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Meall na Teanga Sron a' Choire Ghaibh Map The weather forecast for the day was reasonably good and I set off from Invergarry intending to do the South Knoydart trio of Sgurr na Ciche and its two companions. Unfortunately the road along Loch Arkaig was longer and slower than I expected and despite leaving the lodge at 7.10 it was 8.25 before I reached the car park at the end of the loch. When I got there it was pouring with rain and I sat in the car till 8.50 in the hope it might clear up but it didn't. Knowing that if I waited any longer I'd not get back in time for the meal we'd booked at Spean Bridge that evening (Russell's Bistro: very nice place, been there a few times) I gave up and headed back. I got back to the lodge by 10.00 and decided to try the twin Munros Meall na Teanga and Sron a' Choire Ghaibh instead, as they were conveniently sited quite close by. I drove down the road to Kilfinnan and was able to finally put boot on sod at 10.35.
The first stretch is a two-mile walk along a fairly level forestry green road on the NW side of Loch Lochy. There were just a few spots of rain in the air as I walked along and I soon overtook a man and woman going the same way. The woman had nipped behind a bush and the man just carried on without waiting for her. I passed her as she was fiddling with her rucksack and said 'hi'. I then caught up with her mate who said they were going to camp in the hills. I left them behind and reached the turn-off point about 40 mins after setting off. From there a steep track took me through the forest and then on up a more gentle path along the Allt Glas Dhoire as far as the bealach (Cam Bhealach). It was raining properly by now and I had all the waterproofs on; cloud was obscuring the tops.
As I approached the bealach I met a couple, late 50s, coming back down; they told me they'd reached the bealach and decided to turn back as it was very windy and they didn't fancy going any further. Being made of sterner or dafter stuff I plodded on to the bealach and turned left for Meall na Teanga. A path led part way up Meall Dubh before winding round to the back of it and slanting upwards towards a mist-shrouded col. From this grassy col there was a steeper incline up the NNE side of Meall na Teanga. As I was climbing up it I met 2 blokes on their way down and as everything was now in cloud I asked them if there were any route-finding problems at the top. They told me there were no difficulties and that the route would be obvious. I carried on to the top of the steep bit then along a level ridge for a couple of hundred yards until a slight rise brought me to the summit (1.05).
It was cloudy, raining, windy and cold so there was no point in hanging around. I retraced my steps to the bealach, and met an old (c. 60) munro-bagger on the way. He was refreshingly unabashed about being a bagger - some folk pretend to eschew it for some reason - and asked me outright how many I'd done, automatically assuming I'd know what he meant. I told him that Meall na Teanga was my 183rd and inevitably it turned out that he was ahead of me - 190. His first words on meeting me in the cloud-shrouded, wind-lashed drizzle had been: 'So I'm not the only mad person up here today…' Having got back to the bealach I climbed the zig-zag path which led up the side of Sron a' Choire Ghaibh. The wind got stronger as I went although the rain slackened off for a while. At the top I was met by fierce wind and hail - it was a real grind walking to the slight col and then continuing left along the ridge to the summit (2.30). I saw the 2 blokes up there again but they descended via a different route.
Unfortunately the camera had stopped working by now so no summit pic of Sron a' Choire Ghaibh. Water had got in the electrics during the last shot I think but it was probably too windy for a tripod shot anyway. Conditions were pretty bad at the top so I turned straight round and legged it for lower ground. I got back to the bealach, yet again, and then returned by the original route. On the way down I met the would-be camper again, coming up on his own. He said he and his missus had reached the bealach and then gone back a bit to pitch their tent. Then they didn't know whether to sit in it all afternoon or try the hills so he was having a reconnoitre. I passed the tent a bit further along - not much bigger than the Laser. I thought it seemed a brutal experience in those conditions. No sign of his missus. The rain slackened off as I descended and had virtually stopped by the time I reached the car (4.25). | ||||
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