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Posts Tagged ‘Glen Lyon’

12 hour long wander

NE from the summit of Carn Gorm

NE from the summit of Carn Gorm

To wander the hills for 12 hours on a fine day is a great experience …but a tiring one!  I’m sat at my computer this morning feeling rather tired with aching muscles and I’m no doubt still a little dehydrated.  The walk we did yesterday has certainly taken its toll but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.  Indeed, after what has been a busy and at times, stressful couple of weeks, having a long day wandering in the Scottish hills was just what was needed.

Where did we wander?  Well, it was around a group of high grass and boulder covered hills that lie to the north of Glen Lyon.  Although there are numerous fairly undistinguished tops in this area, the principal ones (all classified as Munros) are, Carn Gorm, Meall Garbh, Carn Mairg and Meall nan Aighean.  They are all a little over or under 1000m and are connected by broad ridges but to walk them all in one go makes for quite a long day.   About 5 or 6 years ago I did this same walk with a couple of friends, Irene and Steve, from the Air na Creagan Mountaineering Club.  On that occasion despite it being I think, July, it was a pretty foul day and more akin to a day in November!   We saw little for most of the day, the cloud sticking to all of the higher tops and it was cold and damp.  We had few views and it was a day to keep moving and at a bit of a route march pace, we finished the circuit in, if I remember rightly, something a little under nine hours.  This said however, we did see enough for me to realise that this would make a fine walk on a good summer’s day with time enough to wander and look and enjoy these high and wild hills.

The rock strewn summit of Meall Garbh

The rock strewn summit of Meall Garbh

So then, that is exactly what Nita and I did yesterday.  The forecast for the day was almost perfect; clearing skies, lots of sunshine, a light but cooling breeze (to keep the midges at bay) and wonderfully clear air.  I won’t bore you with all the details, hopefully the photos will show what a beautiful day it was and give you an idea of the nature of this high and wild hill country.  As you can see, on a fine day it really is a place to take your time …there really is no point in rushing.  We reached the summit of Meall nan Aighean – the last of the 4 hills, at around quarter to seven in the evening and sat for a short time taking in the evening light and colours.   We got back down to the road a little after nine o’clock as the light was fading and the air cooling.  We were shattered and still had the drive back to Ayrshire ahead of us …but it had been a wonderful day…..arriving back in Irvine at 00.30 …it had been a long one too!

Approaching Carn Mairg

Approaching Carn Mairg

Looking back to Carn Mairg

Looking back to Carn Mairg

Glen Lyon, evening

Glen Lyon, evening

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‘Autumn mists, Glen Lyon’

autumn-mists-glen-lyon-acrylic-pastel

'Autumn mists, Glen Lyon'

‘Autumn mists, Glen Lyon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010

I did this as one of the two postcard pieces for last year’s postcard exhibition at Scotlandart.com in Edinburgh.  Based on the beautiful autumn colours we experienced a year or so ago while driving through Glen Lyon en route to one of the hills, this little piece is quite abstract but hopefully conveys some of the colour and atmosphere of that beautiful morning.  This piece is still available direct from my studio ….I’ll be posting details on the Paintings for Sale section shortly …but you can always contact me direct: keith@keithsalmon.org .  Happy New Year!

Sunday on Ben Ledi

Early morning mists, Ben Ledi

Early morning mists, Ben Ledi

Well we’re at long last starting to get back out on the hills a little more regularly and last Sunday we took advantage of another fine day to head for the popular hill Ben Ledi.   It is situated just to the north west of Callander and stands right on the edge of the highlands …giving amazing views from it’s summit, to the bigger hills to the east, west and north, as well as out over the flatter countryside of the central belt to the south.   It’s also a relatively short distance from Glasgow and so, like Ben Lomond, it is a very popular place to walk.

As such we decided to try and get a fairly early start and arrived at the base of the hill about a quarter to nine.  It had been a beautiful drive up passing along the southern edge of the Highlands through Balloch, Drymen and Aberfoyle to Callander.  Anita spotted snow on Ben Lomond as we passed Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond and then said she could see another hill with a good covering of snow on, further to the east …where we were heading.  There certainly looked to be a little more snow than we’d been expecting but as the cloud levels were quite high and the sun was starting to break through, it looked like it was going to be a good day.

There was already a couple of cars parked at the start point and by the time we’d got the boots on and gear ready another couple had arrived along with two mini buses!   The path is a large well made one, a lot of work having to be done to combat the erosion caused by so many boots.  It climbs steeply up through dense mature conifers before breaking out onto the open hillside.  You get fine views right from this point and as we looked back across the glen a thick band of very low cloud drifted below us.  The path follows and then crosses a small stream heading for the broad shoulder of the hill and it was at this level that we reached the first snow.  It’s also on gaining this point that you can see west to the many lochs and hills of the Trossachs.

The summit of Ben Ledi

The summit of Ben Ledi

The path follows the broad grassy ridge gradually up before reaching a final steep section with a good drop developing on its eastern side.  The snow by this stage was a mixture of older and quite icy stuff with a coating of a few centimetres of fresh snow on top …it was lovely.  We decided to stop, have a sandwich, admire the view and put on the spiders …it looked like it might be a bit slippery on the steeper section so seeing as we had them we might as well use them.   As we sat here the occupants of the mini buses (a party of young people with their teachers) all arrived, had instructions about moving carefully in the snow, and then all moved off again.  We gave them a few minutes head start and followed.  It really was beautiful with the sun picking out many of the bigger hills around.  Stuc a’ Chroin to the east of us looked particularly dramatic against quite dark skies behind it and as we reached the summit the big hills around Ben Lawers and Glen Lyon showed up well.

It was the ridge leading away from the summit that really caught the eye though, covered in snow and lit by the sun, it looked stunning as it curved away.  We watched the school party head off along it and a chap from another small party came over and kindly pointed out that you could see all the way to the mountains on the Isle of Arran ….well, he and Anita could …but it was nice to know and I could certainly imagine what they were seeing.  We set off along the broad ridge enjoying the wonderful surroundings before it descended steeply and we were below the snow line.  The route back descends down quite steep slopes before meeting a large track that contours back around under the hill, before entering the forest once again.  We were back to the car by just after three in the afternoon and it had made a great little day.

North from the summit of Ben Ledi

North from the summit of Ben Ledi

Mind you, can’t always get it right.  We’d planned to head out again today but after seeing a forecast that said thick low cloud, we decided to give it a miss ….I have a lot of work on at the moment.  Of course, we got up this morning and there’s blue sky and it all looks great……. ****!