You get a good start on this hill as the car park at the National Trust for Scotland Centre is already about 1500 feet up. Looking up at the mountain, although a clear path could be seen, Ben Lawers looked to be a real monster, incredibly high and awesome. Where Beinn Ghlas was we could only guess but was no doubt one of the bumps half way up. A nice gentle start through the nature trail area takes you up to the foothills where the going gets decidedly steeper. You just look up and can't believe you've got to walk up that! However you find that you climb a lot quicker than you think and it's quite a pleasure to look down after a few minutes and think - "gosh I've just climbed that." Going up the ridge
we met a series of plateau bumps one of which we eventually decided must be Beinn Ghlas. There was a cairn and some nice views. We sat down exhausted and had our blackcurrant juice. Some folks walked by without stopping and slowly the realisation came upon us. That monster we had seen earlier wasn't Ben Lawers, it was in fact Beinn Ghlas. Ben Lawers then hidden was even higher still. With gulps and a wee bit embarrassment we started off again to reach the real summit of Beinn Ghlas. It wasn't too bad, just a series of climbs and plateaux. The actual summit is a bit of a disappointment as it is really just a top on the way to Ben Lawers. The cairn is miniscule but is on the edge of a cliff, so you get a funny feeling standing on the edge. A beautiful view though looking down over Glen Lyon and up to Ben Lawers with its awful eroded path visibly making its way up to the top.
By now stripped to our shorts only with the weather continuing glorious but hazy, we strolled down over a gentle ridge for a few hundred feet before starting the climb again. Although there is a pathway the going gets very steep and in one or two places requires hands at least to maintain your balance. At one point I felt exposed on rock with a sharp drop to the right and vaguely felt concern about what this would be like on the way down. The top is fairly sharp,steep and grassy, on all sides and is actually a dream of a summit. It's what you always imagined the top of a mountain would be like. Lunch at the top was heaven, a good can of Guinness and cheese/chicken roll sandwiches. The hazy weather meant that the distance view was limited but there was a beautiful view of the Lochan Na Cat below looking just like the postcards. The lochan resembles a sitting cat, hence its name. The way back to Beinn Ghlas was easy. We were tempted by the alternative path which avoids Beinn Ghlas summit but is not recommended by the guide book. The whole descent was fairly uneventful and easier than expected - I think this is because there are flat places and bumps to relieve the legs. The part I feared meeting on the descent was an anti-climax. Seeing it from another angle it didn't look half as exposed and was a dawdle .
