Cruban Beag

18 July 2014

Participants: Just me
Where: Cruban Beag, 590m/1,935', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 35, NN 668924

It was the summer meeting of the MBA Trustees and this year the venue was Laggan. The south of the UK was due to experience thunderstorms and torrential rain but it looked as though Scotland was going to miss that. However it was to be hot. The day before the meeting looked the best bet for a day on the hills so I set off early with the aim of climbing Cruban Beag, the highest point of a triangle of land between Dalwhinnie, Newtonmore and Laggan, This is a photo of the hill taken from Laggan on the following morning.....

The cloud was down as I drove north but as so often happens, there was a complete change when I got past Drumochter. Blue sky appeared, the sun came out and it was clearly going to be a nice day. Cruban Beag is a craggy hill but the map suggested an easy way up from it's north side. So I took the narrow unclassified road that passed Glentruim caravan site and managed to get the car off the road at a bridge over a burn at about 659935. I walked back along the road for a few yards and crossed a gate into a field. I followed a track across the field and through some trees and reached a fence which was heading up the hill in the direction that I wanted to go. So I followed it and in fact there was a rough path beside it which avoided any potential vegetation problems. The fence went most of the way up the hill and where it turned away I was only 10 minutes from the summit.

It was a pleasant walk up. Here, I am looking west up the Spey valley to Creag Meagaidh.....

but the most striking view was over the valley to Creag Dhubh west of Newtonmore. The full extent of the rock climbing area is well seen from here. Fortunately, for non-climbers like me, there is an easy way up avoiding all that!

The summit was marked by a round trig on a rocky knoll and it was another good view point......

I took a wide angle shot of the view to the west. Some well known Munros and Corbetts here- from the left it shows Ben Udlamain at Drumochter, the Fara, the Geal Charn hills, Binnein Shuas and Shios looking tiny in the middle of some of the bigger ranges, and Creag Meagaidh with the window clearly visible.....

and back on normal focus length, the Fara, Geal Charn and the Shuas and Shios twins.....

and Creag Meagaidh.....

the trig with the Monadliath and Creag Dhubh in the background.....

and the view east to the Cairngorms, with their tops still in cloud.....

It wasn't actually as hot as had been forecast, just pleasantly warm with a faint breeze that kept the flies away. So I was able to sit at the summit for a while and admire the view. Another little known sub-2k had turned up trumps!