The holidays start here!!!

The laptop lid was closed for two weeks of escape, just in time for lockdown easing.

The three Munros of Beinn a'Ghlo beckoned, my first return visit since 1998. We parked near Straloch and cycled up the beautiful and lonely Gleann Fearnach to dump the bikes at the shieling at the glen head. A beautiful dale of fertile soil from the limestone hereabouts. 

From there we headed west on foot along the seven shielings path until opposite the western peak of Carn Liath. As we crossed the floor of the glen in knee deep heather, a short-eared owl flew up and past us. After some grub it was a full frontal assault of the peak, 400m metres at a brutal angle (who plotted this route??). Arriving on the summit, we joined the guidebook conveyor belt and followed dozens of boots who had come up from Pitlochry. By all accounts the car park was rammed; everyone was out to enjoy their freedom. 

The views were suitably rewarding, we could see from Ben Macduibh in the north to the Pentlands in the south, to Glencoe in the west. 

From the final summit cairn of Carn nan Gabhar where some muppet had left their orange peel, we left the conveyor belt and dropped steeply south east back to the bikes 700m below. Then enjoyed a fast freewheel descent back to the car. Nackered. 

Scotland the Best!!!!!!

The pic is climbing up to the 2nd peak, looking back to Carn Liath with the obvious eroded motorway path (that we contributed to).