Ben Vorlich, Stuc a'Chroin, Ben Lawers & Beinn Ghlas

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Hey Ho...back to work today after a glorious long bank holiday weekend.  We have a Wee Hobbit and a Hobbit Cascade to be finished and heading off down to Devon.  Long drive for us.

Gary is due back home from New York today also, so can't wait to catch up on his tales from the Stag weekend.

Me...

After doing 3 of the Lawers range midweek, I returned home, bought a comfy scissor camp bed due to the failure of my inflating mattresses to retain air through the night, and headed back up to tackle Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas, 2 Munros that I had missed on my previous outing.
I set up the tent again at the foot of Meall nan Tarmachan, and went to fit the aforementioned 'comfy bed' only to discover the bed was 18 inches longer than the tent. (there's planning for you).
Anyways, with a bit of jiggery pokery, I managed to get most of the bed in and fitted a tarp extension to the front of the tent.
The 2 mountains were to be honest a bit of a slog and the wind at the summits had fairly whipped up and it was bitterly cold, but the views over to Schiehallion and Ben Nevis made it worthwhile and I could also see tomorrows walk, which was to be Ben Vorlich, then on to Stuc a'Chroin.

Looking to Ben Lawers from Beinn Ghlas

After getting down, I set up a disposable bbq as I had left the stove back at home, duh!!  Therefore, tea that evening was a sustaining, if not visually appealing mixture of beans tatties and sausages.

Sunday evening was spent in the excellent Ben Lawers Hotel, where there were fiddlers a-fiddling, drummers a-drummin', pipes piping, whistles, accordians and drums plus a multitude of other instruments, and a wee jam session ensued and was top notch.  This happens on the first Sunday of every month.  Well worth the visit for this alone.

Once again, awoke to ice inside the tent and a cold head due to having to kip with it sticking out the door.  Idiot that I am.

Upon sunrise, I set off to the Post Office at Lochearnhead to meet up with Cathy and Digger (the dog), and after a much needed coffee, we set out to the farm at the base of Ben Vorlich.

Ben Vorlich

I was still a tad stiff from my latest excursions, but with the help of Digger on the lead, I was pulled up the first 1,000 feet until my leg muscles eased off.
It was still blowing a bitterly cold wind in places, but we summited in good time.

Then....the real fun begins.   We looked across to Stuc a'Chroin, translated as 'peak of danger' and were just a bit worried as the path seemed to fade away halfway up the daunting rock face.  Still, in for a penny, in for a pound, and we descended Vorlich and soon started the ascent after letting Digger frolic in some of the remaining snow patches.
Luckily, there were a few walkers ahead of us which gave some indication of a route through and upwards, and after a quite an exciting scramble/climb, with Cathy doing her best to look neither upward nor down the route we had taken, we summited.  Hurrah!!

Stuc a'Chroin

From then on, it was a good walk-out by skirting the side of Vorlich and back to the loch.  A good day out.