KYQ4: Ben Oss & Beinn Dubhchraig

Waterfalls below Beinn Dubhchraig

Friday, 17 May 2024

Ascent: 1156 metres
Distance: 24 kilometres
Time: 6 hours 51 minutes

Beinn Dubhcraig. 978m. 2hrs 29 mins
Ben Oss 1029m. 3hrs. 58mins

I had planned to climb Ben Lui on what promised to be another rare sunny day. First, I had to visit the Medical Centre for some stitches to be removed so the start was later than I would have wished. I also needed to acquire some hill fitness and noticed whilst waiting for the nurse that the Met Office forecast was for fresh easterly winds on the hills. If I began the walk from Dalrigh and climbed Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss first, the wind would help on the 450-metre slog up Ben Lui. On five previous outings, I have always climbed the four hills together but I was no longer collecting Munros, Beinn a' Cleibh, the undistinguished outlier to Ben Lui, could be forgotten. It is either a long out and back from Ben Lui or requires a descent to Glen Lochy and the uncertainty of hitching a lift back to Tyndrum, hitching is not as easy as it used to be.

Leaving Dalrigh and finding the right path always seems like a bit of a lottery. I did well initially helped by OSmaps online, I found the quickest route to the bridge over the river St Fillan and walked alongside the railway line before crossing it and coming to a junction of paths. I stopped to look at the map, the more obvious track headed south alongside the Allt Gleann Auchreoch, I thought this may be a better route than that I had followed previously along a boggy forest path. A walker behind me had no such doubts and went the other way and, as I discovered later in the day, he had thought of telling me that the route to Dubhchraig was the lower path which had a bridge over the river. I was walking well up the track but after a mile, I realised this was a far longer way and that I should drop down to cross the river and ascend what looked like an easy grassy slope between the plantation and the native Caledonian forest.

I dropped 40 metres to the river which was a raging torrent. It took ten minutes to find a possible crossing point that required a leap across a deep chasm, my nerves and shoes held. After climbing up the bank, the grassy glade turned out to be deep grass engulfed in boggy moss that made every step twice the effort. It took 45 minutes to cover a mile before I spotted the real path on the other side of the Allt Coire Dubhchraig. It was boggy but knew the way to the summit. I relaxed and enjoyed the climb as the path meandered its way to the summit ridge. I had probably lost 40 minutes by not taking this path from the railway line. The final half kilometre to the summit was a steady climb. It was approaching 1pm as I reached the bulky but untidy cairn. I took a few photos, rebuilt the top of the cairn in my usual style and had some food whilst a raven circled above checking for morsels.

It is a fairly steep descent of 180 metres to Bealach Buidhe, a ptarmigan croaked at me as I passed. The path towards Ben Oss is level for a few hundred metres until a cairn from where a steep path climbs towards the 941-metre northern top. I began the climb as I saw someone begin the descent and we met about halfway up. The young woman from Biggar was at that stage of her Munro round that has taken hold of your life. So many adventures had and so many more to come, and like most young female hillwalkers she was also into outdoor swimming. She had just returned from a trip to Knoydart, and I envied her for the times ahead. As I neared the top of the climb I met a teacher from Edinburgh who was on his 137th Munro, we had another longish chat. He was about to head to Gairloch to supervise some of his school pupils and was hoping to walk the Glen Affric Munros.

I had lost another 25 minutes in conversations but enjoyed meeting younger people who were captivated by Scottish hillwalking. The conditions were perfect and the ramble along to Ben Oss was a treat. I finished my lunch and contemplated the timings to reach Ben Lui. It was almost 3 pm and would be approaching 4:30 pm before I reached Ben Lui. I wanted to be down to listen to Dead Ringers on the radio on the way home. I continued down to Creag Dubh a' Bhealaich, but twisted my right knee on the descent. Whilst there was no apparent problem on the less steep slopes I began to wonder whether the rocky twisting descent of Ben Lui would inflame it. I am conscious that injuries at my age take weeks not days to recover and this is the prime walking season. I glanced down Coire Laoigh and spotted an obvious descent route from near the bealach. Ben Lui could wait. I took my time on the steep descent in the company of dozens of frogs and reached the Coire floor with no further knee damage. There was the trace of a path down the west bank, a 3-kilometre walk to the track that serves Ben Lui. The conditions were benign with a cooling breeze to keep any sweat at bay.

I reached the track from Ben Lui by climbing up 70 metres, a walker was a hundred metres behind me. As we approached Connonish, I held a gate open for him as he approached and we struck up a conversation. He had been the person who had thought of telling me the route to Dubhchraig in the morning. He had managed Ben Lui and had obviously been moving well. We walked together for the 5 kilometres back to Dalrigh. He originally came from Sheffield, allowing us to talk animately about Sheffield pubs, Sheffield Wednesday, and even the mercurial Sheffield United midfielder, Tony Currie. We had both been to Liverpool University although he was about ten years younger which prompted more stories about Liverpool, although I never got around to telling him about making a film with Billie Whitelaw. We had started to talk about hill walking, he lived in Edinburgh for many years and knew the Scottish Hills intimately and had taken to walking the Borders Hills as the sustainable alternative to going to the far north.

Without any prompting from me, he exploded with indignation about the North Coast 500 and how it had despoiled hill walking in the far north as accommodation was now either non-existent or too expensive, hotels and restaurants were full of tourists and laybyes were clogged with camper vans. We could have done a podcast on the subject. He had also walked the GR20 in Corsica and had worked for BT with colleagues whom I knew. We could probably have done a weekly podcast on places, people, mountains, football teams and big walks that we both had experienced.

The final 5 kilometres had flown by. We were back in time so I could listen to the news as well as Dead Ringers. After a bath and a beer, I managed to stay awake for Have I Got News for You and to load my photos onto the computer. It had been a good day and sleep was calling until a cramp in my leg postponed it for a few minutes.