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Posts Tagged ‘Beinn Dubhchraig’

Spring colours

A remnant for the old Caledonian Forest

A remnant for the old Caledonian Forest

What a difference a few days make.  After last weeks very grey and cloudy walk on Tinto, this week we saw the Scottish landscape at its very best under almost clear blue skies.  The colours everywhere were stunning and although we only walked a fairly small hill we managed to spend over nine hours in the process.  It was such a stunningly beautiful day that it just demanded that we keep stopping to look and take in the scene.

I really love this time of year with winter still very much around, (we set off with frost covering everything and the bigger hills white with snow) but summer closing in rapidly.  It was great too that even setting off from Irvine at just after 06.00 there was light in the sky and the sun rose over the Glasgow sky-line as we crossed the Erskine Bridge heading north.

We were making for Tyndrum but not for Meall Odhar which had been our original target last week, but for its neighbour across the glen, Fiarach 652 m.  We’ve never walked this hill and it was only last week while pawing over the map with my magnifier looking for the route up Meall Odhar that I spotted it and started looking for a route to it too.  It’s basically the high point of a large area of wild upland ground  that is surrounded on all sides by the higher hills, Ben More, Ben Challum, Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Lui …to name but a few.  It’s a fine location that just demands a perfect day ….and what better than a clear, cold early spring Wednesday in March?

Ben More from Fiarach

Ben More from Fiarach

As we wanted to stretch our legs a bit more this week, we decided to park the car in the village of Tyndrum and walk back along the West Highland Way the few kilometres to the big bridge crossing the river flowing out of Cononish Glen.  This is a beautiful little section of the West Highland Way ….a proper little footpath the meanders its way along through mixed woodland and alongside streams .  The views from this path alone were superb and we got good views of the hill we were going to walk.  From the river bridge we left the WHW and followed an estate track that lead over the railway and then lead around the flanks of Fiarach for a couple more kilometres to a large area of conifer plantation.  On the way it went through a fabulous area of the old Caledonian forest that made this truly highland scene even more so.

At the start of the plantation it was simply a case of making our way up the open hillside, at first along side the trees and then climbing above them.  I have to say that I’ve never been too impressed with these conifer plantations but on this occasion I was pleasantly surprised.  We stopped level with the top corner of the plantation and sat down in bright sun to catch our breath, give the aching calf muscles a rest and to take in the views.  As we did we were aware of all of the bird song coming from the dense trees to our left.  One bird in particular ….we think it was probably a Thrush, was singing at the top of its voice and it made the place even more special.

Nita at the summit of Fiarach

Nita at the summit of Fiarach

A little higher up and the steep slopes eased and we came into the first big patches of snow.  It’s a hummocky area of grass, moss, small crags and numerous little lochs and pools.  The biggest of these, Lochain Fiarach, was almost completely frozen and had varying amounts of snow lying on it …where it was just ice, it was a beautiful shade of blue, green, and grey and this turned paler to white around the edges ….it reminded me of the ‘white’ sandy beaches we saw last year on the west coast of Harris.

Despite the generally featureless nature of the ground up here, the summit itself was a surprise ….set atop a craggy little spine that rose 30 or 40 metres above the rest of the moor.  It made a great setting and a wonderful place to stand and take in all the bigger snow capped peaks around.  The nearest of these, Beinn Dubhchraig looked particularly massive and Nita could make out three tiny figures plodding up the heavily snow covered slopes towards its summit.  We  stopped numerous times to sit and look and enjoy the colours, textures and patterns …and were impressed  to find two other visitors to this little hill ….a pair of what we think were Golden Plovers.

The summit of Fiarach from Lachain Fiarach

The summit of Fiarach from Lachain Fiarach

This really was a fine day …..it had a similarity to the wee hill, Ghlas Bheinn on the edge of Rannoch Moor that we tend to visit most years.  I definitely think we’ll be back to Fiarach again next spring.

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

31-mists-clearing-beinn-dubhcharigwinterr-acrylic-2005-30-x-30-cm-sold

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’, Acrylic, 2005, 30 x 30 cm

If you’ve been to my blog this week, you’ll have read that we had our first snowy walk this winter ….on Beinn Chaorach.  As we were walking though, we got some great views across to Beinn Dubhchraig and the view reminded me of this painting.

I did this back in 2005 after a short walk on a much colder day.  My friend Guy and I had gone to do a walk on Ben Challum (the Munro next to Beinn Chaorach) and although we never had time to reach even its southern top, we did get some splendid views.  On that morning, thick banks of cloud sat over Beinn Dubhchraig and gradually broke and cleared as the morning passed.  I seem to remember sitting for quite a while just taking in the scene and then having to shelter as a heavy snow shower passed by.

After our walk last Sunday I think I may try creating another more up to date version of this painting…..this time of the mountain in snow but with the autumn colours in the glen below.

A walk into winter

Looking towards Beinn Dubhchraig

Looking towards Beinn Dubhchraig

It doesn’t seem any time at all since we were hauling our way up the steep slopes above Cononish in bright very warm conditions with midges and flies buzzing all around and sweat running down our faces, heading on our way to Beinn Dubhchraig.  On Sunday we were walking up Beinn Chaorach instead and looking across the glen to Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Oss and Ben Lui ….but in very different conditions.  Now, just a couple of months later, everything above about 400 m was white with fresh snow.

Towards Ben Challum

Towards Ben Challum

It wasn’t a complete transformation to winter though, as, with it still being only mid November, many of the trees in the glens below still had leaves …some showing the full array of autumnal colours and others still almost completely green.  Even the grass was still quite green making for a stunningly beautiful mix of colour as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond under an intensely blue sky.

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

Once away from the sound of the road, it was a very peaceful scene, (very appropriate, it being Remembrance Sunday) the only sounds, the crump of the snow under our boots and the occasional call of a circling Raven overhead.   With the daylight hours being somewhat short at this time of year and our starting out late due to the icy roads, we didn’t have that much time.  I reckoned we’d have to turn back at 14.00 at the latest and at about 13.40, still a good 15 minutes from the top, we decided to call it a day and sit and have our lunch.  The views really couldn’t have been better with the great snowy bulk of Ben Challum close by, and Ben More and the Glen Falloch hills to the south east.  A glance to the right as I sat eating my sandwich and I could see Ben Lui and it’s neighbours …..it really was very clear.

Towards Ben More

Towards Ben More

Our timing proved about right as the sun was setting behind the hills by the time we were back on the main track and as we descended back to the West Highland Way in the base of the glen, it was once again a very cold and quite dark scene with the white snow covered hills almost glowing against the darkening sky and a bank of low mist forming.  The final couple of kilometres back along the West Highland Way to the car was the most difficult for me …trying to follow Nita as she picked her way around patches of ice in the gloom.

It hadn’t been a long day but a very fine way to start the winter…..apparently they’re forecasting cold weather again next week.

To Beinn Dubhchraig and back ….with an added splash!

Near the summit of Beinn Dubhchraig

Near the summit of Beinn Dubhchraig

Ten or eleven years ago we went to walk Beinn Dubhchraig, one of the Munros in the Ben Lui group of hills around Cononish. On that occasion the weather was grim. I don’t remember now whether it rained all day but it was certainly very wet to start with and the hill never cleared from the thick mass of grey cloud that hung everywhere. I’m sure we enjoyed it …or at least, made the most of it, but we never saw a thing the whole day ….just grey.

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhchraig

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhchraig

We’ve been back to Cononish a good number of times since to walk the neighbouring hills and I’ve often thought that it would be worth visiting Beinn Dubhchraig again, (this time on a fine day) to see what it was actually like. The only thing that put me off all these years was the memories of the path in. It ran for a good way up the side of a stream through a section of the old Caledonian Forest before emerging out onto the lower slopes of the mountain. Sounds idyllic I hear you say ….but it was so boggy and wet underfoot ….not just boggy, but really BOGGY! On that first trip we’d made a circular walk of it and descended via the broad north ridge of the hill and then down very steep slopes to reach a bridge over the river close to Cononish Farm and so it was my plan this time to simply climb the hill by this route and return the same way, thus avoiding the boggy route.

Loch Oss and Ben Oss

Loch Oss and Ben Oss

On Sunday, with fine weather forecast, we drove to Tyndrum and headed off ….this time under clear blue skies. The steep slopes above Cononish that I remembered coming down, were even steeper on our way up! Sweat poured, flies buzzed but the views were wonderful. After what seemed an eternity the angle of the slope eased and at last we could see all we’d missed ten years earlier. As we approached the summit Nita asked me what I thought about turning it into a circular walk and descending by the dreaded path through the woods. Nita openly admits that she can’t remember one walk from another and so clearly thought I was making a bit of a song and dance of it and that it couldn’t be as bad as I remembered! So then, sat at the top, taking in the stunning scenery and feeling just great ….I agreed, and twenty minutes later off we headed in the direction of the path.

The idylic woods

The idylic woods

Needless to say, it hadn’t improved over the intervening years, indeed, rather interestingly it had ….well, matured somewhat. It was still just as boggy and difficult but now it was rather overgrown too. It took me an age picking my way down, listening to an almost continuous commentary of guiding instructions from Nita ….she did a brilliant job as guide…the path was narrow in places and dropped steeply away through the undergrowth to the stream. Eventually after what was an age, I heard Nita say …’I hope that isn’t the bridge we have to cross’. Instead of the bridge we’d used to cross over the stream ten years earlier …there were two single steel girders …and no bridge! Ahhhhh!

Shame about the path!

Shame about the path!

It was by this time getting late and we had about an hour of proper day light left. The stream the bridge used to cross looked awkward to ford and only 50 m below the ‘bridge’ …it flowed into the main river. As we couldn’t return up the path in the dark, we either had to wait till morning or cross the stream. At first look, it seemed quite deep and was flowing quite fast, but Nita peered into the water and reckoned there was a shallower path across. I followed Nita and although the water was well above the top of our boots and flowing strongly, it wasn’t as deep as it at first seemed. We were quickly clambering up the bank on the other side, boots completely full of water (indeed, I swear I had a small brown trout in one of mine) and the lower part of our trousers soaked …but we were over and back to a civilized track before it got too late. I guess there must be another path now avoiding the missing bridge but I don’t think we’ll be going back at any point in the near future to check it out!

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

31 'Mists clearing  Beinn Dubhcharig,winterr', Acrylic, 2005, 30 x 30 cm, sold

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’, Acrylic, 2005, 30 x 30 cm,

If you’ve seen my Face Book page in the last few days, or read the latest blog, you’ll know that on Sunday we walked Beinn Dubhchraig near Tyndrum in the Southern Highlands.

I thought then that it would be appropriate to use this small painting as my Artwork of the week.  I did this back in 2005 and it was based on a view of the mountain we had on a very wintry day from Ben Challum.  The snow everywhere was quite thick and the early morning mists were breaking and lifting from all the big hills around.

Back to Beinn Chuirn ….ice free this time!

Ben Oss from just above the gold mine on Beinn Chuirn

Ben Oss from just above the gold mine on Beinn Chuirn

The last time we went to walk Beinn Chuirn, (in the winter a couple of years ago) we encountered difficult conditions ….well, for me they were anyway!  There was virtually no snow, but it had been very cold for quite a long period and so there was a lot of ice ….thick and black amongst the grass and rocks.  I was really struggling to see it and this made for very slow progress.  After several hours we were only a little over half way up and with the prospect of having to descend on this slippery ground, we decided to cut our losses and retreat.  It was disappointing but wise ….and we had checked out a very good route up the hill ….perfect for a return trip in more favourable conditions.

as we thought...it was steep

as we thought…it was steep

On Thursday last week, with a reasonable forecast, (well at least not torrential rain all day) we finally got to go back to Beinn Chuirn and complete our previously curtailed route.  Beinn Chuirn lies on the north side of Cononish Glen, opposite Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss  ….and next door to its much larger neighbour Ben Lui.  It took us about an hour and a quarter to walk along the estate tracks to a point just short of the hill.  A large track leads uphill from Cononish Farm to the entrance of a now disused gold mine.  The tunnel entrance leading under the mountain is sealed but a set of tracks leads out and there are still sheds there …presumably when the price of gold rises they’ll start working again.

Overlooking the corrie, Beinn Chuirn

Overlooking the corrie, Beinn Chuirn

Anyway, our route led up into the dramatic and rocky little corrie and then steeply up by way of a grass and rock ridge until the broad easy angled upper slopes were reached.  It makes for an exhilarating walk, the ground dropping away steeply on both sides and behind you and as we reached the steepest section near the top I felt glad we had turned back the previous winter!  We were lucky this time though,  as despite the dark heavy clouds, the rain kept away and we had good views in what was very clear air.  The top of the hill is littered with boulders and strangely layered outcrops of rock ….very beautiful natural sculptures.   Beyond these was the summit cairn ….the perfect lunch spot with views of mountains in every direction.

 "Monarch of the Glen"

Being watched!

As we ate our lunch though, the cloud started to descend onto Ben Lui and it became pretty obvious that we were in for a soaking.  Our route back did a wide circuit down easy angled grass slopes before a final steep section led back to the track in the glen.  Some way below the summit though, Nita spotted that we were not alone on the hill.  Above us standing on the sky line was a large stag …watching us carefully.   Despite the rain the views were still dramatic  in the dark and gloomy light.   We were back in Tyndrum in time for a pizza at the Green Welly and back home in Irvine at the reasonably respectable time of nine o’clock.  Another great day in the Scottish Highlands and maybe even one that I’ll get a painting or two out of?