The Tarmachan Ridge and Ben Lawers (again)

Monday 10th September 2007

The weather on this walk was much better than on the day before with bright sunshine and clear views from every mountain, unfortunately the wind was still quite strong, but you can't have everything. Starting from the Ben Lawers Visitor Centre I walked up the road for a bit to a track on the left that went over a burn and across the mountainside, soon I left the track and took a path that climbed the hillside. Just beyond a 923m top the path descended slightly before climbing steeply up the hill until eventually gaining the wind swept summit of Meall nan Tarmachan, the only Munro on the ridge.

Now began a fantastic traverse of this undulating and ever changing ridge. The clear path cunningly negotiated the many twists and turns and avoided unnecessary hilltops while steering a course for the successive prominent tops on the ridge. First on the list was probably the best, Meall Garbh, a tiny pinnacle-like summit that looked insurmountable from a distance. Beyond the summit was a narrow rocky ridge that was rather hairy in the strong wind, followed by a short scramble down a small cliff face. Next on the list was Beinn nan Eachan, which was tame in comparison, and that was followed by Creag na Caillich, but it wasn't the tops that was the appeal of this walk as the ridge itself was superb. All too soon I was at the end and descending the last top to a final treat: a path that skirted around the top of high cliffs along a narrow ledge. I enjoy paths like this, but even I found this one rather hair-raising.

Dropping down into a corrie I followed a path across somewhat boggy ground to a weir on the Allt Coire Fionn Lairige from where a clear path led me monotonously and eventually all the way across the hillside to the track that I had used on the outward journey and back to the Visitor Centre. There I had my lunch while sitting in my car and decided that since it was still early (2pm) I would go up the two Munros near the Visitor Centre, but not Ben Lawers itself as I'd already done that the day before. So setting off once again I walked along the tourist path towards Ben Lawers through the picturesque ravine of the Burn of Edramucky. This fenced off area shows what happens when you keep sheep off the hills and it looks so much better for it. Hillsides grazed by sheep are bland and dull whereas this area was full of colourful heather, bracken and young trees and is what mountainsides are supposed to look like. Damn sheep!

Leaving the enclosure I took the right-hand path that zigzagged steeply up the hillside onto the south ridge of Beinn Ghlas. The climb continued up the increasingly rocky terrain into the face of the increasingly strong wind until finally I made it up to the summit. Looking across at its neighbour, Meall Corranach, I was struck by the lack of a path up the tricky terrain from the col and by the rather dull appearance of its grassy top in comparison to the fabulous mountain I was on. I was reluctant to make the traverse and then my eyes strayed to Ben Lawers that was clear under the blue skies with a tremendous ridge to it from where I was. Without a moment's hesitation I started dashing down the ridge towards Ben Lawers before I could change my mind!

A steep rocky path brought me up to the summit that I had previously visited only 25 hours before, but the change in the weather was unbelievable. Instead of inhospitable conditions I had amazing views all around me including towards the three Munros that I had walked over the day before, and below was Lochan nan Cat, at the bottom of the corrie that I'd walked around then. I'd hardly got a view of them then but now they could be clearly seen. Another thing I noticed was that since the day before the wind had moved to a northerly from the westerly direction that I'd had then, and seemed to be slightly weaker, though not by much. After taking loads of pictures and enjoying myself no-end I left the summit and dropped back down to the col, where I took the smaller, lower path that bypasses Beinn Ghlas going through the bealach with Meall Corranach on my right, though I still had no desire to go up the grassy Munro. The rest of the walk down Coire Odhar was a breeze and as I passed through the enclosure once again I reflected on how much I was enjoying the descent. The pleasant scenery, the sunshine and the satisfaction of a great day's walk were really uplifting.