Arrochar, 21st June 2009

A biking holiday to Scotland was the perfect excuse to bag a couple of Quality Mountains Days this week. Our accommodation was the holiday park at Lochgoilhead just down the road from the Arrochar Alps, a place surrounded by some amazing roads and mountains… Perfect!
The weather was excellent, hot and sunny, perfect for taking the motorbike on the smooth roads on the west coast. By Sunday I was hoping for some bad weather so I could justify a walk but it wasn’t going to happen. So I took advantage of the longest day and, after a day of bikes, I took to the hills at 4:00pm. The cloud had started to roll in by now and from 450m visibility was down to 25 – 50m.

Good opportunity to get in lots of navigation practice. The first summit achieved was Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn, at 658m and surrounded by crags it was a difficult trip in the fog. Next along the route was Beinn Tharsuinn, a small drop of 150m before climbing back up to 619m. The climb up to the next peak Beinn Lochain 703m was quite steep through crags but nowhere near as difficult as the descent. There were no paths on the hills and the ground was covered in long grass which was sodden in the low cloud. In fact, it was so wet; the only wildlife I came across was frogs!!

By the time I got back to the accommodation, the cloud was at sea level and I was covered head to foot in midges. They are the most evil creatures on the planet!