Ben Starav

Sunday 14th September 2008

For the first walk of my week-long holiday in Scotland I decided to go up Ben Starav, a mountain that lies at the end of Glen Etive, a valley with only one way in along a narrow single-track road with passing places that requires a long drive-in from Glen Coe. When I eventually got to my starting point I quickly got going along a track down to the river as I was being eaten alive by midges. The weather was considerably better than the day before but it was still overcast with very little wind, which is unfortunately perfect midge weather. During the early stages of the walk I was plagued by midges and a bigger insect that I can't identify but seemed to be less interested in biting me than simply walking all over me and was just generally annoying. The insects were not a problem at the top of the mountain as it was far too windy for them: which is another reason to love going up a mountain.

After crossing the river I walked past a house and up beside a stream, which I crossed to continue climbing beside the stream. At the appropriate moment I veered off the path and began climbing the north ridge of Ben Starav. This was a never ending climb up a hill with nothing of any interest to break the monotony except the ever-present flies. It wasn’t too steep, it was just that I had to climb all the way up with no easing of the gradient at any point, so it was really exhausting. During the climb I did have some quite good views behind me up Glen Etive towards the mountains of Glen Coe that ultimately gave me the best views of the entire holiday, but unfortunately I didn’t appreciate that at the time. Eventually I reached an interesting section of the climb near the top as the ridge narrowed and rock became more prevalent, but, as I climbed up the rocks to reach the summit of the Munro, clouds descended to rob me of any views.

Rounding the top of Coire an Fhir Lèith I reached the eastern top where a fantastic narrow ridge led out eastwards towards Stob Coire Dheirg. This was the best bit of the walk as I gingerly made my way along the narrow rocky ridge to the top and was actually quite scary as it was rather high and narrow with a less than straight forward path that weaved around the rocks along the top all the way to Stob Coire Dheirg. Once I reached the top I didn’t stay there long as the mist was too thick for me to see much so I descended past some spectacular rock formations down to the pass, Bealach Lochain Ghaineamhaich, where I had my lunch. After eating I resumed the walk along a wide grassy ridge over Meall nan Tri Tighearnan and up to the top of the Munro Glas Bheinn Mhór. This was a quieter section of the walk and after the exertions of the climb it was nicely relaxing and enjoyable. After descending to the col along the ridge I came to a nice treat, a rocky end to the ridge which the path cunningly negotiated while winding its way down. I was reminded of the walk I did a couple of weeks ago in Wales where the path was heavily manufactured whereas here there were no steps, simply a well graded path. There was no sign of the sort of paths that the National Trust like to build that detracts from the enjoyment of the walk, and the wildness of the scenery (of course the Black Mount is not a hugely popular area, unlike the Glyderau). The remainder of the walk was very wet and muddy as I walked beside the stream, Allt Mheuran, back into Glen Etive where my boots had to work overtime to prevent my feet from getting wet as I waded through the wet ground.

This was not a great walk, and I’m not sure why. It could have been the lack of views from any of the tops even though the weather had been good enough for the whole walk and I should not have expected anything more. It wasn’t too hot and the rain held off almost all day (unlike the day before) and the sun was even out for some of the day, which is something I wouldn’t see again until I was coming home. It could have been that the ridge climb was just too long and exhausting, which I would have preferred as a descent when the views coming down would have been fabulous. I suppose my problem with the ascent could be simply my lack of fitness this year and because I was tired after driving all the way up to Scotland the day before. Maybe I was just too tired to appreciate this mountain; Ben Starav does have some great sections to it, but they were just too small to overcome my fatigue.