This isn’t going to be a long drawn out blog as I’ve described this walk on several occasions in the past. It’s a short walk we do almost every winter, but it’s just so good that we have to keep on going back again and again!
The wee top of Ghlas Beinn on the edge of Rannoch Moor isn’t a major hill, it isn’t even a Graham and it could and I’m sure does, get over looked by many a hill walker. That said however, it is a superb little top and as they say…..it’s all about location, location, location.
As much as I like to be right up high on one of the big Munros, I do think you get much more exciting views when you’re on a small hill surrounded by bigger ones. This little top is all about this. From its meagre height of just under 600m the ground drops away in all directions with the huge area of Rannoch Moor stretching out below, whilst not far away, the higher summits of the Bridge of Orchy Hills dominate one view and the even higher summits of the Blackmount dominate the view to the west.
All you really need to enjoy this place is a temperament that doesn’t always demand the huge walk, or the biggest mountains, and a willingness to just spend a bit of time strolling slowly along just enjoying where you are and the fact that you don’t have to rush to get anywhere quickly! Oh yes, it also helps to have some interesting weather about too.
Interesting weather is what we got on Sunday when we visited this place. For five hours as we wandered along, the scene around us changed almost constantly. A continuous stream of snow showers bobbed in and obliterated the views from time to time. In between the snow showers however, the sun came out and the big mountains threw off the cloud to reveal spectacular views of snow and rock. The colours were wonderful and it seemed like the straw colours of mid winter were starting to change…..to a slightly more olive kind of green…..signs of new growth?
We’re hoping to get out again next week with a bit of luck. We need to get some fitness back into our legs after all this time away from the hills. We’ll probably head back to another old favourite … Beinn Dubh and the Luss Hills. We’ve walked this route so many times over the years but the views are superb and the steep slopes make it a good test for un-used legs!
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