Welcome to a very first post on this blog! This was posted on the symbolic day of 02/02/2020 - you can’t represent the date using only two numerals very often, and as such, this felt like a perfect starting date for the webpage!

Munro Bagging log, #4:

Beinn Chabhair (from Inverarnan)

This was the very first Munro-targeting hillwalk of 2020 and the first walk we went for together with my flatmate Gergely. Unfortunately, as I am still getting all my mountain gear together, we only had one headlamp (mine is currently en-route from AliExpress). Nonetheless, we did the math (with estimates from the Walkinghighlands page) and decided that we should definitely be able to make it before it gets dark. Also, we expected some snow, but not much of it…

With the time estimate, we were completely correct. With the snow? Not so much. 😁 Anyhow,our day started by hopping on an early morning Citylink coach from Glasgow Buchanan to Fort Williams, with destination Inverarnan. The clouds were already starting to clear up, and one could get amazing views over morning Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond. Everything was shaping up for a cracking day up in the hills. 👌

Since there was a closed bridge over River Falloch, we had to take a detour to along the main road to the nearest open bridge. Early morning sun was turning the skies orange, and the clouds made for some wonderfully dramatic sights (as is quite usual in Scotland).

Thankfully, there was a road going up from the second bridge, and we didn’t have to retrace our steps back to the original starting point. We slowly started gaining elevation following the tarmac.

After a while, we reached a small lochan and started wondering which of the surrounding peaks is the one we are supposed to go to. The path was quite boggy, but luckily the winter did it’s wonders and most of the bogs were frozen. With the lochan on our right hand side, we started the strenuous, steep ascent to the ridge. Step by step, the depth of the snow started increasing, and at one step, I managed to sink more than ankle deep into a puddle hidden by the snow, letting the ice cold water into my shoe. Well, now I had my own small lochan inside the boot. :\

As we reached the ridge, everything became a bit more challenging. Evertything was covered by thick layer of fresh snow, hiding the path from our sight. We also were the first people of the day to do the ascend, and as such, there were no footsteps to follow. The only things we could rely on were the GPS (with OS maps and our best guesses of where exactly is the path (which we were continously losing and finding again). As it usually goes with munros, there were also some false peaks to give a fleeting sense of “We are almost there!”…

and then, we finally reached the peak! I was mildly disappointed there was no trig point, but we were rewarded with magnificient views all around and all the way down to Loch Long.

Approx. 20 mins behind us was a young couple, which thanked us for leading them with our pathfinding skills. I guess they wouldn’t be so keen on folllowing our footsteps knowing how uncertain we were a couple of times. 😁 The return then was fairly straightforward, although we had to hurry up quite a bit in the final descent thanks to out return bus tickets. In the end, the timing couldn’t be more perfect - we arrived at the bus station about 45 seconds before the bus came. ✌️

All together, it was a wonderful day out in the hills. The walk was a bit deceptive - perhaps thanks to the snow, more difficult navigation and additional detour (adding 3kms in total), it was a somehow more challenging than previously expected. Still, it was absolutely worth it, and I was happy to add it to my bag as the 4th Munro. 💪

Till the next time!

Matěj