Ben Lawers (E)

26.7.04 - 18km, 1570m - 397 mins

Area 2: The River Tay to Rannoch Moor

< Previous | Walk 43 | Next >
Meall Greigh1001m3284ftM136#101
Meall Garbh1118m3668ftM34#102
An Stuc1118m3668ftM35#103
Ben Lawers1214m3983ftM10#3

Related Walks

Ben Lawers (Central) (27.4.22)

Ben Lawers (9.6.73)

Click here or on any picture to switch to slideshow
Ben Lawers and An Stuc

It was Ruth's idea to do a climb on what would have been Dad's 80th birthday. Doing the horseshoe round Lochan nan Cat combined climbing Ben Lawers, which I'd done at least once with Dad, with the acquisition of three new Munros.

Loch Tay from Meall Greigh

Ruth picked me up about 8 in the morning at Menteith View in Dunblane and Ian also joined us for the trip. We then managed to set off on the wrong road and ended up going by what turned out to be a very scenic route via Braco, Comrie, St.Fillans and Loch Earn side. We reached Lawers about 9.30 and set off up a nice path to the east of the Lawers Burn, striking up the slopes of Meall Greigh after a short while.

Looking across to Ben Lawers and An Stuc

This was the long climb of the day, so I was pleased that I seemed to cope with it OK. After this came all the ups and downs of the day - we had four Munro summits to traverse plus one Top.

Ben Lawers, An Stuc and Meall Garbh from Meall Greigh

From the summit of Meall Greigh there was a long but fairly gradual descent and ascent to Meall Garbh, where we had lunch.

The easy ascent to the summit of Meall Garbh

The easy ascent to the summit of Meall Garbh

Lunchtime at the summit of Meall Garbh

Lunchtime at the summit of Meall Garbh

Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlas and An Stuc from Meall Garbh

Then came the 'exciting' ascent of the extremely steep north-east face of An Stuc, which actually posed no real problems, but added a little spice to the day!

The steepish descent from Meall Garbh

The steepish descent from Meall Garbh

Ruth, Ian and "the Dutch guy" at the summit of An Stuc

At the summit, my 103rd Munro, we met a Dutch guy for whom, amazingly, this was also his 103rd! I wondered what the chances were that we'd climbed the same 103 - was it, for example, the same Dutch guy I had met on Braeriach four years before...?

Ben Lawers from the summit of An Stuc

Ben Lawers from the summit of An Stuc

Ben Lawers from the descent from An Stuc

Ben Lawers had been in cloud when we set off from the car, but had cleared by late morning. Now, however, clouds were threatening again, but we got to the top in the clear, Ian hurrying on ahead to be sure of some decent summit photos.

An Stuc, Meall Garbh and Lochan nan Cat from Ben Lawers

An Stuc, Meall Garbh and Lochan nan Cat from Ben Lawers

Looking east up Loch Tay from Ben Lawers

Looking east up Loch Tay from Ben Lawers

The summit of Ben Lawers

The summit of Ben Lawers

Sunlight on An Stuc seen from the west ridge of Ben Lawers

Sunlight on An Stuc seen from the west ridge of Ben Lawers

Ruth was obviously suspicious about this bridge

After a short stop to survey the view, including the 'tourist route' over Beinn Ghlas, we set off on the long, long descent back to the Lawers Burn, much of it over pathless, boggy ground. We aimed for the point where the path crossed the burn and thus were able to go a bit faster on the last leg down the path. Back at the car, which we reached around 6, Ruth produced her traditional flask of tea - very welcome, and a very satisfying end to the day.