Beinn Chabhair - Crianlarich - 8th Sep 2011

Pronunciation/Translation: Beinn Chabhair - byn chav-aar (hill of the hawk).

(Entry by Shona)

I had decided to do a short day at work and head for the hills, so after getting our gear together, we head north towards Crianlarich. Eric has his mind on Beinn Chabhair (933m/3061ft) , so we head up past Kilmahog and Loch Lubnaig and on towards Crianlarich. We pass Ben More and Stob Binnein and contemplate doing these 2 instead but a little confusion over the start point and where to park makes us decide to just stick with the plan.

We park the car at The Drovers inn and get all our kit together before heading along the road to Beinn Ghlas farm. We cut through the campsite and start the climb up through the bracken, along side the water fall. We reach the sheep fence but we make it over without too much incident although Bracken lost a few hairs in the process.

Short walk up and we walk straight out onto a lush green plateau. Stob Creag an Fhithich looms to our left as we follow the river onwards. The ground is boggy and peaty, so my feet get wet pretty quickly. yuck. I love my wee lightweight Merrells but they don’t keep the water out. We cross the river in a very exciting way……by jumping from one big rock straight over the water onto another. We manage to negotiate around and through the deep soggy bogs and make it to Lochan Beinn Chabhair.

From here we head north up to the shoulder and follow the path up and over various false summits/grassy and rocky outcrops. The wind is starting to pick up as we get higher so we up the pace and reach the summit cairn at 6.25pm. We put our jackets and gloves on as the wind-chill up here is fierce. Time for half a Wispa each and some photos before start our descent.

We cover ground fast and make good time. Treading carefully over some of the more unsteady and soggy ground means that we avoid any injuries, which is always a bonus.
The sun is setting in front of us as we follow the path down over the grassy outcrops back towards the lochan and everything begins to have a slightly orange and fuzzy look to it.
Although the plateau is relatively flat (considering our surroundings) the going is still pretty tough as the grounds sucks at our boots and poles. Im already wet and dirty so I don’t really try too hard to jump over the boggy bits, needless to say I end up knee deep in sludge a few times. My pole keeps getting stuck, which amuses Eric no end as I curse and mutter to myself.

We decide to stay on the north side of the river and follow the tracks down towards the water fall. Over the stile after showing the dogs the little gap for them, and we start heading down the side of the mountain with the falls on our left. The next stile is a little disconcerting as it leans down the hill. A strange experience to be leaning forward facing down a hill but we make it over okay and start the steep descent towards the farm.

We reach ground level at 8.15pm and put the dogs on the lead before we walk along the road back to the car. Soggy kit off and we settle the dogs in the car before we pop into the Drovers for a post hike drink.
From our start point at the farm to our end point was 11.83km, which is a pretty fair distance. and we did it in good time, so a good days  enjoyable hiking.