Weekend in Loch Ossian - Photo Gallery

My hopes for fine weather were dashed as I drove north through the drizzle and the rain was particularly bad as I drove past the Lake District. By the time I reached Scotland it had stopped raining and it was looking more promising. I left the car in the railway station car park park at Bridge of Orchy where I met some of my Linlithgow Rambler friends. The only way to get to Loch Ossian is by train across Rannoch Moor to the small station at Corrour; the plan was to take in a nearby Corbett before walking the mile to the Youth Hostel at Loch Ossian.

We had to leave our excess baggage in a pile of survival bags on the open moor where we came across the first of many large moths. This one got so fed up of my attempts to position it for a photograph that I heard its chirp of anger, best leave it alone I think. We set off over boggy ground on the edge of Rannoch Moor heading south west towards Leum Uilliem, this was blatant Corbett bagging and we were going to get there as directly as possible.

The ground became generally drier as it got steeper and grass and moss gave way to heather on the climb up to the ridge of Sron an Lagain Ghairbh. The width of Rannoch Moor meant that it was generally all that could be seen during the climb the main exception being the length of Loch Ossian to the east and its surrounding mist covered hills. The other exception was the pile of bright orange survival bags, we were able to keep an eye on our belongings for quite a while. Once the climbing was finished there was a fairly easy walk along the broad summit ridge to the substantial cairn at the summit of Leum Uilliem.

The mist came in while we were at the summit and as we retraced out steps back to Corrour the cloud base stayed below the height of the hill tops. Back on flat ground we managed to find an even boggier route back to our start point. The favoured method of bringing in clothes and supplies for the weekend was to carry two rucksacks or a very large single rucksack. I had great trouble organising my two rucksacks at home so I decided at the last minute to take my normal summer rucksack for walking and take my weekend bag for the weekend. It was of course a mistake, my bag was far too heavy to carry for a mile and the wheels were not designed to be dragged along a track full of loose stones.

We eventually got to the hostel, recently refurbished, environmentally friendly and set in a delightful location right on the edge of Loch Ossian. The hostel manager gave us the speech about the expected need to take away all our rubbish and the lack of showers, less expected were the instructions of how to use. the compost toilet. At least there was hot water provided by a 24 hour fire that made the well insulated kitchen too hot for June. When the windows were open the wire mesh shutters inside kept out the midge hordes, standing outside to escape the heat showed why the mesh was required.

We set off on Saturday morning, suitably doused in Avon SoSoft after the day's first midge attack, along the generally good track running along the south side of Loch Ossian. After about five kilometres on a good track by the side of the water you get to wet ground and you can tell you are at the wet end of the Loch. After crossing the outflow of the loch a couple of times you get to wet moorland, there may be a way around it but the Ramblers style is direct. The ground was very wet but not too steep, frequently we had to hop from one heathery mound to another in order to avoid the swampy mud.

We made a beeline for the gate we could see in the deer fence just above the wettest of the ground, once on the other side the steeper ground was drier. Steep heather and grass isn't my favourite way of getting up hills but it isn't too steep and it's a feature of Scotland that you can't get away from. Another of Scotland's features is mist and we were in it shortly after the fence, at least having to navigate occasionally gave us a rest from the long slog first to Meall Nathrac Mor. The grouse let us get quite close to them and the reason became obvious as one almost flew into Alison's face as it reluctantly left its nest in the heather which was full of eggs.

After the steep slog to the cairn on Meall Nathrac Mor we reached a high ridge and the slog was less steep to the Munro top of Sgor Choinnich and on to the Munro summit of Sgor Gaibhre. I don't know who Ron is but he got there before us and wrote his name on the flat gravelly top, that was no excuse for Frances to do the same. It seemed like a good summit, I'm sure the mist denied us the best views of the day.

Apparently the Gaelic language has over forty words to describe the mountain form and I suspect just as many to describe wet ground one of which must be Mam. Once you get off the summit platform of Sgor Gaibhre the easy western slopes become increasingly wet until you cross the broad bealach called Mam Ban where you hop across the peat hags to avoid the worst of the mud. The slopes up to Carn Dearg are fairly easy and fairly wet until the final steeper climb to the large summit cairn.

Then we had a typical Ramblers descent, a steep wet and green slope, there was no semblance of a path of course as we made an erratic course across islands of firm ground in a swampy sea. Eventually we reached the “Road to the Isles”, an elegant name for a rough, wet track; just when I thought it was safe near the end of the path I almost got a couple of bootfulls of slimy mud. Back at the hostel the midges were waiting to ambush us.

It was an interesting night or so I was told; thunder and lightning and a partial sounding of the fire alarm caused by a power problem as a result of a lightning strike nearby. Was it a coincidence that the ladies were tired in the morning and not enthusiastic about more walking. The Ramblers are made of stern stuff and because Eric and I were keen to go we all set off for Beinn na Lap in the rain at just after eight o'clock following another midge attack.

We took the track that leads to the northern side of Loch Ossian but before getting to the waterside there is a gate in a deer fence, don't go through the gate but turn left and follow the fence uphill. Following the rain overnight the ground is wetter than ever especially on the trodden path, any erosion caused by walkers always gets used by water on its way downhill. At the corner of the fence a faint path goes uphill, follow it as best you can avoiding the worst of the soft wet ground.

Beinn na Lap is supposed to be one of the easier Munros but it is quite a slog up the wet and increasingly steep green slope until finally at the summit ridge we found a path. On the broad summit plateau is a surprising amount of slabby rock and a fine rocky summit crown with a substantial cairn. We followed the path downwards following the easy ridge in a south westerly direction until the hillside was wet enough to make a Ramblers descent directly back to the gate in the deer fence where we started from.

We called at the hostel to pick up our bags, play with Tom Rigg the hostel dog and give a final blood donation to the midges before walking back to the station.

Andy Wallace 17th to 19th June 2005