Wisp Hill

24 October.

Participants - Just me
Where - Wisp Hill, 595m/1953', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 79, NY 386993.

I had been at a weekend of MBA meetings including the AGM at Greenhead in Northern England and just had enough time for a short walk on the way home. There are a small group of Marilyn's just north of Langholm that I had never visited so I made a small diversion up the A7 to tackle one of these. Wisp Hill was the closest to the road so that was the one that I chose. This is a view of Whin Fell, its southern top, from the A7.....

The eastern slopes were steep sided so I drove as far as Mosspaul hotel before parking so that I could tackle the more gentle north-east slopes. Wisp Hill turned out to be a grassy hill and it was a bit tussocky in places but generally the going was OK. I paused on the way up to take this picture of the road with the hotel and the hills in the direction of Hawick.....

The trig soon came into view.....

It had been frosty the previous night and the atmosphere was very clear so the views were excellent. I could see some of the Lake District hills on the southern horizon.....

and to the north I could make out the distinctive shape of the Eildon hills (right of trig) with Rubers Law, another hill that is on my list to climb in this area, further right.....

Not having been in this area before, I was a bit puzzled as to what the highest land across the valley was but eventually decided that it was Caldcleuch Head, which I climbed from the Hawick side many years ago.....

There was another Marilyn, Pikethaw Hill, just to the south of Wisp Hill but it involved a fair bit of descent and reascent and the sun was already starting to get quite low in the sky so no time to do it today. There is a third Marilyn, Ellson Fell across the A7 but it was surrounded by trees and looked as if it might take a bit of planning to find a way up. So there is plenty to do here and it is a nice area so I must make the effort to come back sometime. Anyway, I had snatched a new Marilyn for my list from an otherwise busy weekend so I was content!

Beinn Dearg (Menteith Hills)

19 October 2010. The forecast was good but the sky was a bit cloudy- typical late autumn day really. I was only looking for a short walk and the Menteith hills fitted the bill exactly. I parked the car in an unofficial lay by on the A81 Callander to Aberfoyle road immediately opposite the start of a track that led to the radio masts on Ben Gullipen. The first part of the walk was through a forest and the track then entered land belonging to Gartchonzie estate. A large sign gave notice that "Pedigree Highlanders" were grazing; although there was lots of evidence that they had been on the track there was no sign of the beasts today. This is on the approach track looking towards Ben Gullipen.....

Ben Gullipen was an excellent viewpoint in its own right. Ben Ledi was prominent to the north across Loch Vennachar (the loch to its right is Loch Lubnaig).....

If I wasn't collecting and photo-recording Marilyn's then I doubt that I would have continued beyond the masts. The highest point of this small group of hills- Beinn Dearg, 427m/1,400'- was less than 1/2 mile away and would probably have only taken about 15 minutes if the underfoot conditions were good. However, they were far from it; the heather was some of the roughest that I have encountered in this area and there was also tussocky grass and some boggy areas. I decided to drop down a bit to the north and traverse across the hillside close to Lochan Bailoch and thus avoid the worst of the heather; this is Beinn Dearg from Ben Gullipen with Lochan Bailoch in the foreground.....

On the way back, I spotted a rough track on the south side of the ridge and followed it as far as a point directly below the masts and climbed back up from there to join the outward track. It was a marginally better route. Needless to say, this does not seem to be a well visited summit and there was no cairn. The highest point was at the junction of some fences. I took this picture looking west to Ben Venue and Ben Lomond.....

The view down Loch Vennachar into the Trossachs was also good from here......

and how about this for some highland scenery only about 20 odd miles from Glasgow? It is Ben Ledi across Lochan Bailoch.....

The walk was about 4 miles altogether with about 300m of ascent and it took me 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Beinn Dorain

11 October 2010. One of those cloudy high pressure areas had moved in- typical for this time of year really. The forecasts were promising that it would be clear in the west with excellent visibility so I headed for Bridge of Orchy. It was dull when I left home, sunny at Strathblane, cloudy again driving up the side of Loch Lomond with the hills covered in clag, and as it hadn't improved by the time that I reached Crianlarich I was beginning to think that I had made a wasted journey. But driving up the hill out of Tyndrum things suddenly looked promising.....

I parked in the car park at the Bridge of Orchy hotel and by the time that I had got my gear on, it was clear that it was going to be a corker of a day. Could there even be a cloud inversion, I wondered? October is one of the best months in the year for them. The path into the Beinn an Dothaidh/ Beinn Dorain corrie had improved greatly since I had last been here, although where it started to steepen it remained the bog fest that I remembered. But I was soon past that bit and dry underfoot conditions returned when I reached the steepest section. This is looking back towards Bridge of Orchy from not far after the start.....

I knew that the views were going to be good but I was unprepared for what I saw when I reached the col; whereas the hills to the west were hazy, cloud filled the glens to the east with only the tops poking out above the sea of white. Beinn Heasgarnich is the long ridge in the centre of the pic.....

It was really warm in the sunshine and I sat about at the col for a while. Eventually I dragged myself away and continued upwards, this is another view of the hills to the east with Beinn Mhanach and its western top the pudding shaped hill on the left......

It was a bit hazy still to the west but as I got higher it was obvious that the inversion conditions were persisting in the glens to the south; this is looking to the Crianlarich hills from close to the summit.....

The final approach to the summit.....

Along with several other people, I spent about an hour on top, lazing about in the sun and looking at the views. This sort of day is why I climb hills!

The view to Ben More and Stobinian (slight telephoto).....

over the Corbett of Beinn Odhair to the Crianlarich hills (I like this one; it gives a good impression of height).....

and to the Ben Lui group.....

 Eventually I decided that I had better make my way back down. The cloud in the glens had more or less lifted and the views were back to being just excellent! This is looking east to Beinn a'Chreachain and Beinn Mhanach from the descent.....

along Loch Lyon with the Ben Lawers group in the far distance.....

over a wee lochan on the ridge to the neighbouring Munro of Beinn an Dothaidh.....

The view east from the col when I got back to it was good but I think that I preferred it with the cloud in the glens.....

It was just a case of retracing my steps back down the path to the car. It was more like June than October, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I paused a few times for more photographs- this is looking back up the path to the corrie.....

and this is a view of the Etive hills to the west of Bridge of Orchy, Stob Ghabhar prominent.....

The walk took 5 hours and 20 minutes, it was about 6 miles and involved almost 900m of ascent.  I stopped at the same viewpoint on the way back and took this final shot of Beinn Dorain for the day.....

Stob a'Choire Odhair

16 October 2009. The weather recently has been so awful in this part of the country- or when it has been reasonable I have had something else that needed doing and have been unable to go hillwalking- so to cheer me up I have decided to blog a walk that I did in perfect conditions last October. Stob a'Choire Odhair, 945m/3,107' is very prominent from the main road across Rannoch Moor and provides a fine walk either with or without its near neighbour, Stob Ghabhar....

There is a good car park just short of Victoria Bridge; the estate seems to be very walker friendly. The autumn colours were stunning; this is the view that I got looking towards the Etive hills.....

The first part of the walk was along the track following the Abhainn Shira as far as the mountaineering club hut named as Clashgour. I stayed in this hut many moons ago and it can accommodate many more people than seems possible from the outside.....

I then followed an old path up the glen of the Allt Toaig; this path is getting a bit wet and muddy in places but it is better than struggling over the moorland......

Higher up, the path divided and I took the right hand branch which ascended the south slopes of my Munro in a series of zig zags.....

There was a good view from this path west towards Ben Cruachan.....

Reaching the top of the zig zags, I thought that I was almost at the summit but in fact it was another 25 minutes away up gentle but increasingly bouldery slopes. The cairn was perched on the edge of the east face looking directly down and across Rannoch Moor.....

But it was the surrounding mountains that really caught the eye. This is the cairn looking towards Bidean nam Bian.....

I sat on top for a while drinking in the view. I had heard stags roaring in the distance when I was coming up and spotted a big herd on the slopes of neighbouring Beinn Toaig. Eventually I dragged myself away and started the descent of the west slopes where there was traces of a path. This is a view to Stob Ghabhar from the descent.....

and this is another view of Bidean.....

One good thing about having done the Munros is that there is no pressure to do multiple ascents on a walk if the inclination is otherwise. The ascent to Stob Ghabhar from the col is extremely steep and loose and I couldn't really be bothered tackling it again today so after sitting around at the col for a while I simply descended a bit and picked up the other branch of the ascent path and returned to the car. This is looking to the Crianlarich hills from the col.....

The view to Beinn Achaladair, Beinn an Dothaidh and Beinn Dorain from the walk back along the track was superb.....

An excellent 5 and a half hours on one of my favourite Munros (9 miles and 760m of ascent). Lets hope that the 2010 autumn weather turns to this soon!