Beinn Dubhcraig & Ben Oss

I was up before 6, first in the dorm, had a leisurely breakfast, then packed the backpack. I was aiming to catch the 07.18 train to Tyndrum Lower and from there spend the day climbing Beinn Dubhcraig and Ben Oss before returning to Tyndrum for dinner of fish and chips with Thistly Cross cider at the Real Food Cafe. The train was waiting when I got to the station, which is a convenient 2 minute walk from the Youth Hostel. No one offered to sell me a ticket during the 15 minute journey to Tyndrum, so that one, like my return from Glasgow to Crianlarich, was also on Scotrail - thanks guys! I got a bit confused trying to get onto the right path for Dalrigh, and once I did, a friendly local Munroist out walking his dog recommended avoiding Dalrigh and the forest route altogether, which he thought might be "a quagmire". Instead he suggested going straight up the track towards Cononish and crossing the river at a footbridge near Cononish, then heading straight up the steep flank of Beinn Dubhcraig from there. This sounded like it might be quicker and easier so I went for it.

On the short section of the West Highland Way that I passed along to reach the track there were more information boards by the wayside, like the ones I'd come across at St Fillan's Priory the day before, including this one about the history of lead and silver mining in the area.

Having just read about the demise of the local mining industry in the 19th century, I was a little surprised to come upon a sign warning me about "mine traffic on track". And, as I tramped along the 4km track to Cononish, I was indeed frequently passed by cars, vans and trucks going both ways along the road. I was beginning to think it was almost as busy as the A82 had been the day before. As I approached Cononish it became evident that mining had returned to the area, with some large industrial buildings scattered around discreetly near Cononish.

Once at Cononish I found a vague path leading off to the left which took me, more or less, to the footbridge over the river. For the record, as can be seen from this photo, there was not much water in the river at this time, and I could easily have hopped across without a bridge at numerous spots.

The ascent up the flank of Beinn Dubhcraig was a brutal 350m slog, but I just took it easy, zigzagging my way up to lessen the gradient. As I climbed, the mine works came into full view. What I was astonished to discover later is that this is in fact a gold mine which had only been opened 4 years before in 2018. Apparently it is Scotland's first commercial gold mine. If I'd known, I might have paid more attention to the rocks in the river!

It was very nice to get to the top of this climb and see the sun coming out. I thought I could even see the hint of a path up ahead, no doubt the route coming up from the Coille Coire Chuilc forest, the one I had originally been intending to follow.

Ben Lui peeping over the ridge crest

Looking northeast to Creag Mhor and Ben Challum

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhcraig

The summit ridge of Beinn Dubhcraig

I reached the summit of Beinn Dubhcraig about 11, three and half hours since I had set out from Tyndrum. I was still planning to head over to Ben Oss as well, however by this stage I was pretty sure I wouldn't be doing anything more that day. I had toyed with the idea of taking in Ben Lui, and even Beinn a'Chleibh, but this now seemed far too ambitious, even though I met several other people during the day most of whom were attempting all four Munros in a day.

Lochans on Beinn Dubhcraig, Ben Oss and Ben Lui beyond

The ascent of Ben Oss from the bealach

Reaching the bealach between Beinn Dubhcraig and Ben Oss I was looking out for a route down that would avoid the hefty climb back over the shoulder of Beinn Dubhcraig to retrace my route of ascent. It looked a bit craggy, but I thought there might be a way down.

Beinn Dubhcraig from Ben Oss

It was a fairly easy walk between the two summits and I had reached the top of Ben Oss by soon after 12. I was greeted by a bounding black and white dog with striking blue eyes. I recognized him immediately as one I had seen with his owner on Ben Challum the day before. The dog's name was Stan and his owner was Nick. He was attempting to do all 282 Munros in a year and still had well over a hundred to do before mid July. Needless to say he was intending to snap up all four of the Ben Lui Munros today. He had started at Dalrigh and had come over Beinn Dubhcraig. He was planning to skirt over to Beinn a'Chleibh next, then finish by returning over Ben Lui. I felt slightly wimpish confessing that I was "done for the day", but it felt good all the same!

Back at the bealach it was decision time. Should I return up over the shoulder of Beinn Dubhcraig or look for a way straight down from the bealach? I decided to investigate a direct route down, reasoning that if I couldn't find anything that looked safe I could easily come back up. In the end I did get down OK, though probably not by the easiest route. Here I was looking back up at the crags, having negotiated my way down the gully on the left.

From a bit further down it looked like I could have come off the bealach a bit further back and found an easier way down the grassy bit in the centre of this photo. I should note here that guide books tend to suggest not doing this at all but returning over the shoulder, which would probably have been no more strenuous than my route, which now involved a long descent heading diagonally round the side of Beinn Dubhcraig's north ridge - not the most comfortable way to come down. It clouded over a bit around this time and there were a few spits of rain which never really amounted to much and soon cleared away.

By the time I got down to the river the sun was out again. It was only 2 o'clock and I realized I had plenty of time to kill since I was still looking forward to dinner in Tyndrum. I had a leisurely stop therefore, taking off my boots, unzipping my trouser bottoms and dabbling my feet in the river. It was at this point, had I only known, that I could have spent my time scouring the river bed for gold nuggets!

Eventually I got booted up again and set off to cover the few hundred metres to the footbridge and cross back over to Cononish.

Rather than following the track all the way back the way I had come in the morning, I saw from the map that I could take a shortcut through the forest which involved an extra 50m of ascent but came out right at Tyndrum Lower station.

At the station I found that there was a train due right then (it was just before 4) and that the next one wasn't until 7.15. The Real Food Cafe was calling to me, so heading back to Crianlarich right away was not an option. I made my way slowly up to the metropolis of Tyndrum, doing a bit of food shopping in Brodies and the Green Welly Stop, then returning to the Real Food Cafe for my fish and chips. It was very nice, although a little pricey at over £16 with the cider. I still had two hours to wait for the train so I wandered up to Upper Tyndrum station to check whether there was an earlier train from there. There wasn't, but there was a bench on the platform with a beautiful view over Strath Fllan, so I sat down and pulled out the Kindle which I'd been carrying around with me for the last two days for just such an occasion. At 6 I headed very slowly back down to Tyndrum Lower where a very chatty guy who was working at the Green Welly Stop was waiting to catch the train back home to Dalmally. He left on the Oban train and soon after the Glasgow train arrived and I got on. This time an attentive conductor spotted me getting on the train and managed to sell me a ticket before we reached Crianlarich, so Scotrail did manage to get £2 out of me during the week. Back at the hostel I checked the weather forecast for the next day. Rain was on the way, so I was tempted to just head back to Edinburgh as quickly as possible, which is what I did in the end.