Ben Challum
Map
I drove up to Birkenhead the day before this, taking Rachel to see her granddad - Trisha
and Amber had gone up the day before. After spending the night in Birkenhead I set off
at 8.00, got to Ramsbottom by 9.00 to pick Andrew up, and we set off for Scotland at 9.30.
We made good time and reached the Bridge of Orchy by 2.30, where we booked a couple of
nights at the bunkhouse. It was full that night but there'd been a cancellation. Then
we drove back down the A82 to Strath Fillan priory, turned off the road there and parked
by a bridge over the stream (GR 357281). Set off for Ben Challum at 3.00.
It was a reasonable day - dry, cloudy but clear tops - and much of the snow that had
covered the hills a couple of weeks earlier was now gone. We walked along a short lane
to a farm beyond which a path led gently up the hillside to a bit of a plateau then a
bit more steeply up to the South Top.
Andrew at the start
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The Southern Top of Ben Challum
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We actually bypassed this top on the way up but
I copped it on the way back down, mindful of the sage advice of that chap we'd met on
Beinn a Chroin last year.
From the South Top to the summit there's a narrow rocky ridge to traverse, totally safe
but a nice scramble. Then it was just a short, easy climb up to the summit of Beinn Challum (5.15).
The ridge leading to the summit
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The summit cairn - Ben Challum
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We left the top at 5.30 and returned to the South Top where we decided to descend West
into the Gleann a Chlachain and follow the stream back to Auchtertyre and thence to the
car. An easy descent, steepish at first, over mostly grass.
Got back to the car at 7.45.
The descent into Gleann a Chlachain
from Ben Challum
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Back in the Bridge of Orchy Hotel that evening we ordered mushroom risottos (£9 - all
the prices had gone up by £1 since I'd been there 2 weeks earlier). The barman came back
and said all the risottos had been sold so we changed the order to the Leek and Boursin
parcels. This eventually arrived as a square parcel about 4x3 inches, with 3 stalks of
asparagus tastefully arranged on the top and 3 dollops of tomato sauce. No other vegetables,
that was it. It looked lost amid the great white wastelands of the dinner plate.
A hearty meal
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Andrew failed to see the joke and we objected, saying this hardly constituted a main meal. We
were offered half our money back (but without any food) and the manageress came out and
told us that no-one else had ever complained. Hard to believe, but of course as we'd
payed we weren't in a good bargaining position and in the end we had to accept half our
money back. I then said that as we'd paid £8.95 we wanted something for it so they heated
one of the meals up again (no doubt having retrieved it from the bin) and brought it back
for us. We split it in half, my half providing 3 mouthfuls and ½ a fork of tomato sauce.
I took a photo of the meal before we ate it. Andrew was not keen on dining there again.
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