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Beinn Chaorach
above Tyndrum is essentially one long ridge running north to south. It
comprises of moderately steep grassy slopes, no crags and a hill grazed
bare by sheep. It is 818m and of modest height, surrounded on three
sides by mountains higher than itself. Without any distinguishing
features, it's regarded to be one of the dullest Corbetts which in the
light of this trip, I can hardly say I disagree. In all but the harshest
of conditions, the most excitement you'll have on this hill is trying to
avoid tripping on stray wire, left over from a long gone ankle high electric fence,
powered by a small wind turbine at the bealach north of the summit. If
anything redeemed this mountain, the views north to Beinn Dorain were
spectacular and even more so at sunset. But boring hill or not, I just
needed a trip away whatever the venue.
I'm not usually the type to want to get away from life, but
in this case I could justify spending the £19 on trains to and from
Tyndrum. My original plan had been to do a circuit around Chaorach, Cam
Chreag and Beinn Challum, but a late start and heavy camping gear
stopped me from doing so and I camped on the night of the 9th with only
one summit under my belt.
Beinn Chaorach, Descent and Camp
After buying food and water in Tyndrum, I followed the West Highland
Way as far as Auchteryre. Even though long distance paths have
never interested me, the WHW was a very pleasant walk and I had thoughts about
doing it in it's entirety someday.
At Auchteryre, I left the WHW and it's stream of north-bound walkers and
followed a track into Caol Ghleann. Rain showers began passing through,
a vast difference to the unbroken blue skies in Glasgow. I walked
underneath the railway and Beinn Chaorach was in view. Hardly an
exciting hill. The mundane name 'sheep hill' was a direct
reflection of it's mundane appearance and even though the impressive
peaks of Beinn Odhar and Beinn Challum were to
either side, my sights were set on Chaorach. Once at
300m, I left the track behind and carried on up the sodden grasses. My
feet were wet in minutes.
I didn't anticipate the walk to take too long, but it just went on and
on. I'd walk over a rise and more tussocky ground would be revealed
through the shifting cloud. With some relief, the columnar trig point
came into view ahead and I reached it at 5.45pm, 3 hours after leaving
Tyndrum. Hauling the camping gear up had contributed to my slow and
tedious progress, but soon I'd have the pleasure of camping out in the
wild. This would become perhaps the most enjoyable part of the trip.
Once I descended the north side of Beinn Chaorach (carefully avoiding
tripping on the stray wire) the plan was to nip up to Cam Chreag. But
once I started climbing, it was tough to make progress and the sun was low
in the sky.
Instead, I scouted around for a campsite, pitching my tent on
the bealach between Chaorach and Cam Chreag. As spectacular light across
the hills to the north faded, I settled down in the evening to a bowl of
ravioli and a warm sleeping bag.
Later on, I'd occasionally watch the stars and little dots flying across
the night sky. Extensive cloud cover prevented me from doing this often,
but the views had been nice while they were there. I fell asleep early,
and to catch the 9.19am train at Tyndrum, the alarm was set for 6am.
10th September
I began to wake up about 4am, and turned over for more sleep knowing I
had a couple of hours left. It was an extremely comfortable camp given
the (slightly) high elevation and I could have slept
longer had the alarm not made sure I was up. But somewhere along the
line, I dozed off beyond 6am. I slept when I should have been packing up
and walking. When I woke up again, the watch read 6.40am and I couldn't
believe my eyes. There was no more lazing about; I packed as fast as
possible. I only got going 25 minutes later at 7.15am and became doubtful
as to whether I'd make the train home at all. The service on the West
Highland Line is infrequent enough that another train wouldn't arrive
until lunchtime. I might be able to get a bus, but I was running out of
money too. I walked as fast as I could, but couldn't help the anxiety that
accompanied me as I returned by Gleann a' Chlachain. The upper sections
of the glen had been over physically draining ground, but I reached the
track at 300m feeling tired and dehydrated. This track was, however,
much further up the glen than was marked on my map, and a relief to be
on as opposed to long grasses.
Still walking, I left the valley with the West Highland
Way to take to Tyndrum. I remembered all the distinguishing
features on the route as I'd passed them the previous day, hoping that I
could somehow work out that my progress was good. It was only when I passed
a campsite/caravan park outside Tyndrum that I realised I'd make it, and
the tension began to release itself. I eventually came to the train
station's approach road at Tyndrum (beside the 'By The Way' bunkhouse,
where I'd stayed in June...) where I could see that there was no train.
It was 9.10am, and I should have a ten minute wait.
Having walked for nearly two hours with uncertainty gnawing, the relief
was tremendous and I walked up to the station knowing that I would, for
sure, make the train. Then as I approached the station, the train pulled
up and it and I both came to a halt at the platform within five sections of
one another. I just couldn't believe it. How could I walk for so
long, then draw up to the platform edge a couple of hours later within seconds of the train?
It seemed to good to be true, but I was here now, and there was only relief.
On the train, one woman commented on my appearance - probably red-faced
and soaked in sweat. We had chatted for a while and one of the on-train
staff threw in a light hearted comment questioning the 'why' of my small
adventure. As the train pulled out of Tyndrum, the sky grew visibly
brighter and the sun appeared again. Just as the weather had
deteriorated as I'd arrived, it brightened up as I left. I didn't allow
that to bother me because I'd enough of an experience already not to
care what the weather did. A couple of hours later, I arrived back in Glasgow to sunny skies, and it would seem like I'd
caught the worst of the weather.
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