Auch.

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Section 2 910 Meall Buidhe 862 Cam Chreag 837 Sron a'Choire Chnapanich 830 Beinn Dearg 787 Meall Tairneachan 783 Farragon Hill 909 Beinn nan Oighreag 901 Beinn Odhar 886 Beinn a'Chaisteil 885 Cam Chreag 849 Beinn nan Imirean 818 Beinn Chaorach 806 Beinn nam Fuaran 806 Meall nan Subh 780 Meall nam Maigheach Section 5 Section 6 Section 1 Section 3 Return to Corbett index Return Home.

Auch Viaduct  Beinn Odhar 901m  2948'  Odhar, the colour of grassy hills in spring  Map  Beinn a'Chaisteil 886m  2897'  Chaisteil, Castle  Map  Beinn nam Fuaran 806m  2632'  Fuaran, Spring.  Map

Fion Uillt na-hAnnaide
Blas Meala r'a h-òl air

 

Beinn Odhar 901m

The other half of the '5 in a day' are lined up on the eastern side of the Auch Glen, facing the huge concept of Beinn Dorain. Beinn Odhar is apart from the rest. Chasteil and Fuaran are twin summits across a boggy saddle. Beinn Odhar is a mirror image of Dorain with the great horseshoe of the Auch bend on the West Highland Railway running along both their flanks. Beinn a'Chaisteil provides the mirror with glens and viaducts on either side. The railway/A82 run a wee bit too close to appreciate this hill's graceful form. From south of Tyndrum the hill is most striking and a good view can be had from Beinn a'Chaisteil, the east face boasting a deep gash of a gully and a sweep of crag. The quality of the summit view from the summit pops up quite often in the literature. Of course I did not get one, next time? Beinn Odhar from Beinn a Chaisteil.

 

The railway featured in my ascent of this hill. I needed to catch the 1035 out of Tyndrum, on the way up north, so a quick hill was required, before breakfast, the roadside Odhar was placed just right. I was mixed in with all the West Highland Way mobs as I pushed a big pack up past the new water tanks above Tyndrum. Unlike the 80 000 odd Milngavie-FortWilliam punters my pack was only going to a grassy slope just off the way. Feeling free of regimentation and a big pack I quickly followed the old mine track to the summit.

The track is totaly invisible from below, but if you go up from Tyndrum you will find it. It serviced a short lived lead mine just below the summit. Now grassed over it gives a very easy ascent.

As usual, no views, a pity as this hill is supposed to be good in the vista department, there can be no better place from which to admire Beinn Dorain, and I still had a train to catch, so it was straight back the way I came, on to the train and off up to Nancy's place at Fersit.

On the way down I was fortunate to meet Ivan Waller, of Belle View Bastion fame and a Munroist who got the lot after his 70th birthday. He was now after all the 900m + hills and was excitedly telling me that Beinn Teallach was now a Munro,this being spring 1984. He had done it the day before, stayed the night in Tulloch Station (now a posh bunkhouse) and got the train down to the next big Corbett. Ivan was to have many more hill days after this, being active into his tenth decade.

And before you ask, no, he did not have his wind up gramophone with him.

Beinn Odhar from Beinn Challum.

 

 

Beinn a'Chaisteil 886m

Beinn a Chaisteil and Beinn nam Fuaran from near Auch.

Beinn a'Chaisteal forms a giant rampart guarding the entrance to the Auch Glen , seamed with gullies it rears up above the railway, a viaduct to either side. Beyond the hill dips gently to a pass before rising up to a graceful cone, Beinn nam Fuaran. Both hills are Corbetts.

The old road to Glen Lyon followed the trench of the Auch Glen , before being inundated by the expanded Loch Lyon. This was a coffin road, from Lyon to Glen Orchy. To the east lie the Corbetts, steep sided but joined by an easy saddle, the original Mam Lorn. On the western side the glen is bounded by the interesting, corried side of Beinn Dorain beloved of Auch's great contribution to Scottish literature, Donnchadh Ban nan Oran, Duncan Ban MacIntyre.(1724-1812)

The best known Gaelic poet, a celebrity in the Edinburgh enlightenment is forever associated with Auch and its guardian giant Beinn Dorain. He was born near the present day Inveroran Inn , married the innkeepers daughter and spent his early life in the Blackmount. However it was after seeing active service for the Campbell / Hanoverian cause in the '45 he was to settle as gamekeeper in Gleann Ach-innis Cailein, now known as the Auch Glen. It was here that he wrote his finest poetry, including his best known work Moladh Beinn Dorain, (In praise of Beinn Dorain). He made his home at Ais an-t-Sidhean, there is a ruin on the site today. In 1765 he moved to Edinburgh and served with the city guard when not being feted by the literary establishment of the day.

Looking southwards from Beinn Achaladair. The prominent saddle is Mam Lorn, the pass between Beinn nam Fuarain (left) and Beinn a'Chaisteil (right)

Once I struggled on to the Mam Lorn climbing steeply from the old cemetery by the Annat burn. The weather worsened and the summits, covered by slimy wet snow did not invite closer examination. I was happy to cross the bealach into the wild upper reaches of Glen Lyon, beneath the steep slopes of Creag Mhor, now coloured red and gold by autumn.

The heavy rain maid the return down the glen to Auch very trying. The track passing Donnchadh Ban's house at Ais an-t-Sidean , has a nasty habit of crossing and recrossing the river several times. There was a lot of water. This track has gained a nasty reputation amongst the Munro baggers who invariably do Beinn Mhanach by this route and cross country cyclists. Eventualy the viaduct is reached and a good track joined through the township and up to the A82. There is a large herd of Highland cattle at Auch.

Note that there is very poor parking at the Auch road end. It is easier to park at the head of the pass, below Beinn Odhar and walk down the old road/West Highland Way to Auch. Be warned, its a fair pech back up at the end of the day.

New buldozed tracks make an approach from the Lyon Dam possible now, The Abhainn Ghlas , between Creag Mhor and Beinn nam Fuaran can be a formidable obstacle.

A winter's day promising good snow conditions was the setting for round 2. This time I tried to ski the pair, a masochistic exercise due to teh 4 mile walk in from the top of the pass mentioned previously. A bulldozer was at work down at Auch, and its driver was to only person to be seen on a very fine day.

The Glen Corralan track soon gave out to provide a steep pull up to the snow on the east ridge of Beinn a'Chaisteil. Now the moment of truth, would I get anything for my effort of carrying planks up. It was not to be. The snow was too icy for my skins and kick turning traverses dodgy. Any fresh stuff was thinly bonded windslab and failed immediately it was weighted, not a day for gully hacking. Perseverance paid off ,and following a poorly constructed fence up easier slopes soon led to the tiny summit cairn, although I was later to find out that the summit had already been passed. Of course with the fine view down to the viaducts and Auch on display it had to start snowing.

The summit, Beinn a'Caisteil.

Easy slopes lead down to boggy Mam Lorn. I got halfway down when I gave up the unequal struggle with the ice and decided to walk. The dilapidated fence that follows the Argyll/Perthshire boundary did not help as it perfectly bisected the fresher snowfields and helped to render effortless turning an impossibility. Despite heavy gear, I was simply not up to the descent, and quickly decided to abandon the idea of running off Beinn nam Fuaran into Glen Lyon. The long walk out through fresh baseless snow was also uninviting.

Beinn a' Chaisteil has a fine collection of crags, not all visible from the road. They are only of winter interest, although the big gully above the viaduct was climbed in 1898. Being of low altitude a good freeze is required, but they were well iced up when I passed down the Auch Glen. Of course the next day was to be the start of a long thaw. A prominent deep gully visible only from up the Auch Glen , Valkyrie, has given a grade IV outing and the main icefalls have been climbed at a similar grade.

Beinn nam Fuaran 806m

Beinn Fuaran and Loch Lyon.

 

Fuaran is a rather more retiring hill. It gives a good account of itself when seen from the east along Loch Lyon, but is otherwise hemmed in by bigger things. You will catch a glimpse from the A82 up the Auch Glen, just behind the ramparts of Beinn a'Chaisteil but no more.

Viewed from the hag ridden saddle of Mam Lorn it is a different story. A steep regular cone just managing to raise a crag of two (no climbing interest) rears up from the flatlands. The march fence makes attempt at a directissima but bottles out to the left. Beyond and to the east more gentle slopes run down to the head waters of the Lyon, in the forgotten upper reaches of this great glen, beyond the enlarged loch. I had hoped to ski this side, but ice made walking a more enjoyable option. Five in a day attempts will ascend by this side, only to face the heartbreak of a final 340 metre slog up Beinn a Chaisteal.

As mentioned previously, this hill is now again accessible from the East, as roads have been cut alongside Loch Lyon. It seems that the shepherds no longer come in by boat. The southern shore road will lead to the foot of the hill, the other side only runs as far as lonely Glen Mearan. You will not meet the school teacher as did Seaton Gordon in the 1920's
Loch Lyon from the west.

Most will of course approach or leave via Auch, over Chaisteil , or up the Auch glen. The Auch Glen will be familiar to the Munro devotee as it's the usual approach to Beinn Mhanach. Such a person will not need reminding that the road continuously crosses and recrosses the river, so you will get some burn crossing practice.in this way. The track is a right of way derived from the old corpse road of the Glen Lyon MacGregors who would carry their dead to consecrated ground in Glen Orchy by this route. Now that the shoreline roads have been cut, and Loch Lyon is no longer the obstacle it was, this route has regained some popularity. A few birches still cling to craggy hillsides, there is an occasional scrog of conifer plantation, it would have been a far finer glen when Duncan Ban worked here, and a lot busier.

Skis were abandoned on the pass, and poles exchanged for an axe for the short steep grind up to the twin cairned summit. As is often the case the big cairn was not on the highest point, but built to be seen from below in drowned Glen Lyon. The loch was full today, no tide line and a clear view to the Meall Buidhes and Stuichd an Lochain. In all other directions big things crowded out the view. Even fellow Corbett Beinn a'Chaisteil was effective in enclosing the hill.

The summit, Beinn Fuaran. Loch Lyon and Beinn Mhanach in the background.

There was a glimpse of copper from the sunlit Auch Glen, and a brief magical clearing when Beinn Dothaidh showed itself to be a sharp peak. No angle known could do that for Beinn Mhanach. Dorain was not coming out to play, it's a big bulky thing from this angle, with rocky corries ideal for the frozen turf brigade.

Beinn Dothaidh from Beinn Fuaran.

A steep, and sometimes rock descent is required to gain the floor of the Auch Glen, don't go too far along towarsd Beinn a'Chaisteal, the crags soon start. An easy crossing of the river and soon I was by Annat, now an enclosure and rickle of stones, the wine was flowing freely down an attractive series of ice fringed falls, draining some forgotten corner of Beinn Dorain. Quite a special place.

After a spot of armchair ice climbing, looking up at the Chaisteil crags and one more river crossing, it was time to slog back up the West Highland Way, once the A82 to the top of the pass. Often I would turn and look at the sunset pink cone of Beinn Dorain, its shape restored now, settling into another frosty night.

Next day everything started to melt.

In the Auch Glen.

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The wine of the Burn of the Annat
Its taste was of honey to drink it.

Donnachadh Bàn

(The Allt na h-Annait runs down to the Auch Glen from Beinn Dorain, opposite the Mam Lorn between the two Corbetts. As usual with Annats there is a cemetry and almost certainly once a church by itys waters.)

 

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revised April 2005