The Wee Buachaille

Craig was desperate to do another mountain and the forecast looked promising. The only possible problem was persuading Jennifer and boyfriend Gavin that a hill walk was a good idea! However the mention of the Real Food Cafe did the trick and so the only thing to decide was which mountain to do?

A check of the forecast on Friday night suggested that the further north and west would be the best. I had considered the Luss hills but decided that to be sure of at least a bit of sunshine we should head further north.

I was a bit unsure whether the kids would fancy the long drive to Glencoe but I assured them that there was a good path up Buachaille Etive Beag and it wasn’t actually that big a hill! Despite planning to leave at 9am we didn’t get away until 10.30am. However we made good progress and arrived at the very full car park at about 12.30pm.

We made our way up the Lairig Eilde beofre heading south east up to the beallach below Stob Coire Raineach with the sound of stags rutting echoing across the glen. Much to the kids delight we saw seven deer above us but they quickly ran off (the deer not the kids!).

Craig waiting for Jennifer and Craig!

Craig looking over to Buachaille Etive Mor

It really was very windy but quite sunny until we reached the summit when the cloud came in. A pity as we had been getting fantastic views. However Craig was actually delighted as he had never been in a cloud before. I think he was expecting fluffy cotton wool and was probably disappointed to be walking in mist!

Craig with a moody Stob Dubh and Glen Etive behind

The wind did drop on the way down and it was a very pleasant walk back to the car at about 4.30pm and on to Tyndrum for Gavin’s first experience of the Real Food Cafe. Was good to catch up with Sarah and hear that quite a few folk had been mentioning the write ups in Trail magazine.

Jennifer and Gavin smiling on the way down!

Cracking day out for Jennifer and Gavin’s first Munro and Craig’s second. Lots more to come hopefully!

Swedish Girls, Sausages and Pirates!

Had a great time at the weekend meeting up with Richard Happer, author of “The hills are stuffed with Swedish girls” at the top of the Devil’s Staircase on the West Highland Way for his book signing to celebrate the second edition of his now Ordnance Survey friendly novel.

Richard, Milly, Kirstin, Elaina and Maria

Richard even provided rolls and sausages and we spent an entertaining hour and a half persuading unsuspecting West Highland Wayers to buy the book. We then wandered across country to Blackwater Dam and back to Kinlochleven via the conduit at one point re-enacting the train scene from the film Stand By Me!

Milly and Maria looking over to Blackwater Dam

There followed an excellent night as ever in the Clachaig Inn! The weather deteriorated somewhat for the rest of the weekend so much of Sunday was spent in the Ice Factor drinking coffee and making the most of International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Iain the Pirate!

“Ayrshire Tiger I Presume…”

Well what a fantastic weekend! As promised the weather was superb and we finished up having three consecutive dry days on the hills! On Friday we had a relatively easy day doing the Pap of Glencoe…

Pap of Glencoe

View towards Kinlochleven and Saturday's hill Na Gruagaichean

Iain and Kirsten joined us on Friday and after a good evening in the newly refurbished Glencoe Hotel Saturday saw us heading for the Mamores to do Na Gruagaichean. At one point the clouds started rolling in particularly over Buachaille Etive Mor to the south…

Clouds over Buachaille Etive Mor

However the clouds cleared by the time we got to the summit. Words cannot really describe the scene…

Looking south to Glencoe

Looking towards Ben Nevis

Looking towards Na Gruagaichean's north top and Ben Nevis

Silhouettes on Na Gruagaichean

Near the summit we met a group of three folk coming down and as they passed one of them paused and asked if I was Ayrshire Tiger. Now I’ve joked for a while that one day this would happen but I was still somewhat surprised – it turned to be a chap Peter who had come along to an OM meet a couple of years ago at Killin – all I can say is that he has a better memory than I do!

We had originally planned to go on and do Binnein Mor but as we had spent so long on the summit of Na Gruagaichean we decided to be sensible and retrace our route. A spectacular day was completed with a brocken spectre…

Brocken Spectre

and an interesting descent in the dark…

Sunset over Loch Leven

Sunset over Loch Leven

So onto Sunday and yet another dry day and a wander up Stob Coire Raineach on Buachaille Etive Beag. We did the whole ridge back in the summer at which point the National Trust for Scotland were carrying out footpath work. Great views again including this one of yesterday’s hill…

View towards Na Gruagaichean

Another interesting descent as the path was very icy in places meaning we tended to by-pass it and use the grassy slopes instead culminating in a spectacular triple somersault by yours truly! At least it proved that old saying about cats always landing on their feet, well almost!

As ever we finished the weekend at the Real Food Cafe where we met up with ptc and Sandy who had been wild camping in the Grey Corries and Beinn a Creachain respectively.

Glencoe OutdoorsMagic Meet

Had a great weekend up in Glencoe meeting up with old and new faces from OutdoorsMagic.com.  We had Friday off so decided to head up and do Meall a’ Bhuiridh and Criese, two Munros that Elaina hadn’t done.  In the event we only did Meall a’ Bhuiridh as we spent so much time chatting to a couple of other walkers.  Not a particularly exciting hill  what with all the skiing infrastructure about but there were some interesting bits…

Elaina attempts a bridge crossing!

We arrived at Signal Rock Cottage just after 4pm.  We’ve stayed here before and after a chat with Slawek and Luiza we had a quick shower before heading for the Clachaig Inn for dinner.  Eventually the rest of the crowd arrived although we did have to bring Polly the Parrot out to attract some of the OM folk who were on their first meet!  Highlight of the night had to be the arrival of Sir Jimmy Savile!  Have to say he’s looking well for someone who’s going to be 83 in a few weeks time!

Saturday morning saw reasonable weather to start with as some of us met at Mamore Lodge.

OMers meet at Mamore Lodge

We set off along the landrover track with the aim of doing Binnein Beag.  It’s a long walk in to the remotest of the Mamore Munros and it wasn’t long until we realised as we approached Loch Eilde Mor that we had walked past the turn off that takes you around the shoulder of Sgurr Eilde Beag.  A quick re-assessment saw us take the path up the east side of the Allt Coire nan Laogh (a route we had taken in reverse last winter when the stream was in spate!).  We eventually got back on the planned route and carried on towards Coire an Lochain below Sgurr Eilde Mor.  The weather had deteriorated by this time and Sandy and Louise decided to make Louise’s first Munro Sgurr Eilde Mor rather than Binnein Beag.

Sgurr Eilde Mor

The rest of us carried on hoping for the weather to clear and with immaculate timing it did as we approached Binnein Beag.

The summit party contemplate the final ascent!

Looking towards Buachaille Etive Mor

We did have discussions about going on to do Binnein Mor but the weather was still being temperamental and the realisation that it would probably add a good couple of hours to the day made it an easy decision to take the long path back to Kinlochleven for Haggis Fritters and Steak and Chips at the MacDonald Hotel!

Loch Leven Sunset from MacDonald Hotel

It was late by the time we got back to Glencoe and the campers decided to stay at the camp site.  Elaina and I headed for the Clachaig planning to meet Ian Gallagher of Kendall Mountaineering Services who had taken three OMers scrambling on Ben Nevis.  Unfortunately the pub was mobbed and we didn’t realise that they had decided to go through to the Lounge Bar.  So we just had the one pint before heading back to the B&B.

Sunday saw ourselves, Sandy and Louise heading for Glen Nevis and a walk up to Steall Falls and a play on the wire bridge!

Elaina crossing Steall wire bridge

On the way back we were interviewed by someone from the John Muir Trust who were doing a survey to find out if people thought the path to Steall was appropriate.  There have been several accidents, some fatal, and the Trust are looking to be able to justify not making changes to the path.  Hopefully our response will assist in that aim as it would be crazy if health and safety concerns led to “improvements” being imposed!

Sunday night saw us back in the Clachaig for a really excellent night with a dozen of us staying on to the bitter end of a cracking weekend.  It’s a good sign when you are having to be chucked out of the Clachaig at closing time on Sunday night!

On Monday we all headed home but not before we introduced Iain to the joys of the Real Food Cafe!  Two egg and bacon rolls, a very large coffee and a large hot chocolate later (and that was just for Iain!) we parted company with plans already in hand for the next OM meet in Great Langdale in the Lakes.

Got home and watched a recording of Sunday night’s “Munro – Mountain Man” programme in which I made a fleeting out of focus appearance in the background of the Clachaig Inn as Nick Crane was interviewing folk for the programme – you’d think I was never out of the place!