Walk of the week: Ben Cruachan

On an Indian summer day of glorious colours and clarity, it was no surprise that Rhona and I met a goodly number of hillwalkers on Ben Cruachan, including fellow Scotsman reader and Munroist,

Dave Stone, who was clearing up a few outstanding subsidiary Tops. Cruachan, often taken to mean the whole mountain mass, is a high, rugged and complex area that boasts four subsidiary Tops, as well as Stob Diamh, really a fifth Top yet a distinct Munro since the original 1891 list.

Ben Cruachan itself is, at 1126m/3694ft, the highest mountain in Argyll & Bute; a rank achieved following boundary changes that moved the previous holder, Bidean nam Bian, into Highland.

Recognisable from afar, Cruachan is also known to the non-hillwalking fraternity. Housed in a gigantic man-made cavern lying deep within Cruachan is the world’s first high head reversible pumped storage hydro scheme, enabling water to be pumped back during off-peak hours to the upper reservoir.

THE ROUTE

Start from the northern side of the A85 and not from the Cruachan visitor centre. There is sufficient space for a few cars by steps, also signposted Falls of Cruachan, that lead to an unstaffed request stop railway halt – only open during the summer months as there is no station lighting. Go through the low underpass then duck beneath a screen of wires, part of a four-mile stretch erected on the mountainside to give early warning of possible boulders on the track.

In the event of one or more wires being broken by fallen rocks, signals in each direction are automatically placed at “danger”. The tensioned wires are sometimes referred to as “Anderson’s Piano” after its inventor and the noise they are said to make. In June 2010, a two-carriage train from Glasgow to Oban was derailed and left balanced precariously on a 15-metre embankment. Nine people were injured. The boulder fall in this instance started below the wires.

A narrow path slants to the left (north-west) to reach the Allt Cruachan. Prior to the damming of the river, the flow of water over the Falls of Cruachan would have justified their mention on the map, but not now. The path continues northwards through scrubby woodland on the east bank of the river; a 400m steep climb with one awkward stile, to reach a track leading to the reservoir dam. Carefully climb the metal ladder to reach the top of the dam.

Follow the track on the west side of the reservoir, previously a tiny lochan in the middle of the corrie used as grazing ground for cattle. Then climb north-west into Coire Dearg on a path, eroded in places, to reach the col between Meall Cuanail and the Munro summit. The eroded path avoids many of the granite boulders on the demanding 300m climb to the narrow and spectacular summit. “Cruachan” means “conical hill”, or a stack of stones usually on top of a large mountain, so cruachan beinne really does capture the description of the summit, its almost pyramid shape thrusting up from the mountain mass.

The summit trig point has seen better days; once a high white pillar, now a broken stump, probably the victim of lightning strikes. With a targeted double Munro outing, most walkers then head along the east/west ridge to Stob Diamh. Why not leave it for another day? Substitute instead the magnificent, yet seldom visited, Stob Dearg, known locally as Taynuilt Peak. At 1104m just marginally lower than the main summit, it is the most attractive of all Cruachan’s peaks. Getting there involves a delightful half-mile mini-scramble, with the bonus on a good day of panoramic views over the Firth of Lorn to Mull and beyond.