[Trip Index] [Munro Index] [Home] 1st April 2006   Chno Dearg Map The weather was reasonable today with little wind and no rain and the tops were mostly clear of cloud, only the occasional one drifting low enough to trouble the view. I set off at 10.00 from the car park at Fersit and was at the top by 1.00; on the return leg I left the top at 1.10 and was back at the car by 3.10. Overall the ascent was via a fairly easy gradient and I appreciated the change from the previous day's full-frontal approach. The easier incline, of course, was balanced by a corresponding increase in horizontal distance. The Peugeot at Fersit car park with Chno Dearg center background Anyway, from Fersit I crossed the two bridges, river and rail, continued past the trees and then, on reaching more open ground, I turned right past a rusty farm shed, which may have been a pig sty. There was certainly a lot of slurry underfoot but I stomped through it stoically and then on over slightly boggy and grassy terrain. I soon found a path by a stream and followed this up, being lucky enough to see a lizard basking immobile on it at one point. There was snow around not far from the path and I wondered how a lizard managed to thrive in such climes. They obviously do though. Scottish Lizard A bit further up I reached the snow line. There was a lot of snow covering Chno Dearg but it was on the point of melting, and though still thick in places it was mostly wet and soft rather than dry and crisp. Lots of water was cascading off the hill everywhere and the burns were full of it, racing along, the sheer quantity of it resulting in many additional, temporary streams pouring over the grass. Ascending Chno Dearg Once I was properly into the snow I resorted to the trusty crampons and was once again appreciative of their help. They certainly stop you sliding and slipping about and were also useful when crossing a swollen stream. The spikes gripped the rock and stopped me skidding off and also, by raising my feet by an inch or so, helped keep my feet out of the water. I plodded on, up through the snow field - in fact it briefly did a bit of snow. Not much though. On reaching the top I took the obligatory photograph and then turned round and set off back. I decided not to do the neighbouring Munro , Stob Coire Sgriodain, as I'd already done it once, in 2002, and with light cloud drifting over it there were not likely to be any good views. Instead I followed my own footsteps back down through the snow. As I was leaving the top I looked back and saw another lone walker approaching the cairn from the direction of Beinn na Lap. I waved, he/she waved, and I carried on. The summit Once out of the snow the cloud cleared and it was a really easy jaunt back down along the path and back to the car by 3.10. I passed a single, lone walker on his way up I was feeling fed up with Fort William so drove to Kinloch Rannoch and got B&B at Bunrannoch House (£30). It would have been £55 to include dinner which seemed a bit much, so I gave that a miss and took myself off to the Loch Rannoch Hotel (* * *) where I got a vegetable & goat's cheese tartlet on a petit salad with new potatoes and balsamic dressing (£7.50), followed by a warm sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce (£4.40). Together with a couple of Guinnesses to wash it down that came to £20, so the Guinnesses must have been £4.05 each! I think I was ripped off. The food was per Bridge of Orchy standards - ie nice enough but not strong on quantity. The new potatoes had been individually scraped and shaved down to the size of a small sprout each and there were only 5 or 6 of them; each one was less than a mouthfull.