Monday May 8th
Four Munros with Tim G: Carn Gorm, Meall Garbh, Carn Maigh and Meall nan Aighean
We had driven up to Pitlochry with Tim G in anticipation of Paul B's last Munro and, as we had booked Lilac Cottage for a few extra days, Tim generously agreed to accompany David on a walk to summit a few more Munros of his own (there was no real need for Tim to go, as he'd already completed his Munros). The forecast wasn't good, but all in all although it was pretty misty, we didn't encounter too much rain. There was a limite photo op before we disappeared into the murk but there was an idea of what the scenery was like- if there hadn't been any clouds.
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| Glen Lyon |
It was a steady, but not too difficult, plod up to the top of Carn Gorm, which we made in less than book time. We had a snack and whilst we mused that anyone with common sense would call it a day and go back along the way they'd came in the mist, it was decided that it would be a bit of a faff to have to come back and gain the height again to do the other three summits in the round, so we pressed on. The summit of Meall Garbh was flatish, with a cairn at the western end and a rather sad, has-been trig point at the eastern end.
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| "Retired" trig point |
The way to Carn Mairg was indicated (rather than marked) by the remains of an iron fence, at least those bits that hadn't been used to supplement cairns.
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| Reinforced cairn |
We stopped for lunch at the perceived summit of Carn Mairg, which provided a little shelter for lunch.
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| Lunch on Carn Mairg |
David reviewed the guidebook's description of the summit of Carn Mairg and realised that where we were didn't match it! Fortunately, the summit cairn was intermittently visible through the mist so he set off to touch it. It was only when he arrived that he realised that he didn't have his Garmin GPS with him, so the location wouldn't be captured. He then tried to take a screenshot of the Ordnance Survey app, but this was showing his location to within 7418m (possibly Glen Coe) so that was no use!
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| Where the heck am I? |
The altitude, at least, was accurate and matched where he was meant to be.
The let to the final Munro, Meall nan Aighean, was relatively short and straightforward, in contrast to the descent from there. There were two wide and distinct tracks and Tim suggested that the correct way was more or less halfway between the two. David, however, was convinced that the feet of many Munroists would have left a clear track and plumped for the lefthand one. However, after a while, it began to go uphill and it was evident that it was going up to the subsidiary summit. After several minutes of referring to maps and compasses (and taking the precise location with the GPS), we were able to rejoin the right path and descend the clear ridge back towards Invervar. On the way down, the mist began to clear and eventually we had full views of the surroundings and the occasional glimpse of the hills that we had climbed.
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| Descent into clarity |
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| Looking back to our first objective- above highpoint of forest |
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| Invervar Lint Mill |
