It was raining with low cloud when I met my client in Crianlarich and
we drove the 3.5 miles south on the A82 to a car park near the River
Falloch. By the time we arrived at this car parking area the rain had
almost ceased.
The first obstacle of the day was the crossing of a wet and boggy field
to a vehicle track that went under the railway line. We followed this
track for a short distance before heading up onto the north ridge of
Sron Gharbh, crossing a barbed wire fence en-route.
Once over Sron Gharbh we walked along the ridge, known as Twisting
Hill, and ascended An Caisteal, which has a gully to cross before the
ridge narrowed and the summit was reached. The cloud had been trying
to break along Twisting Hill and over onto our next hill, Beinn
a'Chroin.
We descended the south ridge of An Caisteal as the cloud engulfed us
again and on reaching the bealach we commenced a fairly steep ascent
with some minor scrambles onto the west end of Beinn a'Chroin. Even
on a clear day it is difficult to decide which is the highest point on
the ridge but according to the map it is the third knoll, which is
shown as 942 metres. We crossed all the knolls and headed over to the
940 metre point, which was in the cloud as was the rest of the ridge.
After a short break we descended by the north ridge as the cloud
started to break up again. Once off this ridge we crossed the River
Falloch and followed it down Coire Earb. It was rather wet and boggy
in places but improved once we reached the vehicle track further down
the glen. The sun came out as we re-crossed the boggy field and
headed for our cars.
A few photos can be viewed at:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/galleries/an_caisteal_may06/index.htm
Stats at: http://caledoniahilltreks.blogspot.com/
Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com