Beinn Bhuidhe, Loch Fyne - 18th March 2012

Pronunciation: Beinn Bhuidhe - Byn Voo-ee (yellow hill).

 

(Entry by Shona)

There are a few Munros that are often forgotten, or left until later on ‘the list’ because of their location and Ben Bhuidhe is one of these. I think the walk in is what puts people off, but Eric and I do enjoy long walk ins every now and again. It gives us time to reminisce about other mountains and experiences we have had.

Eric decided that Ben Bhuidhe would be the one to climb today and we woke up to beautiful clear skies and sunshine. After parking the car in the carpark, we check the map and head back over the bridge and up the road towards the Fyne Ales Brewery.

The road is tarmac, so we enjoy the walk along it until we are met by a large herd of Highland coos. We put the dogs on the lead as they still have a lot of un-used energy just now and we don’t fancy their chances against a massive cow, we make it through with only a few glances from the beasts. Dogs let loose again, we pass a small group of houses in the valley before heading on towards the power station.

From here, we head north, leaving the tarmac road behind and following a good dirt track north on the opposite side of the river to the power station. A female hiker on her bike passes us. We reach the deer gate and notice a few more bikes locked up on the rail. We are not alone today. The valley starts to narrow a little here and we are getting close to the Cottage where the path up the mountain begins.

It starts to rain as we reach the cottage, so we have a quick change of jackets and put our gaiters on. After the gate, there is the choice of two routes. We head up the gorge along a steep and narrow path which follows the stream upwards. Eventually we see the waterfall and head south of this along a very wet and boggy path. The path heads out onto a beautiful plateau, with the jagged east flank of Ben Bhuidhe splitting the skyline.

The going slows a little here as once again we are skipping through very wet bog. We pick up the path and see the gully that it leads to. This should be fun. I love scrambling and scree, so the wet rocks clatter as I pick my way up the near vertical path. Eric is always leading but I take my time and make sure I look around me to enjoy the views to the east towards Ben Ime, Ben Lomond and Ben Vorlich.

As we reach the ridge, there are 3 other hikers looking slightly puzzled. Eric shows them where we are on the map and then we discuss the mountains we can see. To the west Ben Cruachan (covered by clouds). To the east we can make out Ben More and Stob Binnien, slightly south of these two is Ben Chabhair, Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps.
To the south we can see a little bit of Loch Fyne.

From here, we head south west along the ridge and up towards the summit cone. Snow patches are scattered across the west side of the summit, which pleases Alfie no end! He loves frolicking in the snow. A small cairn and broken trig point mark the summit and we spend 10 mins enjoying the clear 360 views.

The sunshine doesn’t last and before we know it, we are being pelted by hailstones. Time to get to lower ground. We follow the ridge back to the top of the gully and head north around the end of the ridge and track our way down the more gentle side of the rocky outcrops.

We have gone super lightweight today with day packs and lighter boots, which means the very wet and hailstone covered ground makes for some interesting slips and slides.
We zig zag our way down the grassy slopes on the opposite side of the gorge that we ascended. The sun comes out for a little while but the ground is still boggy and slippery. I laugh at Eric as he slips but stays upright, however 10 minutes later I slide and land on my backside. Eric and I laugh about how wet my bum now is. My comeuppance for giggling at him sliding.

It’s all part of the fun, after all and I can laugh at myself. We follow the fence line further down and enjoy the late afternoon sun as it lights up the valley in front of us. Eventually we are back at the track next to the cottage, not another soul in sight.

We eat our rolls as we walk back along the track to where the other hikers’ bikes are locked up. Still 4 bikes there, which means we were the first off the mountain. We plod on and soon the rain starts. It’s only a small shower though and we see blue sky ahead.
We soon pass the power station and are back onto the tarmac road. As we walk past the highland cows, we decide the dogs are too tired to cause mischief, so we keep them off the lead.

Bracken looks as though she is contemplating jumping on the back of one of the cows that is lying down in the rain. I think the last thing it would expect is a dog jumping on it, so I call her in and keep her close until we pass them by.

The female hiker passes us by on her bike but there is still no sign of the 3 guys. Who needs bikes when you can enjoy a stroll!

Total distance 13.33 miles
Total time taken 6 hours 33 mins
Height of Ben Bhuidhe 947m above sea level

Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothaidh - 11th March 2012

Pronunciation/Translation: Beinn Dorain - Byn Doa-ran (hill of the otter), Beinn an Dothaidh - Byn an Daw-ee (hill of the scorching).

(Entry by Shona)

A hearty breakfast of porridge and half a banana means that we are feeling fit and full of energy for today’s hike at Bridge of Orchy.

We leave at 7.30am and arrive at the Bridge of Orchy hotel at 9.10am. It’s miserable here. On our journey up, it was a lovely morning but the weather report warned us of rainclouds from the west. So we drive into the weather and as the road circles round from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy, we can’t see the summit of Beinn Dorain. Another beautiful Scottish day!

By the time we ditch our axes and crampons, repack our bags and lead the dogs up, it’s about 9.25am so a nice early start. We head across the road and up towards the station before joining the boggy, wet path that snakes up the valley towards the bealach between the two mountains.

The going is steady and although we started below the clouds, it isn't long before we are inside them, with nothing to see but the fuzzy wet whiteness above. We navigate slowly through boot-sucking bogs and cross a few gentle streams before the climb gets steeper.It's loose scree here, and with it being wet, it slows us down. Don’t want to have a wee spill up here. We get to the bealach and decide to put our waterproofs on as it is drizzly and windy here.

From the bealach, we head in a southerly direction towards Beinn Dorain. The path is good enough and we cover ground at good pace as it climbs through patches of snow and rock. We choose the lower path that circles round the south side of the mountain. I think this was more through luck than judgement.
Sadly we can’t see anything other than cloud but I think the views would be amazing from this path. So I definitely want to do Dorain again in summer.

We hear a train below as it snakes its way around the mountain from Tyndrum.
The rocks are a little slippy here, even with our winter boots on, so we take our time crossing the boulder fields. Eventually, we circle round and head up about 50 yards to the summit cairn (1076m). I get to tap it first because Beinn Dorain is a mountain I have had my eye on for a long time. We take some cloudy, wet pictures then head back down out of the wind.

The weather has closed in now and we are soaked through and being blown all over the place. Before we know it, we are back at the snow patches and then back at the bealach. We head straight over towards Beinn an Dothaidh. Eric advises me that this is made up of a box of summits of sorts, so we pick up the path and head up.

It’s essentially a small river that we are walking up and it soon leads to very boggy ground. We lose the path but pick our way over the bogs and eventually find another small path which we follow, moving across some big snow patches and some little rivers.
I look up to see Eric heading up the side of the hill, so I change my route and follow him.

As we get higher, the wind gets colder and wilder. We can’t get any wetter, but the wind makes the cold clothes stick to our skin. We reach a ridge and follow the snow tracks up in a northerly direction and we reach a small cairn (1004m). We give it a tap and keep going northeast to another cairn after which the path takes us down a little, where we do a wee map check. We decide that we passed the summit and no point in heading this way, so we back track and head over to join the path again.

We pick our way back down the southeast side of the mountain and soon reach the boggy ground. I nearly get sucked in but make it across with a sharp jerk of my foot. One of these days in going to end up chest deep! We are soon back on the path and heading back down to the bealach. We don’t stop here this time and head west down the loose wet scree until we reach slightly flatter ground. More bog dodging before we get to the drier path which follows the river back down to the train track.

As we head further down, the temperature rises and there is a break in the clouds and we are treated to views across to Loch Tulla.The sun is shining as we get below the clouds. Looking back, we just see a line of cloud….shame we can’t see where we have been.
But we head on down towards the car and the dogs get a wee treat of a pork pie each for being well behaved again.

We take our soggy gear off and decide that it is too early for dinner at Paddy's. It is only 2.30pm! So we head back down to Callander to stock up on supplies for dinner, before heading back home
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