‘From above Cononish’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 40 x 40 cm
Price: £720
Price from 1st September 2015, £1008
This is one of the paintings I’ll be showing in my “Highland walks” exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh, from August 7th – August 29th 2015.
The painting was created following a walk in the hills above Cononish near Tyndrum. The colours on that late winter afternoon were fantastic and the painting hopefully captures something of the spirit of the place.
‘From above Cononish’
‘From above Cononish’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 40 x 40 cm
A walk through Cononish Glen or over any of the fine peaks that rise all around it, offers spectacular views in almost any conditions. I created this painting a few years ago after a fabulous walk up Beinn Chuirn. We were a little late getting off the hill and as we descended we enjoyed these fine late afternoon winter colours. I’ve always liked this painting as it really reminds me of what was a fantastic day on the hills.
This painting is available in the ‘paintings for sale’ section.
Posted in Artwork of the Week 
Tags: beinn chuirn, cononish, Cononish Glen, day on the hills 
No Comments »
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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!
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!
'On Ben Oss, winter afternoon'
‘On Ben Oss, winter afternoon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 80 x 80 cm
I have almost completed this painting. Based on a smaller piece I did a number of years ago, this piece tries to develop the more abstract nature of the view. On the afternoon in question, we’d climbed the hill in driving snow and buffeting winds. It really wasn’t very pleasant and we came close to turning back at one point. The forecast though had said the band of snow would be short lived and pass through after a couple of hours. The snow stopped as we arrived at the summit and after a short while the cloud started to break. We got glimpses down into Cononish glen and across to Ben Lui and Beinn Chuirn.
I think this piece is finished but I’ll need to let it sit now before I’m sure. I have though signed it and I doubt there’ll be much more work done on it. This photo was just a quick ‘snap’ so please excuse the poor image quality ….I’ll get it photographed properly later.
View from the coire Ben Chuirn
It’s amazing, I’ve been walking in the hills since the age of ten ….introduced to the mountains by my father shortly after we moved to Wales from Essex in 1969. I loved these wild places so much that when my sight went bad back in the early 90’s I was still determined to continue these walks despite the practical difficulties. I’m certainly not an outdoor expert, (I still have much to learn) but I am I guess fairly experienced when it comes to walking in the hills. This said however, every once in a while I have a day when I really struggle, where quite simply I lose my nerve somewhat. Yesterday was just such an occasion.
What should have been another fantastic day, turned into a difficult and quite stressful one for me. The forecast for the Loch Lomond National Park area had improved rapidly over the previous 24 hours and although there was much snow falling over in the east of the country, on the west coast it was dry, bright and cold. We planned to drive up to Tyndrum and walk into Cononish glen as far as the farm of Cononish. Here the track splits, one continuing up the glen to end below Ben Lui, the other heading up hill to the entrance of the small gold mine at the base of Beinn Chuirn…..the hill we were hoping to walk.
Beinn Chuirn
There was a dusting of snow on the ground at Tyndrum but most of the hills around had little or no snow on them. As the path entered the Cononish glen though, we got our first view of Ben Lui …and it was well covered with snow. It looked superb and all of its 1100m. Its neighbour, Beinn Chuirn (880m) was though, virtually clear of the white stuff. It all looked rather strange. Beinn Chuirn has an impressive coire below its summit and we hoped we would be able to walk up into this and then out onto its rim and around that to the summit cairn. This looked fairly steep but as we approached the hill above Cononish, Anita and our friend Guy both said it looked OK.
At this point though we left the track and headed across the rough ground aiming for the coire …and things became pretty difficult. Although there was no snow, the ground was completely frozen in most places, there were numerous areas of solid ice hidden in the grass and heather, some areas were frosted, some in bright sun, some in deep shadow and of course there were numerous rocks.
From the coire, Ben Chuirn
Now then, I’ve walked on ground like this plenty of times before and although it’s difficult I’ve not had a problem. Yesterday however, for whatever reason, I just found it very challenging. I moved exceedingly slowly despite putting on the spiders to help give me extra grip on the icy ground. Nita and Guy were as always, very patient and guided me excellently, but with the prospect of the ground getting much steeper I really wasn’t looking forward to the ascent. At this time of year the days are almost at their shortest and I knew I had to get back to the big track in the glen before it got dark. I looked at the slow pace I was going and realised there was no way that I would be able to get up to the top and back down in time.
We decided instead to carry on into the coire but simply try to get to a point where we could see our route to the top ….then at least we’d know for a future trip. Well then, we did manage this and the coire was dramatic and the views back out, very impressive …but I was really struggling on this patchwork of surfaces. After a lunch break we retreated back down into the glen and arrived back at the car as it was getting dusk. Nita and Guy had enjoyed their day…..I on the other hand, felt rather glum. I honestly don’t know why I found it so difficult yesterday. Perhaps though it’s that on this occasion I thought just a little bit too much about what I was doing.
Dusk, Ben Lui from Cononish
Walking hills and mountains when you have such a limited amount of sight, really is quite difficult. It takes a huge amount of concentration, great guides (which I’m lucky to have in Nita and Guy), and at times a little bit of bottle. Either that or you just need to be completely mad! I think most of the times I’m out in these wonderful wild places; it’s a little bit of all of these. Sometimes though, like yesterday, reality cuts in and I find it quite scary! Next time though I’ll get it right again… with a bit of luck.
Photos by Anita Groves