Beinn A' Ghlo

Carn nan Gabhar from Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain

Route from Loch Moraig

I realised that the three munros collectively known as Beinn A' Ghlo had not been featured on the blog, probably because I last climbed them before I started recording all my walks on the munros on this blog in 2010. During my five previous walks on these hills, I had never encountered a day with good visibility. The forecast was reasonable and I was itching to spend some time in the hills so I left early to catch the best of the day. Normally I try to vary the routes by which I climb hills but there is no obvious alternative to the walk around these hills so I headed to the parking place by Loch Moraig beyond the Bridge of Tilt. It was 8:30am but there were already four cars parked. I began the walk about five minutes after a couple of well-equipped young walkers who were leaving as I arrived.

Tuesday, 17 September 2019

Ascent:      1360 metres
Distance:   23 kilometres
Time:         6 hours 50 minutes

Carn Liath                                    975m    1hr   29mins
Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain     1070m     2hrs 43mins
Carn nan Gabhar                        1129m     3hrs 58mins

The skies were clear and visibility excellent in the morning sun and a cool breeze from the north meant it would be good walking conditions although blustery on the summits. It was my first day on the hills for a couple of months although I had run up a local hill on three occasions in the last few weeks. It must have helped because I was walking easily and kept the same distance behind the two young walkers despite making a few stops for photos. After a couple of kilometres on an excellent track, the path to Carn Liath starts by a large wooden shed. It is boggy at first, but a helicopter drop of large bags of rocks has enabled improvements to the path. The path gradually steepens and a new section of white quartzite keeps you above the old boggy path. There is then a quite remarkable stone staircase that climbs for almost 500 metres to a cairn at the end of the summit ridge.

I passed the two walkers who had decided to take a break from the fierce wind at the cairn and proceeded to the summit cairn and nearby trig point. I had kept a good pace, a quicker ascent than the last one ten years ago, and my fitness was better than I had expected. I took photos and had a drink before I was joined by the two walkers who were police officers enjoying a day off duty. We spent 10 minutes in conversation and left together but I didn't want to intrude so I pushed on to allow them to walk together. The first leg was into the strong northerly wind but after a couple of dog legs to Bheinn Mhan, there was protection from the wind by the bulk of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain, the next Munro. It was a steady climb but again I felt relaxed and skipped up the path. I found some shelter at the summit, after a few minutes I was joined by the police officers and we continued the conversation. I was offered a dram of malt whisky from a hip flask as we examined the skyline to identify the mountains, most of which were in the beat of one of the officers.

We set off together for the traverse over to Carn nan Gabhar. It is an easy walk along the ridge followed by a 200-metre drop to Bealach an Fhiodha and then a 250metre climb to the whaleback of Beinn a' Ghlo with its three cairns, all of which were subjected to mighty winds. Two walkers were departing and another lone walker was being thrown about by the wind as he tried to balance his way across the boulder field to the summit. We continued to the far summit and settled down behind the massive stone cairn to have some lunch topped by another nip of whisky. I went round to the windward side of the cairn to relieve myself and when I returned, the police officers told me that they had thought it was the onset of a shower. I figured that pissing on the police was probably a serious offence but they were good guys and they saw the humour in it. We spent some more time studying the nearby hills of Carn na Righ and Glas Tulaichean. Lochnagar was prominent and I thought Beinn a' Bhuird and Ben Avon were recognisable but this was disputed. I held my tongue but checked it out on returning home and was pleased that I had got it right.

The return gave us the option of going over the top, Airgiod Bheinn, which I have done on all previous visits, or dropping to the bealach and following a path down the side of Allt Bealach an Fhiodhe. We chose the latter to escape the wind and the steep rocky path down the southwest scarp of Airgiod Bheinn. The path became boggy so we dropped down to the burn and crossed to the west side and, after another kilometre, we hit a newly laid path that speeded us down to the track. The lone walker that we had met earlier swaying in the wind on the summit was sitting on a boulder looking content with his day. I opened an exchange with him that soon focused on the sad demise of the UK as it sought to extract itself from the EU.

He was British but had lived for over 30 years in Finland. He came to Scotland twice a year to climb the munros. He had 17 left to compleat his round but had found it difficult this year to rent a car because of his age, 79, so was travelling by train and bus. He had taken a taxi from Blair Atholl to get to the start of the walk. I offered to give him a lift back to the hostel he was staying at in Pitlochry.

We sauntered back over the last three kilometres and he gave me an abstract of his remarkable life story. His father had been killed after volunteering for the army in the Second World War. Because he had died overseas of a disease picked up on duty, his mother had been refused a war pension but she appealed and Lord Denning had overturned the Ministry decision. He was very positive about the Finnish way of life and thought their values were more ethical and caring than seemed apparent in the UK with its devotion to protecting the wealthy.

We arrived at the car park and I bade farewell to my police officer friends who had gone on ahead. The journey to Pitlochry was a continuation of his stories covering the paper industry and blogging as well as discussing his remaining munros and how he was going to approach them. He hoped to climb the In Pinn in the next week. I wished him well and asked for an invite to his final Munro.

Start of the walk at Loch Moraig

Looking back to Loch Moraig from the start of the path

Carn Liath

The start of the path to Carn Liath

Carn Liath summit

Braigh Coire C-b and Carn nan Gabhar from Carn Liath

Braigh Coire C-b on the route from Carn Liath

Looking back to Carn Liath

Final climb up Carn nan Gabhar

Carn nan Gabhar summit in high winds

Descending via Allt Bealach an Fhiodha

The new path back to Loch Moraig