November 2009 Newsletter
Last month’s walk: Beinn Chabhair
Attendees: Alan, Di, Harry, David and Myra
This was the last Munro bagging trip of the year for us as the lack of daylight and the potential for bad weather and dodgy roads have made all of the usual walkers happy to opt for trips that are easier to do and closer to home. I for one am glad that this one is now out of the way and I have put in firmly in the ‘Munros that I really don’t want to do again’ category. The book time for this one is 2 hrs 40 mins but we took 4hrs 30 mins to bag the summit. It’s a typical Crianlarich hill with lots of mud, bogs and lumpy/bumpy bits. That said, I for one quite enjoyed about 90% of the ascent but got a bit fed up with it at the second false summit and there were another two to come after that. There was a good path all of the way to the top and without it navigation would have been a nightmare. There were few views to be had until we were well down and we made it back to the cars in 8 hours. Fish and Chips in Callander and home at 10pm.
There were two BEMAC breakaway group outings in October. The weekend before the Beinn Chabhair outing Graham, Rob, Harry and I went up to Craig Bothy and had a grand weekend. There were no hills climbed but it was a good bothy trip with a roaring fire, good whisky and lots of laughs. The last day of the month saw Dawn, Di and I deviate from a Duns walkers weekend at Tyndrum and shoot up to Loch Lochy to bag the Munros Meall na Teanga and Sron a’ Choire Ghairbh. Once again the weather wasn’t very good with some heavy showers, strong winds and no views but we all enjoyed this walk which was on excellent paths and unlike Beinn Chabhair had no mud and bogs.
Sunday 15th November
After a brief consultation with last month’s walkers we have decided that a 2 hour drive followed by a 4/5 hour walk is ample for this time of year so lets go to the Ochills for a change. Graham/Donald Ben Cleuch from Tillicoutry is the target and we can add on a few more Donalds, Kings Seat Hill, Andrew Winnie Hill and Ben Ever, depending on the weather and how we all feel on the day. OS map no 58. Names please by Thursday 12th to enable cars to be arranged etc.
Other stuff:
The website is now up and running www.bemac.org Anybody who wants walk photos posted please either e mail them to me or send prints and I will scan them. Perhaps different people might like to write the walk report from time to time to get a different perspective on things.
Alan