A Long Hike

Beinn a'Chreachain and Beinn Achaladair


Beinn a'Chreachain


Beinn Achaladair 


Starting Point.

These two munros sit just few miles north east of the Bridge of Orchy. Turn off the A82 at the Achalladar Farm, the sizable car park is situated close to the main road. 

Route

The Route
From the car park head along the track to Achalladar Farm, go past the farm alongside the field and follow the path next to the river. Continue along, past the old wooden bridge to the forest. 


Old Wooden Bridge

I turned up through the forest too early. I did find wooden signposts later on but it is best to continue alongside the forest until you find a sign. I made my way up through the woods to the railway line. The ground here was wet and quite boggy in places. At this point I still had trouble finding the Bridge over the railway line. I finally came across it further down, obviously I had thought I was further along on the map than I was. Once over the bridge, I picked up the signposts and continued to make my way through the forest. The signs pointed over a stile through a fenced off area. I decided to walk up and around the outside of this. I walked north east to the Allt Coire an Lochain burn and from there picked up the track south east to the Lochain a Chreachain.

Slow Going in the Forest

Signpost

Track to the Lochain

Lochain a Chreachain 

From the Lochain I headed east up the slope to the ridge just below the summit of Beinn a'Chreachain. There is a track here but it can be tricky to find. The track along the ridge to the summit is much clearer and isn't far once you have made it to the ridge. 

Ridge to the Summit

Summit of Beinn a'Chreachain 

The time taken for this first Munro was 3hr 50mins and the summit height was 1081m.  From this summit I followed the ridge line west of Meall Buidhe, following the track that skirts below the top of this ridge. This drops down to 813m before ascending again to Beinn Achaladair. The climb to the top of this Munro is steep in parts and does call for some very basic scrambling over some large rocks. Please note that this could be dangerous in wet or icy conditions. It took 1hr and 10mins to reach the summit of Beinn Achaladair at 1038m. Again, the cairn is very close to the edge of the Munro top so be careful. On a clear day you can see the Munros into Glencoe and the car park that you parked in!

Track under Meall Bhuide

Looking at Beinn Achaladair

A Steep Climb

Summit of Beinn Achaladair

Instead of following the same path back, I continued along the Beinn Achaladair ridge which took me down to the Bealach next to Beinn an Dothaidh. I followed the track back down the river Allt Corie Achaladair. This weaves back and forth over the river, easy to do since the weather has been so dry, but could cause issues after heavy rainfall. The walk back to the car from the bealach  is about 2.5km and the walk from the summit of Beinn Achaladair back to the car park took over 2 hours to complete. 

These two Munros are worth doing and give great views of a range of other mountains in the area. The walk up can be tricky at times, especially through the forest. The overall route distance was just under 23km so plan this as an all day event but overall you won't be disappointed with the walk up to these Munros.

For more information check this link
Location: Beinn Achaladair, Aberfeldy PA36 4AG, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dechmont Hill

Image
Walking With Kids At last, after a weekend where it barely stopped raining there was a break in the weather, and a chance to get out. Dechmont hill is our closest climb and measures just under 200m, which gives the kids a chance to get to the top. We parked on the road that runs parallel behind Gilbertfield road. The walk started on the track that leads to Dechmont farm and the shooting range. They are now turning this area into housing, so be careful of builders lorries etc. We took a left turn at the road which leads to the farm, and then a right at the Dechmont Range House, now abandoned. The track ends at a small compound, but takes you past the ruins of Gilbertfield Castle. Gilbertfield Castle The compound contains a couple of old houses which acts as a control station for the shooting range. There is no access through it, instead take a left turn before the end of the track and make your way through the grass. There is a path through here but can be obscured by the tall grass sur
Read more

Cort-ma Law

Image
  Cort-ma Law Less than an hours drive from Glasgow, just north of Lennoxtown are the Campsie hills, which allows for a quick days hike.  Starting Point The best place to start is at the Campsie Glen waterfall car park. This can get busy, so it is best to try and get a parking space early. The walk itself starts directly opposite the car park.  Car park location Location of hill Route The track ascends immediately from the carpark travelling east, go past the old shelter covered in graffiti. Shelter Hike up from the car park The track continues upward and the track could be tricky at this point for younger walkers. The first part of the walk ends at a small cairn marker.  First marker cairn From there the hike undulates for 2km as it snakes it's way slightly south of the actual top. Here you will reach a bigger cairn marker.  Second marker cairn From this marker turn north east to the trig point 4.5 km distance. The height of the summit is 526m. We reached the top with 4 kids in 1
Read more

Bike and Hike

Image
"It was a shame that for all the beauty of the scenery that the top of the mountain was covered in mist." Ben Alder and Ben Bheoil  These two Munros stand south of Dalwhinnie in a remote part of Scotland. The best way of getting to them is to cycle out to Culra bothy, some 17km, which, I suppose is one way of warming up before a lengthy hike. These hills were not even on my radar for possible hills to visit but something happened that changed all that. I have had a mountain bike for over 20 years now, for over 15 years it has been covered up, sitting, rusting out the back. A few years ago I did replace the main gear cassette and chain however frustrated at not getting the gears working properly I gave up and left it. That was until the start of the summer. I had decided on not worrying about gears, all I wanted to do is to cycle and to have a bike that would be a low maintenance as possible. With that in mind I took the gear shifters off, pushed the rear mech back and fixed t
Read more