Ben Lawers (Central)

Apparently Howard was fairly sure he had climbed An Stuc and Meall Garbh with Janet on their honeymoon, which needless to say was a long time ago and well before he was ticking off Munros on a list. There was however a niggling doubt in his mind about whether they had actually visited the summits. So to put his mind at rest he decided to do them again today, in conjunction with Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers. He invited any of the Last Munro party who were interested to join him, but as it turned out, I was the only one both willing and able to do so.

The day looked a bit grey when I woke up at Inverardran, so I spent the time before breakfast packing and organizing - I was moving to Crianlarich Youth Hostel that night. Then I shovelled away another copious breakfast and waited for Howard. He and Janet picked me up with all my luggage just after 10 - being able to leave my stuff in their car for the day was an added bonus. The late start (for me) proved to be a Very Good Thing today. Janet left us at the NTS car park and then drove off with Anne to sample the delights of Killin. The weather was again fairly clear. Meall nan Tarmachan was looking lovely behind us although there was some lower cloud clinging to the summits of Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers. On the way up we passed two NTS people who were improving the path. Well, they were actually sitting having a leisurely snack, but I'm sure they had been hard at work earlier! In any case, the paths on this side of Ben Lawers are very good.

Loch Tay, with Stob Binnein and Ben More to the right

We reached the top of Beinn Ghlas at around 12.30 and by that time the cloud had cleared from there. There were one or two others at the top, one of whom took a twosome picture for us. Beinn Ghlas was the one Howard would have been happy to traverse around on the direct path to Ben Lawers, but I thought I'd only climbed it with Crusaders aged about 12. Checking later I discovered I'd probably been up it at least three times before, so it was certainly not the "slightly dodgy tick" I described it as to Howard.

Twosome on the summit of Beinn Ghlas

After a short rest we headed off towards Ben Lawers which, discouragingly, still had its summit in some cloud. This was gradually lifting however, so we were still hoping for another "cloud-free Munro".

Looking back to Beinn Ghlas

By the time we reached the summit of Ben Lawers, the cloud had indeed cleared, although it was a little chilly, so our lunch stop wasn't too long. This is after all the 10th highest Munro at 1214m. I estimate this was my fifth visit to the summit, making it easily my most climbed Munro.

The rest of the ridge eastwards was in intermittent sunshine now, so we pressed on. During this section what looked like a Mountain Rescue helicopter was buzzing around Coire nan Cat apparently searching for someone. In the end it hovered for some time very close in to the side of An Stuc above Lochan nan Cat. There were no news stories over the next few days about any rescue in the area, so what they were up to remained a mystery to us.

An Stuc and Meall Garbh up ahead

An Stuc and Meall Garbh, now in sunshine

Looking back up Ben Lawers

Meanwhile, we had got to the disconcerting section, the descent down the northeast side of An Stuc. At several points you appear to be heading down towards a sheer drop but a precarious path down always comes into view at the last moment.

Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlas and An Stuc from Meall Garbh

Finally we got on to the the pleasant climb to Meall Garbh which by now was in almost unbroken sunshine.

The day's walk viewed from Meall Garbh

A final look back to Ben Lawers

Howard was anxious to start heading off down into the glen as soon as possible, rather than continuing along the ridge any further. He had only hazy memories of doing An Stuc and Meall Garbh with Janet and was keen to confirm that his memory of the route they had followed was correct and that he had really done them. In case he hadn't, I had now had the honour of accompanying him on his real Last Munro!

The descent (pathless) was starting to look hairy so instead of following Howard I contoured round to a burn which offered a slightly more reliable looking descent while Howard pressed on on a more direct route. Thankfully we met up safely lower down and continued on as the slope gradually lessened.

The last part, the footpath out above the Lawers Burn, was beautiful, and of course it was mostly in sunshine.

The plan was to meet Janet with the car at the Ben Lawers Hotel (where Alasdair and Chris had been staying) where we and/or she could have a drink while waiting. As it turned out it was closed to non-residents, but fortunately Janet arrived there only a few minutes after we did, so we just headed straight back to Crianlarich where Howard and Janet dropped me at the Youth Hostel before heading on to Tyndrum. I made myself a makeshift meal of beef casserole from a tin and someone's left behind pasta. I got to bed before 9, in a six bed dorm with three others, none of whom I actually saw.