Meall Buidhe
25 August 2007
The route of the A85 Lochearnhead to Lix Toll Road goes through Glen
Ogle and at its high point, opposite Lochan Lairig Cheile, there is a
parking area. Here a 'hot food' van operates so the car park may be
busy.
East of the car park the area has a large deer fence with a vehicle
track, not shown on my map, that leads uphill to a radio mast. A
locked gate prevents vehicle access and a sign indicates that walkers
should find an alternative route although they have built a wicket
gate. As alternative routes are over rough terrain I went through
the wicket gate and followed the path to the radio mast, which is
actually beyond the top end of the deer fence, where there is no
advice regarding route taking.
The weather consisted of some low cloud and light rain but the track
made for good progress and from the radio mast I headed over rough
ground to the bealach between Beinn Leabhainn and Meall Buidhe. From
the bealach it was a short climb to the summit of Meall Buidhe which
has two cairns. The northern one appears the highest and the
southern one a viewpoint down to Glen Ogle and Loch Earn. I had a
brief view of Loch Earn before the cloud closed in again.
The return was by the route of ascent. There appear to be no problem
using this track despite the notice at the start. There is also a
fence round the radio mast but I left the track a few metres before
reaching the mast.
Time taken - 1.75 hours.
Distance - 5 kilometres.
Height climbed - 400 metres.
There are no photographs due to poor weather conditions.
Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com