Beinn a’ Ghlo

Monday 26th May 2014

The day before this walk, I had started my annual holiday in Scotland with the intent of just enjoying the walking without the need to go up a mountain, but on this walk a mountain was exactly my goal. The day didn’t start very well with light rain and low cloud that gave me the prospect of a day that is not the best for climbing a mountain. Walkers, however, are hopeful people and they are always thinking that the weather will improve (and that the summit is just behind the next rise), despite long experience to the contrary. On this occasion it did improve, but only intermittently. Last year I walked past Beinn a’ Ghlo along Glen Tilt fully intending to climb it, but eventually I gave it a miss because I was tired and didn’t have the energy. Since Beinn a’ Ghlo was already a mountain that I was eager to climb I couldn’t resist deliberately arranging another attempt this year.

I started the day by catching a train from Pitlochry, where I had been staying, the short distance to Blair Atholl where I began the ascent. Rather than using the route recommended by Ralph Storer in his book '100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains', the definitive introduction to walking up Scottish Mountains, I decided to take the more usual route, what could be described as the Munro bagger’s route. Ralph Storer’s route may be the best route, but Munro baggers are not interested in the route, they are only interested in getting up to the summit as quickly as possible. To do that they drive up a country lane to Loch Moraig and start from there, while I had to walk up the road, in the rain, from the Old Bridge of Tilt through dreary farmland to the loch where I found the usual collection of Munro bagger’s cars. Beyond the car park I continued along the track and began to realise why Ralph Storer had recommended the Glen Tilt approach as opposed to this dull route.

Eventually I came off the track following a bog trot to the foot of Carn Liath where a clearer path weaved an excellent route up the steep hill, which I found completely exhausting and left me wondering why I wasn’t very fit. The excruciating climb went on and on under the poor weather, but just as I was thinking the weather would never improve it stopped raining and the sun came out to provide me with the final push that finally brought me to the windswept summit of Carn Liath. The views south and west towards the River Garry and beyond were clearing nicely, but the views back towards the rest of Beinn a’ Ghlo and the Cairngorm Mountains beyond were still resolutely clinging onto their clouds. A bitterly cold wind was blowing at the summit of Carn Liath and didn’t encourage me to stay so I soon set off along the narrow ridge wrapped up tight against the cold.

Soon I was rewarded with a parting of the clouds and such a fabulous view of the Beinn a’ Ghlo range that I actually began to enjoy the walk! A small rise on the ridge is bypassed by the path (Munro baggers are very single-minded), but I wanted to enjoy the narrow crest of Beinn Mhaol before descending steeply to a narrow pass, the bealach between Carn Liath and Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. As soon as I crossed the pass it started to rain again so for the climb to the top I had to battle through strong winds and rain as I plunged once more into clouds. Just as suddenly, as I climbed the slopes towards the summit, the rain stopped and I was bathed in sunshine while the clouds lifted to reveal a stunning vista across the valley south of Beinn a’ Ghlo and by the time I reached the summit of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain the clouds had completed lifted to afford me with stunning views all around.

The third Munro, and the highest point on Beinn a’ Ghlo, was also beginning to appear for the first time on this walk from amongst the mist, but by this time I had already decided that I would not be climbing it. This was partly because I wanted to catch a train in Blair Atholl not long after five o’clock, but mainly because I was so tired. I felt that I didn’t have the energy for the steep descent and re-ascent required to get up to the top of Carn nan Gabhar, so I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to drop straight down into Glen Tilt from Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. First, while sitting beside the summit cairn, I had my lunch as the rain fell once again with the clouds staying high and enabling me to enjoy my surroundings across Glen Tilt and towards the Cairngorm Mountains, despite the rain. Before I left the summit the rain stopped and once again the sun came out so I could bask in the awesome scenery before beginning my descent.

This was not easy and I think my route selection could have been better, although Ralph Storer does recommend this route down if short of time. Initially I came down the south-western ridge around a boulder field and down ridiculously steep terrain to the top of Glen Fender, which I had anticipated but I hadn’t realised that there is also a steep descent into Glen Tilt, and I made the descent worse by trying to head down the valley on the steep slopes to try and find a bridge over the river. As more bands of rain and sunshine passed overhead I continued the strenuous descent remembering that I was coming down because I was tired and yet this was the most tiring part of the day. Eventually after much negotiation of the steep terrain I passed Balaneasie stone cottage and the spot where I’d camped last year, which I was overjoyed to see again, but I was concerned that it had taken me a long time to get to Blair Atholl from this camp spot last year and I didn’t have that long this time.

Fortunately I’d dawdled last year so I was easily able to get to Blair Atholl in time for the train. Once I’d reached the track at the bottom of Glen Tilt, at Gaw’s Bridge, I set off at a rapid pace down the valley, but by the time I reached Gilbert’s Bridge I realised I would have no problems catching the train so I was able to enjoy the descent and the sunshine through lovely Glen Tilt. The weather was very changeable on this walk, even more so than the day before when I’d also thought it had been changeable. I was frustrated that I was not able to reach all three Munros because I was so tired, which has been a common complaint for me over the last couple of years in Scotland, and I don’t know what the answer is. The ridge on Carn Liath was gloriously narrow and a pleasure to walk along but it was woefully short, while Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain seemed much broader, and what I saw of Carn nan Gabhar didn’t seem special. A return in better weather is required before I can properly pass judgement, but it’s always great to be at the top of a mountain.

Loch Faskally and Ben Vrackie

Sunday 25th May 2014

On the first day of my annual holiday in Scotland I thought I’d start with an easy walk to ease myself into the start of two weeks. I wouldn’t go up any mountains on this first day, but instead I would do a nice, easy walk around Loch Faskally, which is a narrow reservoir near to the tourist town of Pitlochry. I was in Pitlochry for the first time last year and loved the place despite a fleeting visit so decided to start my holiday there this year. I had decided that I needed a bit of time to rid myself of the stresses and strains of working life before starting to do some hard walking in Scotland, but as always things didn’t go according to plan and I couldn’t resist going up a mountain. The day before this walk I travelled up to Scotland on the train, and since I didn’t get to Pitlochry until twenty past three I didn’t have time to do anything except look around the Blair Athol Distillery. Incidentally I was the only person from Britain on the tour, everyone else was from overseas, and I was the only one who’d been around a distillery before – I’ve been around loads!

To start my walk the day after I descended through the town down to the River Tummel and, while the ground was very wet indicating that it had just been raining, it had fortunately stopped just before I left the youth hostel. Upon crossing the river I turned right and followed signs for the Killiecrankie Path, one of a number of good, way-marked routes in the area around Pitlochry. A pleasant walk beside the river took me past the Festival Theatre until the huge Pitlochry Dam came into view, but of more interest to me was the fish ladder that enables migrating Salmon to bypass the dam on their way to the spawning grounds beyond. The path led me up beside thirty four pools that gradually climb all the way up to the top of the dam with Loch Faskally behind it and the pleasant walk continued past a small grove of Rhododendron until I reached the busy trunk road of the A9. There I turned onto a quiet lane that runs alongside the loch for a long way, passing under the A9 at the point where the trunk road soars over Loch Faskally, while I continued drearily walking along the road for seemingly many miles.

The walk on the road was so long that I lost track of where I was on the map eventually becoming completely confused and totally misreading the map. Even after passing the imposing arch that marks the road to Clunie Power Station I still failed to realise where I was, even though the power station is clearly marked on the map. Fortunately the signs directing the Killiecrankie Path knew where they were and they unerringly encouraged me to continue along the road until eventually I reached the Linn of Tummel and finally I came to my senses. On this side of the river I found a steep, narrow, and at the times, muddy path that led me down to the river where the rapids could be explored to my heart’s content, but the wet rocks made me extremely cautious in my exploration. A second path further up the road led to drier rocks that enabled me to get some good views of the river as it thunders over the rocks on its way to Loch Faskally.

Even further along the road was the Coronation Bridge, which I crossed to reach the other side of the River Tummel where an excellent path led me back past the rapids of the Linn of Tummel with better views of the river possible from the path, but access down to the river wasn’t possible due to steep edges. This pleasing woodland path took me back towards Loch Faskally and around a sharp corner to head north alongside the River Garry towards Killiecrankie. After passing Garry Bridge I left the Killiecrankie Path at the point where it leaves the riverside as I crossed the river onto the busy path through the pass that I had walked along last year on my way from Blair Atholl to Pitlochry. On that occasion I had noticed the presence of the Linn of Tummel and decided that I wanted to return to this area to visit the rapids and so this walk was formulated, but I was now proceeding towards the Pass of Killiecrankie and it wasn’t even twelve o’clock yet. So far the day had been relatively easy and immensely relaxing as a result, but completing the circuit of Loch Faskally would see me back in Pitlochry in time for lunch.

Instead I headed north through the Pass of Killiecrankie on the broad path that I had taken last year, stopping near the spectacular railway bridge that straddles Trooper’s Den to explore along the pass where the Battle of Killiecrankie was fought. I was more interested in looking at the wild flowers in the area, but the weather was much poorer than it had been last year with rain now starting to fall briefly as I walked through the pass. I was still unsure what I would do for the rest of the day, so I climbed up to the visitor centre to have my lunch while I tried to decide. There I noticed that the Bealach Path that I had joined to go through the pass and that I had taken last year to go to Pitlochry climbs the hillside above the pass on the western slopes of the Corbett, Ben Vrackie. Despite the changeable weather I decided that I would climb Ben Vrackie, so after lunch I set off along the Bealach Path up a lane that climbs the hillside.

I’d suspected that I would find it hard to resist climbing the 841 metre tall mountain that overlooks Pitlochry and so it proved with a track that provided me with surprisingly easy access up the mountain. The Bealach Path doesn’t reach the summit of Ben Vrackie so at what I thought was the appropriate point I turned off the track and followed a slender path towards the summit, but this turned out not to be the best point as the path soon vanished and I had to make my own way through the heather around Meall na Moine and up steep grassy slopes to the summit of Ben Vrackie. This route wasn’t too difficult, and it meant I wouldn’t have to take the same route in descent as I’d taken in ascent. The views were poor and since it was cold and windy at the top I didn’t stay there for long before joining the clear path that led me very steeply down to Loch a’ Choire. I wasn’t keen on that descent as it was far too steep, and with hindsight I would have preferred to have climbed Ben Vrackie in the opposite direction.

The gradient eases upon reaching Loch a’ Choire, and with the sun coming out it left me with a gloriously sunny descent along a wide track down into Pitlochry. I was astonished by how changeable the weather was on this walk (and it would be no different for the whole two weeks). A lovely, relaxing stroll brought me down through a juniper wood populated by chaffinches that seemed little concerned by my approach. The climb of Ben Vrackie was more tiring than I’d planned for this day, but I’d always suspected that that would be where I’d end up. This was such a lovely day that when I reached Moulin on the edge of Pitlochry I didn’t want the walk to end so I headed off along a path to Black Spout waterfall and the woodland that surrounds it. This walk was as varied as the weather and was such an enjoyable day that it was a great way to start the holiday.