Meall nam Maigheach

4 October 2009

Participants - Just me
Where - Meall nam Maigheach, 779m/2,558', Corbett, Map 51, NN 586436

Well I guess that that's just about it for the year. Can't see me getting out much until after the New Year now. Weather's just too dank and miserable. Time to start making plans for all the good weather we're going to get next year!

So to keep the blog going, here is a report of a walk I did in October 2009, a year when the October weather was benign and the autumn colours were at their best. Meall nam Maigheach is probably the least visited of the Lawers hills due to the rough nature of the ground and the fact that most folk head straight to the Munros. However they forget that you get good views of the Munros from nearby hills and I think that it is worth putting up with the rough terrain on Meall nam Maigheach for that alone.

The hill is best seen from the Lochan na Lairige on the Loch Tay to Glen Lyon road.......

The guide books say that the best way to climb it is from a roadside hut due west of the summit following a wall up but there is very little parking there and this route seems to provide only a very short day. So although I knew that I was letting myself in for some very rough terrain, I opted to follow the spine of the hill. I left the car at the north end of the loch where there is lots of parking; near here is the start point of a path that goes to the Munro of Meall a'Choire Leith. I followed the path for a short distance before taking to the hillside. It was rough but by following sheep tracks and sticking to the highest ground I was able to make reasonable progress.....

The starting height was over 500m so it was certainly not steep! The going got a bit easier as I approached the summit where there were two cairns. I reckoned that the most southerly one was higher but the other one, about 10 minutes further on, was the better viewpoint and that was where I stopped for my lunch. There were a number of small pools on the summit area which provided foreground for photographs.  Here are some that I took. This is the summit cairn with the Ben Lawers hills in the background.....

The northerly cairn with the Carn Mairg group of hills on the other side of Glen Lyon beyond.....

Looking to Carn Gorm, the most westerly of the Carn Mairg hills.....

Looking to Stuchd an Lochain at the head of Glen Lyon.....

and a shot of a distant Ben More and Stobinian beyond the Glen Lochay hills.....

I spent a fair bit of time on the summit just lazing about and taking in the views before it was time to tackle the heather and bog again. The compensation was the good view that I got of the Lawers hills on the way down.....

I have walked this hill a few times; it is in a great situation and in my view it is well worth putting up with the rough going to reach a great viewpoint....but only in good weather of course!