Wednesday 28 March 2012

Beinn Dearg (Glen Artney)

27 March 2012

Participants - A solo expedition
Where - Beinn Dearg (Glen Artney), 706m/2,316', Graham, Map 57, NN 697197

A March heatwave! The temperature hit a new record for the month on 3 successive days at Aboyne and temperatures in the area round the central belt got over 20C. Unusually for these temperatures in a prolonged good spell, it wasn't particularly hazy so I decided to take the opportunity of tackling Beinn Dearg in Glen Artney which would be a new Graham/Marilyn for me. It didn't look too long a day looking at the map but it turned out to be a different story on the ground! Certainly, it looked a fair way from the road to the summit.....


I parked in the big car park opposite Glen Artney church and walked back along the road to the house at Dalchuirn, A track skirted the farm buildings, crossed a bridge over the Water of Ruchill and continued to another bridge over a tributary that wasn't named on my map. I took the left hand branch of the track just over this second bridge and followed a rough path/sheep track alongside the burn and a deer fence for about half a mile past a small gorge. This is looking to Beinn Dearg over the gorge.....


Shortly after passing the gorge I came across a gate in the deer fence; although it was heavily wired in I was able to get over it easily. I immediately crossed the burn, no problems today, there was hardly any water in it. The ground between the burn and the start of the climb up the south-east slopes of the hill was the worst of the day- tufty grass which is always difficult to walk across. I headed in the general direction of an old quarry with my objective now straight ahead.....


I was now on grassy slopes and the views were opening up as I gained height. Mor Bheinn and Ben Halton were in view on the other side of the valley, they seem an entirely different proposition being covered in heather......


Another two walkers had set off just behind me and they looked as though they were heading for Mor Bheinn. Then they suddenly changed direction and headed for Beinn Dearg as well. I met one of them at the summit and he confirmed that they had intended to do Mor Bheinn but that they had been stopped by a new deer fence which apparently surrounded the hill.

Beinn Dearg turned out to be one of these hills where you think that you are just about to see the top when another bit comes into view. It was a bit of a struggle in the heat and I was having lots of pauses as I trudged up the grass slopes.....



My Landranger map wasn't particularly helpful when it came to looking for the highest point and I had of course forgotten to check where exactly it was before leaving the house. A 705 top about a mile further on is marked on the map and looked higher than where I was but I was pretty sure that that wasn't it. In fact the top I was on was a metre higher and I knew that the highest point was on the eastern side of the hill. The best of the view was to Stuc a'Chroin and Ben Vorlich......


and this is a slightly zoomed shot of Stobinian and Ben More.....


I made much better progress on the way back but it was certainly a tougher hill than I had anticipated. But its nice country and it was only a short drive from home.

4 comments:

Alex said...

I encountered the new deer fence surrounding Mor Bheinn last year Neil.A lot of money is being spent on the estate by some Russian oligarch who resides for a few weeks every year at Aberuchill Castle on the other side.Still to pay a visit to this Beinn Dearg but have decided to try and finish my Corbetts before I`m 60 :)
Let`s hope I can distinguish the security code this time.!

Alex said...

Five minutes to work it out that time..!

Neil said...

Best of luck with the Corbetts Alex! I doubt if I'll finish them now; the ones that I have to do are all the remote ones and beyond me nowadays. But there are still lots of more accessible hills thgat I haven't done yet. All I need is the westher......

blueskyscotland said...

Hi Neil.I Had a good view of this hill range on a cycle trip a few months ago from above Arnprior.Looked grassy but fairly up and down between summits.
Wonder if thats the best spell of weather over for this year? :)