An Caisteal and Beinn a’Chròin

I’ve always found with running that it’s the run *after* a really bad running experience that is the good one. And it might be the same with walking.

After such a Bad Time on Beinn Chonzie, I had to battle with myself to work up the resolve to head out and up again. But I headed up to Ben More lodge, which is campervan friendly, for a bite to eat and to stay in the carpark. I got chatting to the staff who were very interested and enthusiastic about what I’m doing. And, when you’ve told people you’re here to walk up the hills.. well, you’ve kinda gotta walk up the hills.

The staff were very supprotive- asking if I needed anything for the van like tea bags or loo roll. I said I was all fine, though possibly in need of a shower(!). In a wonderful act of kindness, the barman came over to quietly let me know they’d had a cancellation and I was welcome to shower in one of their lodges if I liked. Yesss! Though he asked me not to tell his boss – so please don’t say anything 😉

I set off the next day, with the morning sun illuminating the morning mist rolling through the valley. I couldn’t get enough of this light, it was pulling me on down the track. I kept wanting to see what it looked like from the next high point, or round the next bend…. Eventually I found I’d massively overshot the point at which I was meant to start heading up the slope. My options were to retrace my steps waaay back to pick up the nose of the ridge at the bottom… or head up the side to intercept my intended path. I decided to go for the latter, though as a consequence (or as punishment for not paying attention?) it was a LOT steeper. On this plus side I got this picture which I love.

Before long I was engulfed in the standard wet cloud you come to know well up here. It was a bit of a slog up the hill, as always (if anyone tells you hiking gets easier the more you do it, they’re lying).

For a while in the gloomy wet mess I’d forgotten all about the glimpses of sun I’d seen. The cloud was all-encompassing. But after a LOT of climbing, it started to brighten. I could sense the sun above the clouds willing me on. As I got closer and closer… it was almost a giddy feeling. Eventually I just sort of stumbled out and into the open expanse of sky, sun, and a thick carpeting of cloud. There was a noticeable warmth to the sun too. When it combined with the heat I’d generated hiking up, it felt like a brief escape from winter. (Though to be fair, winter doesn’t exactly feel like winter this year).

The other mountain-top islands were poking through the fluffy white and greeting me. I easily recognised Ben More and Stob Binnein which I’d hiked with Daniel back in September, and gave them a wave. 👋

I was up in another world, and I had this world all to myself. I wondered whether people at ground level had any idea of what they were missing.

You won’t be surprised to hear that I took a LOT of pictures. Buckle up.

Eventually I had to get a move on because I had a whole other munro to do – Beinn a’Chròin. I descended back into the cloud down a steep rocky path… to go back up another steep rocky path. I was merrily scrambling away when I came to a wall of rock. I didn’t remember reading about this in the route description – though to be honest I always read about 2 sentences of these and glaze over. I tried a couple of different approaches, without committing, and stepped back a couple times to puzzle it out. There was a drop behind me, impossible to size since it fell down through the clouds. It had a bit of an overhang so I took the bag off and shoved it up onto the shelf along with the poles. I paused for a second.. and quickly removed my gps doodah from my bag and slipped it into my pocket(!) lest I fall and need to claw my way back up the hill, no doubt with broken legs, to summon a helicopter. After all this faffing it was time to woman-up (no pun intended). I did a highly un-graceful push up on the rock, and manouvered my knee onto a shelf, fighting to keep my weight forward. I felt the spike in adrenaline from my brain screaming that I was definitely about to fall to my death… and then I was up. Just like that. What was all the fuss about? Easy Peasy. 😅

Life on the second munro of the day was possibly even better than the first. This one came with serious Lord of the Rings vibes. And the sun was starting to think about setting. I took another truck-load of pictures and hung around a while, weighing up how much walking out in the dark I was up for.

The walk out was pretty long on this one, and through the bog to end all bogs. I was glad I hadn’t stayed until dark when I came across some pretty suspicious footprints…

I marched my way out through the bog, pausing to say hello to this keeper of the Glen.