Day 14: 05/06/2015 Meall a'Bhuiridh (Munro)
The warmest night of the trip (down to 8 degC) produced the best catch of the trip with just 20 moths of 16 species - however one was new to me (Pseudotelphusa paripunctella), making 9 new Lepidoptera for the trip, with a couple of promising, as yet unidentified, specimens to process later.
Rained, sometimes heavily, all morning. We considered coming home a day early but the forecast was for a brighter afternoon, so we had a reading morning and went out to lunch (haggis, neeps and tatties at the Clachaig Inn). By about 3pm the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to appear in patches. We were planning to finish off with an 800m summit in Glen Coe, but noticed that the tops were clear above the ski chair lift and decided to embark on the walk we had hoped to do yesterday. By the time we got on the chair lift, it was in full sun. It passed up and over a gushing series of waterfalls to get us effortlessly from 370m to 640m altitude. In winter Meall a'Bhuiridh is the Glen Coe mountain resort ski hill and you can get nearly to the top on ski-tows. On foot the ascent was steep first on boggy grass and heather and then on rocks, scree and snow. The views all around were the best we have had - including to the formidable Creise ridge. The Walk Highlands route involves going on to climb this but the col/ridge between the two mountains looked scary. I would want ideal conditions to attempt it and Alison would never do it. As it was the wind was so strong at the summit it was difficult to stand and it looked like the brief respite from adverse weather was about to end. Fortunately we were able to get down off the rocky part of the slope before the inevitable hail shower hit, turning to heavy rain as we got lower down. The sun came out again after 30 mins or so and we were treated to one of the strongest double rainbows we have seen, arcing over Glen Coe. Apart from the usual Ptarmigan there was little wildlife seen on this route.
Rained, sometimes heavily, all morning. We considered coming home a day early but the forecast was for a brighter afternoon, so we had a reading morning and went out to lunch (haggis, neeps and tatties at the Clachaig Inn). By about 3pm the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to appear in patches. We were planning to finish off with an 800m summit in Glen Coe, but noticed that the tops were clear above the ski chair lift and decided to embark on the walk we had hoped to do yesterday. By the time we got on the chair lift, it was in full sun. It passed up and over a gushing series of waterfalls to get us effortlessly from 370m to 640m altitude. In winter Meall a'Bhuiridh is the Glen Coe mountain resort ski hill and you can get nearly to the top on ski-tows. On foot the ascent was steep first on boggy grass and heather and then on rocks, scree and snow. The views all around were the best we have had - including to the formidable Creise ridge. The Walk Highlands route involves going on to climb this but the col/ridge between the two mountains looked scary. I would want ideal conditions to attempt it and Alison would never do it. As it was the wind was so strong at the summit it was difficult to stand and it looked like the brief respite from adverse weather was about to end. Fortunately we were able to get down off the rocky part of the slope before the inevitable hail shower hit, turning to heavy rain as we got lower down. The sun came out again after 30 mins or so and we were treated to one of the strongest double rainbows we have seen, arcing over Glen Coe. Apart from the usual Ptarmigan there was little wildlife seen on this route.
Meall a'Bhuiridh: Distance ~6km, Ascent 470m (from top of chairlift), Descent 740m, Summit Altitude 1108m