit of the day was incredibly easy to reach compared to the other 3. It was just a pleasant amble down followed by a small ascent. I had a lovely break here and was seriously wondering if I should have brought some sun cream. The weather had clearly decided to ignore the forecast which was for solid cloud all day.

At this point I was beginning to think that with all the ascent over the route was not going to be as hard going as I originally thought. Little did I know just how much the descent was going to hurt. The route down from Beinn Tulaichean is long, rough and unrelenting. A number of times I had to work my way around small crags, at one point an obvious path just stopped at the top of a fairly sizeable sheer drop. Clearly the local sheep have a sense of humour. I have rarely felt so much joy to reach a farm track and have an easy hobble back to the car park.

This is an excellent and very enjoyable route. I hardly met anyone all day (less than 10 people in total) which made it really nice. The weather definitely played its part and the fine views in the afternoon made the effort well worthwhile. I'd definitely like to do these hills again (separately) at some time.