Loch Tay 2010

Thursday 22nd July saw us going off to Loch Tay for our (becoming) annual visit to the cottage hired by Abi's Uncle and cousins.

On the Friday, Abi and I decided to bag Ben Lawers. Last year we had only climbed Beinn Ghlas, not really aware of how close Ben Lawers was, so this year we decided we would do the bigger hill. At over 4000 ft, Ben Lawers is the 10th highest Munro, and this time,the weather was lovely, so much so that I got quite sunburned on my head.

The route we followed was initially the same as last year, starting from the Ben Lawers (now obsolete) visitors centre (marker in the bottom left of map below), and following the path out through the nature trail. Then instead of heading straight up Beinn Ghlas, we took the path that slopes gently up the west side of the mountain, and then actually goes around the back of the summit before coming out at the col between Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas.

We then headed to the top of Ben Lawers (top right marker, 2 hours 40 min), before heading back down to the col and going up Beinn Ghlas (centre marker), and then returning off the end of Beinn Ghlas to the nature trail and car park.

View Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas in a larger map

Like I said, it was a lovely day, and a good walk. This was the first time we had both walked using Trekking Poles; for Abi it was a case of seeing if it would ease pressure on her hip which has bothered her in the past. For me, I wanted to know if it would prevent my left knee from hurting on the descent; a knee that has hurt on descents ever since I hurt it when falling over in the snow in the Cairngorms years ago. Well I think they helped Abi's hips, but my knee still felt sore, and still seized up when I sat still in the evening.

It was a straightforward climb, but it is quite steep and rocky after the col up to the summit of Ben Lawers, but after that the descent and then climb to the top of Beinn Ghlas was an absolute doddle. The descent down the front of Beinn Ghlas is quite steep in places, but a lot of it has been eroded in the past and so now there are lots of rough stone steps down the path, which makes the walk quite boring and more jarring on the legs.

It was a super days walking though, as can be seen, we actually had blue sky and sunshine at the top, quite a difference from last year (see: http://rbetney.blogspot.com/2009/07/loch-tay.html). It's a shame our thighs were wrecked for the next three days, and Abi's blisters on her heels were awful.

Of course we also had a great time with the Mavor family ,associated spouses and offspring. Lots of good food, and cake was eaten, and quite a competitive game of Battle of the Sexes was played! It slips my mind who won! Oh OK it was the girls; but I'm quite proud of the fact I know nothing about Eastenders, Coronation Street, or Emmerdale, and the fact that the only answer I knew that none of the other guys knew, was that Noo Noo was the the vacuum cleaner in Teletubbies!