Meall Glas & Sgiath Chuil

For a change, this was a climb on my own - one of only two lone days in the summer of 2004. Indeed, apart from the farmer in his tractor gathering in hay bales at Auchessan Farm in the morning, I saw no-one else all day. My first problem was where to park. The SMC guidebook mentions the nearest available place being "a few hundred metres west along the main road" from the Auchessan turn-off, but I couldn’t see anything that answered this description. Cameron McNeish only suggests doing these hills from Glen Lochay, so no help there. It was true that there were 'No Parking' signs in profusion along the Auchessan farm road, but not right at the start, where I squeezed discreetly against the fence and set off.

I continued past the farm along the track which went through two gates then seemed to be doubling back away from the hills. So I struck off across the pathless boggy moors, wincing at how far I had to go over this terrain before even reaching the mountain proper. I followed a bearing of 340 degrees, since the hills were somewhat ominously all in cloud. The moor seemed to rise gradually before me forever. The monotony was broken by a crossing of the Allt Glas, and sighting a herd of deer. Then, when I came to the Allt Coire nam Moine, I abandoned the bearing and followed the stream up steeply to the flat (and of course boggy) shelf below Meall Glas.

From there I continued on another bearing, heading up the steepish upper slopes of Meall Glas into the mist, finally arriving at the summit two and a half hours after leaving Auchessan. The fact that the tops of all the hills were in cloud all day was another morale-lowering factor, on top of the total alone-ness, the lack of any path, and the general roughness and bogginess of the terrain.

I ate some lunch at the summit of Meall Glas, then quickly found my way by map and compass to the trig point on its subsidiary Top, Beinn Cheathaich. Forgetting the guidebook's advice to avoid the very steep direct descent east from there, I descended directly east, very steeply! Down at the col I was out of the cloud, and in fact so was Beinn Cheathaich, briefly, allowing me to take at least one meaningful photo of the day.

Picking my way carefully among the meandering black channels of bog, strewn with the bones of sheep who had obviously not done likewise, I reached the bottom of the west face of Meall a'Churain, and began to climb the "uniformly steep grass slopes 300m high". I was soon up in cloud again, but the ascent, though tiring, didn’t seem to take too long. Somewhere up there the rain began as well - very depressing!

It was windy and wet up on the ridge, but it didn't take long for me to snap up the Top, Meall a'Churain, and the Munro proper, Sgiath Chuil. From there I started off due south, soon veering southwest, all the while hoping to get out of the mist. Eventually I did, and the boggy expanse of the moors opened before me once more. I made for the Allt Riobain, as being a landmark that offered a fairly direct route back towards Auchessan, and in fact I followed it almost all the way back. It was very pleasant in places, and much easier than making my way in on a bearing had been.

I got back to the car about 3.30, and was back in Dunblane by 4.50 or so. I felt like I was getting to know the road to Callander quite well, having been up it only the day before, when Jill, Matthew, Kirsty and I had climbed Ben A'an and Carrie, Ailsa and Toby had spent the afternoon looking round Callander. As for Meall Glas and Sgiath Chuil, the only really positive thing I could say was that I was glad I had now done these two brutes!