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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