[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 24th May 2003   Bla Bheinn (Blaven) Map We were leaving Skye today but I thought there should be time for me to do this hill while Trisha took in a craft thing nearby in Armadale. She dropped me off in the carpark near the top of Loch Slapin and after waiting 5 minutes for the rain to stop I set off at 9.50. From that point it stayed dry though annoyingly the cloud was once again covering the mountain tops. Exasperating, eh! Bla Bheinn at the start Blaven is a fine looking mountain and a good climb. You start off by heading west along a well-trodden path past light woodland and then ascend grassy slopes following the course of the Allt na Dunaiche. After a mile the path veers to the south-west and takes you into the 'secret corrie' (as the guide book describes it) of Coire Uaigneich. The path steepens a bit as you walk up the corrie then you have to bend round and set off up the steep ascent of the eastern slopes of the mountain. It gets rockier at this point and unfortunately, in my case, cloudier. Soon I was once again in the familiar situation of seeing nothing more than mist all around me. Not to worry, I kept on up the hill and with the odd bit of scrambling got to the rocky top at 12.10. There was a party of 4 Scots there already - one of them took my picture for me. On the way up At the top of Bla Bheinn The cloud was starting to break up now but I still couldn't see much and as I had to rendezvous with Trisha at 2.00 I didn't stay long - just had a bit of lunch then set off south down to the col between the two peaks of Blaven. At the col the quick way down is by descending south-east over the steep scree slope - very steep in places, especially the early stages where some care is needed. Loch Slapin viewed on the descent of Bla Bheinn At the bottom of the scree I rejoined the grassy slopes of my approach route and, out of the cloud again, it was easy to pick up the path back. I got a German lad to take my photo as the cloud had, rather annoyingly, cleared off the tops now to give a good view of the mountain. In turn I took a pic of him and his girlfriend, dropping my compass in the process - the girlfriend came after me, ostensibly to return it but possibly simply yearning for my body. Incidentally they had gone up as far as the end of Coire Uaigneich and then turned back, which reminded me of those other Germans I'd met on Beinn Dearg three years earlier. What is it about Germans and Scottish hills - do they ever get to the tops? The German pic It was an easy final descent, nice and clear, and I was back at the car park by 2.10, just 5 minutes after Trisha got there. We drove over to the other side of the loch and stopped for a cup of tea - there was a great view of the mountain from there so I took another pic. The weather was looking great now. Leaving Bla Bheinn An hour or two later, back on the mainland, driving down to Oban the rain was absolutely torrential!