Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chleibh

The last of the winter snow and the first of the spring sunshine

Beinn a'Chleibh from 'inside' Coire Annaich

In typical Scottish fashion a lot can change weather-wise in a week. Last week my water froze on The White Mounth Range and this week I started my walk thinking I'd need sun cream.

Cradling the magnificent Coire Gaothaich, the larger of these sibling summits, Bel Lui (3707ft) is regarded as on one of the Southern Highland's finest. By comparison Beinn a'Chleibh (3005ft) is dwarfed, but a fine summit nonetheless.

The very beginning of this walk involves crossing the River Lochy. Although there is no obvious crossing point the river was low and passable with care but in spate this walk would be doomed to fail from the outset.

Mockit, Manky, Minging and Bogging

The Scots have many words for dirty and all were applicable early in day. After initially navigating through a woodland area I soon picked up one of the burns that led me to the route proper and, true to other's walk reports, it was an utter mire of bog and mud. Some enterprising souls had attempted to gangway the worst parts but it was generally inescapable and made for hard going.

This was one of the least boggy areas!

Crossing the Eas Daimh and following the path alongside the Fionn Choire it was good to be out of the mire of the woodland and onto the hills proper. That satisfaction was tempered somewhat by what lay ahead - an unforgiving, featureless grassy slope leading to the North Ridge of Ben Lui.

With the sun directly in my face and no path to follow this was relentlessly hard going and I found myself stopping regularly far sooner than I had planned. Initially I was taking on the naturally formed steps in great strides. Around half way up I switched to zig-zagging which took up more time but less energy.

The final ascent onto the ridge proper was a very easy scree-scramble and once on the ridge the views were already magnificent but the wind picked up quite considerably as the route now became exposed. An unexpected 2 short scrambles gave me slight pause but these were easily tackled and the summit was reached.

The summit of Ben Lui looking towards Sgiath Dhubh and Ben Oss

Whilst on the summit I spotted a Golden Eagle soaring majestically a few hundred feet below and decided to take a detour for a closer look. Rather than take the direct route off towards Beinn a'Chleibh I headed along a faint trail, wary of the thick snow cornices still in place over the edge to my left and settled down to a break and a bite to eat. Mesmerised by the magnificent creature gliding below me and views stretching miles beyond to Ben Cruachan and the hills around Loch Etive I spent far longer in the isolated spot than planned and could have easily stayed longer.

My stopping spot just below the summit of Ben Lui

Traversing the rocky slopes around the shoulder of Ben Lui towards the path proper was easy going and feeling refreshing and rested I now had a spring in my step. The Ridge between the 2 summits is 1.6km long with a reasonable descent and re-ascent but I found it easy going and immensely enjoyable.

The 1st cairn on Beinn a'Chleibh is the true summit but the second Cairn a few hundred yards on is worth the extra steps with fine views in every direction. I had been advised by a fellow walker that the direct descent via the North Face was easy enough (but he also told me he was a Paratroper) so I erred on the side of caution and took the more common route back down though the Coire Fionn. I was glad I did as the magnitude of the natural features really comes to the fore when you descend into the bottom of this natural amphitheater.

Funnily enough, the walk back though the mire and bog of the forest track wasn't nearly as bad as on the way up and as for the careful river crossing at the end? Well lets just say that was happily waded through without a care.

This was a good, happy and uplifting day on the Hills.