The two climbs: map & interesting data
Total climbing: 1120 m
Total time: 09:19:49
11.5 mile walk, 9h20 from 08.40 to 18.00 – average 1.2 mph
We left the cottage soon after 8.30am on foot.
Our plan was to climb a Graham Top, Beinn Inverveigh, and a Graham called Meall Tairbh (665m).
A Graham is a hill of between 2,000 and 2,499 feet (that’s 610m to 762m), with a drop of at least 150m (490 feet) all round. There are 221Grahams, and they’re all in Scotland.
Heading for the West Highland Way
We walked down to the main road, the A82, which runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William.
Everything was wonderfully quiet.
8.42 – The city Link coach stoping by the Bridge of Orchy Hotel
The weather forecast was for sun, a nice temperature, and not much wind.
8.45 – Looking back at a wintry Bridge of Orchy
We left Bridge of Orchy and took the West Highland Way in a northerly direction.
It was indeed a beautiful winter morning with frost all around us.
8.54 – A frosty West Highland Way
We’ve done this part of the West Highland Way several times, but it always feels different. It depends so much on what the weather’s bringing.
9.10 – View of # from the West Highland Way
Some great sightings
On the way up the West Highland Way we saw a lonely hind. That’s a female deer. It didn’t seem to mind being photographed for posterity.
We saw other deer in the distance throughout the day.
9.24 – A lonely hind
Half way to the Inveroran Hotel, we turned left and started going up. The hill at that spot is called Màm Carraigh.
It’s only just over 300m, but it has great views of Loch Tulla and Beinn Toaig, a Corbett Top. We got as far as this spot the previous Saturday.
9.38 – Loch Tulla with Beinn Toaig in the background
We walked in a southwesterly direction up the ridge heading for the top of Beinn Inverveigh (639m).
9.50 – Heading for Beinn Inverveigh
We took some pictures of the rickety weather station with its flimsy-looking aerial. We’d been here last year, when we did part of this walk.
10.46 – An old weather station
Conquering Beinn Inverveigh
Half an hour later we reached the summit of Beinn Inverveigh. Its grid reference is NN271381.
11.18 – Sister & Simon conquering Beinn Inverveigh
The Gaelic word Inverveigh means “mouth of the birch stream”.
Beinn Inverveigh is a Graham Top, which means it’s between 2000 and 2499 feet high, but its drop is below the required 150m to qualify as a Graham. Tough luck.
11.50 – Following the Beinn Inverveigh ridge
At noon we briefly stopped for lunch. We had cheese and chorizo sandwiches, and beef consommé. Not bad.
Then we continued following the ridge as far as possible, almost to the end.
12.14 – Observing Meall Tairbh
Snow & ice
We bum sledged in a couple of places. I love flying down the slopes. It feels like Nature’s given you a magic carpet.
13.12 – Sister bum sledging
Then we dropped to Lochan Coir’ Orain, a handsome miniature loch. Although it was getting the full sun, it was still frozen solid.
We didn’t venture near it for fear that the ice might not be as sturdy as it looked.
I’ve been trying to work out the meaning of Lochan Coir’ Orain. I’ve found that the Gaelic word lochan means “small loch”. Coire is “a glacial hollow or corrie”, and orain is “ash tree”.
13.16 – A frozen Lochan Coir’ Orain
Meall Tairbh, up and down
We walked past the lochan and went in a straight line due west up the slopes of Meall Tairbh, which is a proper Graham.
13.29 – Sister & Simon climbing Meall Tairbh
Meall Tairbh means “lumpy hill of the bull”. Somehow translations never do justice to the wonderfully poetic Gaelic.
The word “meall” describes a bare rounded lumpy hill, and Tairbh means “bull”. This is how you pronounce it: /t̪ʰaɾav/.
13.35 – The river Orchy meandering through its glen
It’s hard work walking on snow, particularly when you’re trying to take impressive pictures at the same time.
I’m getting better at walking on deep snow, though. If you lean forward to balance your weight, you don’t sink in so easily. It’s a good trick.
14.09 – Simon at the Meall Tairbh summit
The views from Meall Tairbh were even better than from Beinn Inverveigh and from Beinn an Dothaich, the Munro we’d climbed the day before.
14.09 – View of # from Meall Tairbh
The descent from Meall Tairbh
To get to Meall Tairbh some of the short ascents had been steep. Very steep indeed. And some of the descents felt almost vertical.
14.32 – Loch Tulla & the Inveroran Hotel in the distance
We headed across the plateau in a NE direction, staying as high as possible for as long as possible. The aim was to walk on minimum bog to hopefully stay dry and mud-free.
The guidebook said the descent from Meall Tairbh would be boggy and with burns, but in fact it was quite frozen and covered in snow.
14.54 – The long descent from Meall Tairbh
Eventually, we dropped down to boggy land and walked to the Inveroran Hotel.
Boggy land was less boggy than we’d expected, but it still took us a while to regain the road.
16.01 – Through bog & heather to the Inveroran Hotel
Because we’ve only ever been to this part of Scotland in the winter, the Inveroran Hotel is always closed and looks somewhat ghostly.
Back on the West Highland Way
From there we joined the West Highland Way.
16.26 – The lonesome Inveroran Hotel
The weather had been great throughout the day, and the light for photographs was outstanding, specially now in the late afternoon.
The views of Loch Tulla, in that golden silky light, were the most spectacular we’d had all week.
16.44 – Loch Tulla in the golden winter light
The sun was quickly going down. We knew the last part of the West Highland Way had some ice, so we didn’t stop for cake.
We didn’t want to lose the light and have to walk in the dark.
16.44 – Walking back to Màm Carraigh
We got back to Bridge of Orchy along the same path we’d taken a few days before.
17.06 – Still on the West Highland Way
We saw a cyclist who was pedalling like a madman, but we didn’t see other walkers all day.
It seems that walkers collect few hills other than Munros. So you can often have Grahams, Donalds and other classified hills to yourself. It suits us.
17.22 – Sister & Simon with Beinn Dòrain in the background
Back at the cottage
Just after 6pm we arrived at the cottage. We were all looking forward to devouring the lamb stew Sister had made on Saturday.
It was delicious, and dipping the roast potatoes in that yummy sauce was heavenly.
It’s so much easier going up hills when there’s a gourmet meal waiting for you at the other end.
I took all the photos with the Panasonic.