Toss up between this batch of hills and Beinn a'Ghlo with the easy lot winning. Pouring rain met us this morning after a longer than expected drive to Invervon in Glen Lyon. Full gear on and light rucksacks. Through a huge gate by the cottages (designed I assume to keep out walkers in the stalking season) and up a forest track out onto open countryside walking beside the forest. As usual we misread the Munro book instructions and instead of crossing the footbridge across the Invervon burn we tried to cross the river just where it forked. Of course with the rain the burn was in spate and we had all sorts of problems. It began to look as if we had the choice of risking our lives crossing the river or giving up altogether until commonsense reached us and like the idiots we were we crossed the footbridge and up the path. To compensate for our error I have to say that the Munro book is misleading here where it says follow a narrow path after a bridge for a short way. It's actually a wide path/track and goes a long way before reaching the end of the forest and making up over the open countryside towards the ridge. Once leaving the burn and forest up a steep but short incline you quickly reach a path leading on to the ridge and that's it for the rest of the day. There is a path virtually all the way up and over all four hills in this area so it's difficult to get lost. From here it is a very easy and pleasant walk right up to a windy but very misty summit. Sitting in the shelter of the cairn with my Guinness I had one of life's occasional mystical experiences. Surrounded completely in grey/white mist Graeme suddenly pointed ahead to what was a small hole appearing in the mist through which you could see little pools of water glistening far below in sunlight. As we sat amazed the hole enlarged (almost as if strips were being taken away) and gradually a huge loch started to appear above the pools (Loch Rannoch). As the hole got bigger mountains arose, including Schiehallion and our way ahead was revealed. Finally on walking round the cairn virtually all mist went and we had a glorious view of the very green Glen Lyon and meandering river. A memorable moment, the mist came back within minutes and all was grey again.
From Meall Garbh it was again just a process of following the old fence and path down to a col and then up to a top called Meall a'Bharr. Absolutely nothing to comment on other than that we saw no deer on this hill. Carn Gorm had been full of them, never seen so many in my life, but none here. This is a long top going slowly uphill and nearer the summit of Carn Mairg it gets very rocky and narrow. Not worryingly narrow but narrow by comparison with what we had been walking on all day. Time for a quick juice stop and off again.
Having seen the route when the mist cleared we knew where to go and were in fact soon under the mist and again on a clear path. This takes you round the side of An Sgurr, a pointy little top, and makes you realise how much easier it is to contour a hill when you are on a path. The route leads easily to the ridge leading up to the summit and again you have a line of old fence posts to make sure you don't lose your way. A simple climb and we were soon at the cairn by the fence posts. The book says there are two tops of almost equal height but we couldn't find the other one - actually we didn't look that much but it didn't seem to be there. A weird cairn with the rocks covered with fence poles making it look like a metal cairn. Stopped only for photos and then on our way.
Coming off Carn Mairg was tricky, but not for the reason stated in the book. Initially misty we were very careful to avoid the small crag but when under the mist we could not actually see any crag and wondered what the fuss was about. The real problem was that the rocks coming off this hill were very slippy and treacherous so great care was required. The stony slope too seemed to go on for ever. Back over a col and up very easy slopes to the top. The book says the ascent leads to the South West top but it took us direct to the true summit, a rocky tor. This threw us a little and we began to doubt our own sanity and question if we were in the right place. We assumed we were, had the usual last peak handshake and walked over to the SW peak which was on the way back in any event. From here it was quite clear that the tor was the higher point. Coming off the hill we veered a little too far left, going a little too far downhill and missed the pathway. No problem with no mist but it meant a few hundred yards of rough ground until we met the path on the south side of the stream. This was on a ridge and made for a simple but strenuous walk all the way down to the path entering the forest, leaving only a short walk back to the car. Funny that when we climbed this hill it was called Creag Mhor but the new Munro book (and Ordinance Survey map) call it Meall nan Aighean, with Creag Mhor as a top over to the east. I have checked up various books but have not yet found out why it changed.
