April Day Trip to the Trossachs
Heidi, Steven and I drove up to the start point and met up with James. We set off up the road to Ledard Farm, then on to the track through woodland beside the Ledard Burn. It was quite warm on the ascent and layers were removed. James took a photo as we crossed the burn.
When we reached the bealach, there was a stiff breeze and the layers were put back on. We traversed to meet up with the path from Gleann Riabach, where a large set of families were approaching .. it turned out a lot of them were Latvian.
The next section of the path was steeper, but we all made it to the summit, which was very busy with a lot of walkers making good use of the fine weather. A sheltered spot below the summit was where we stopped for lunch and to take in the views. However, the peace was disturbed by a drone flying around and hovering above us.
After lunch I took a summit photo and then we started our steep descent. The traverse to the bealach was taken, then we followed the track back down by the burn and back to the cars.
Bob MacDonald
Cornel and I travelled up to Fort William on Thursday 24th April for a late breakfast at Morrisons. We then had a further drive up to Attadale in Glen Carron, where James was waiting for us, having travelled down from Ullapool. The weather was perfect as we set off just after 1pm.
We made good progress on a reasonable track, although it was steeper than I remember. It took us just over three hours to reach Bendronaig Bothy .. last visited by Club Members in March 2007. There was evidence that others had arrived before us, with a few cycle panniers dotted around the bothy. After a short break, James headed off to climb Beinn Dronaig (797m), a Corbett behind the bothy. Cornel and I decided to take it easy. A short time later, three cyclists arrived back having climbed Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor. Their objective was to leave a memorial plaque for David 'Heavy' Whalley, who had served for 40 years with the RAF Mountain Rescue. 'Heavy' was on target to compleat his eighth round of Munros on these two mountains, but unfortunately died earlier this year.
James made good progress and was soon back at the bothy. Two more walkers arrived later and we had a pleasant night drinking whisky around the stove .. and reading the Bothy Book including the entry from March 2007.
Next day it was our turn to climb Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor. We decided to make a direct ascent of the Bidein, which offered good views of the surrounding mountains. After some lunch, we headed down to the bealach and then it was a fairly stiff climb up to the summit of Lurg Mhor, where we saw the memorial plaque.
James and I convinced Cornel it was worth walking out to the Munro top of Meall Mor, so we had a long lunch watching Cornel scramble out to the top and back. Once he returned, we descended to the bealach and then headed straight down to Loch Calavie. This was fairly straightforward, and then we had a good track back to the bothy. James and I then offered Cornel some cold water spa treatment for his birthday, but he declined .. I don't know why?
A short time later Graham, a Cape Wrath Trail walker, arrived. He had been walking for 10 days from Fort William and was allowing himself 30 days to do the whole walk .. wild camping and using bothies. I hope he won't mind me saying that he is 70 years old! Another group of five cyclists/walkers arrived later and were planning to climb the same Munros the next day.
We enjoyed another good night in the bothy, and shock horror, we did not manage to drink all our whisky. Next morning it was a quick pack up and a walk out to the car. We managed the walk with our lighter bags in under three hours. It was then into the Attadale café for some lunch, and then we headed for home.
It was a great bothy weekend .. with no rain!!
Mark Setford
April Weekday Walk to the Greenock Cut
Allan, Bob, Diane and I met at the Greenock Cut Visitor Centre at 10am on a lovely, warm sunny morning for the weekday walk. We decided to walk clockwise, as previous Club visits had followed the anti-clockwise direction, and so descended by the waterfall and followed the burn and aqueduct down to Shielhill farm, then across the road and on towards Spango Valley.
There were clear views out west across the Clyde estuary to Arran in the west and north towards Helensburgh and the Arrochar Alps. When we reached the northern end of the loop at Overton we had a short break by the small reservoirs and then continued up the track towards Loch Thom. As we approached the top of track we had a short discussion and decided to extend the walk over Dunrod Hill .. first following the track past the radio mast and then leaving the track to make a more direct ascent of the hill.
We quickly found a track descending back towards Shielhill Farm and returned by the road to the Visitor Centre where a stop was made at the Ardgowan Fishery café for coffee and cakes before setting off home.
Distance 13.5km; Ascent 170m; Time 3 and a half hours including stops.
James Anderson
