Christmas Dinner Meet, Inverardran Cottage, Crianlarich
This was our first Club Christmas Dinner since Kintail in 2021. Last year the snow gates over the Lecht were closed so we had to abandon our Christmas Dinner meet at Muir Cottage. This year, there was little prospect of snow, but 60mph winds and two months worth of rainfall were promised for the West Highlands over the weekend. Crianlarich was on the fringes of the frighteningly bright colours on the weather maps, so we had our fingers crossed that all would be well.
But more of that later.
The main event of the weekend was our Christmas Dinner. Steve organised our volunteer cooks into providing a sumptuous meal with an amazing selection of starters, mains and sweets for our dinner. I think that I overindulged in having all three of the starters, which meant that I was only able for one of the sweets! Many thanks to our culinary stars - Jim, Dan and Irene, Steve, Michael, Margaret, Peter B., Marion, and Fiona - and to the rest of the party who did all the kitchen portering and cleaning up.
And so to the hills. A combination of weather and overindulgence meant that our achievements over the weekend were modest. Anticipating this outcome, several of us decided to leave early on Friday to climb our respective hills on the way to Crianlarich.
Dan writes - Despite poor weather forecasts there were still hill offerings to be had on the Christmas meet. On our way down Irene and I paused in Drumochter to go up The Sow of Atholl from Dalnaspidal lodge. The top was clear on the A9 approach though clouded over by the time we plodded up. It was a nice stretch of the legs though before another stop for coffee and cake.
Arthur wites -I took a detour to Balquhidder on Friday, to climb The Stob - choosing to follow a forest track up Glean Crotha rather than the guidebook route. Emerging from the forest it was very wet and very misty indeed. I confirmed the guidebook comment that The Stob is a navigational challenge in poor visibility. On the descent, I met a fox on the forest track. He seemed as surprised as I was at the encounter.
Jim writes -The weather forecast for Friday morning was encouraging, so I set off early from Inverness to travel to Crianlarich via Dunkeld. I opted for Newtyle Hill, a Marilyn of all of 317m which proved dry and fog free. Newtyle Hill is a largely wooded hill on the east side of the Tay at Birnham. Rather than start in the village, I decided to begin my walk from the Loch of the Lowes nature reserve car park, a couple of miles east of Dunkeld. Its not the most memorable of hills but I enjoyed the walk. If anyone else is tempted to do this walk I would do it in the winter or spring before the undergrowth flourishes.
Saturday’s plans were tempered by the weather and the previous evening’s overindulgence. Mel, Michael and Margaret walked to Cononish; Peter B went part way up Ben Donich and Mike, Fiona and Martin took the train to Bridge of Orchy and walked back. Coffee and cake at Tyndrum seemed to be the high point of the walk. Fiona writes laconically “The weather was fairly Scottish, views were minimal but some signboards gave us an idea of what we could have seen.”
Peter writes - Marion and I drove towards Killin as far as Ledcharrie Farm, and walked up the glen towards Balquidder on a good track and then a very muddy path as far as a clutch of sheilings shown on the map but not much in evidence on the ground. From there we decided to try going over the low ridge to the east, with the small summit of Creag Ghlas (593m) as a possible objective. At least we had the wind behind us, but as it got stronger higher up we rapidly gave up that idea and only wanted to get over the ridge and find a bit of shelter. A straightforward grassy descent led to a good track in Gleann Dubh, followed by a seemingly endless and tiring walk back along the old railway line, with the wind now in our faces, to pick up the track back to the farm.
Dan writes - The weather report for Saturday was poor predicting 60mph south westerly winds so we decided to try going up The Brack from Ardgarten. We were hesitant to commit but would go as far as we could (or wanted). The northerly slopes were relatively sheltered and there was less precipitation than feared and so we summited against our own expectations. It was not quite enough exercise to compete with the calorific and alcoholic offerings of the evening meal but we retired to home in the heavy Sunday rain content with our Corbett conquests.
Steve writes -The weather forecast caused Jim and Steve abandoned their original plan of visiting a new Graham on the Cowal Peninsular and they instead opted for the Marilyn of Beinn Dearg which lies on the Highland Boundary Fault between Callandar and Aberfoyle. Despite being only 427m the summit was well above the cloud level which was a shame given the area is of considerable geological interest. Coffee and cake was duly enjoyed at Mhor 84 (formerly the Kingshouse) near Balquhidder.
Sunday was a complete wash-out and Jim sensibly went home after a quick viewing of my Bothy! Sunday afternoon and evening was torrential in Argyll.
Arthur writes - Robin and I went down Loch Lomond to Glen Douglas to attempt the Graham circuit of Beinn Breac and Tullich Hill in the vain hope of a break in the weather. We only had to contend with rain until about 500m; then the cloud came in; and as we approached Beinn Breac summit the wind made things really unpleasant. We followed the ridge towards the Graham top, Ben Reoch for a bit and then decided that we had had enough. The descent down steep burn riven slopes was interesting with several recent landslips and potentially more to come.
Taking part: Steve, Dan, Irene, Peter B., Arthur, Peter, Marion, Mel, Michael, Mike Fiona, Robin. Jim, Margaret and prospective member ,Martin
Words: Arthur, Steve, Jim, Dan, Fiona, Peter
Photos: Arthur, Jim, Dan, Steve
