The round over the seven Munros just south of Crianlarich is another one of those long hill running classics that just have to be done. A good forecast and low Munro count for the year so far meant that I was really keen to head down and get it bagged. The round is about 20 miles in length with 3000m of ascent and only a very small amount of road running. I parked at the Forestry Commission carpark just east of Crianlarich 'town centre' and headed east along the road to Ben More in effect doing a clockwise round.
It seems like most walkers take these hills in three of four chunks and the day was an exercise in linking up the 'normal routes'. This predominately involved big drops and climbs into and out of the deep bealachs that subdivide this group of hills. All of which were pretty rough and slow going. In contrast, the linking ridges all boasted well-worn paths and the odd bit of easy scrambling.
The conditions were fantastic with a think layer of cloud ending abruptly at 500m, above this it was sunny and warm with only faint breeze. Under these benign conditions the cloud in the glens didn't shift all day. In some of the bealachs the cloud layer was just about managing to creep over from one corrie into another, but generally it was a day of views and soaking up the sunshine.
The order in which to do the last two Munros, An Caisteal and Beinn Chabhair, was a decision I was unsure about - an still am. In the end I decided on climbing Beinn Chabhair last and then I ran down Coire a' Chuilinn to reach the West Highland Way at Derrydarroch. I wanted to make the run about 20 miles and also having never run on the WHW, I wanted to see what it was like. The corie was pretty awful underfoot and once in the mist it was an unpleasant contrast to the sunny tops above. There is an obvious ridge to follow if you finished on An Caisteal which would give a shorter, and probably more pleasant, route back.
As soon as I started on the tracks of the WHW my hips started complaining again - just as they had on my Fort to Fort run a few weeks earlier. I walked for about 10 minutes and then got bored so decided to 'man-up' and jogged what remained back to the carpark. I am sorry to say that Way just didn't float my boat, which is not to detract from the enjoyment that many derive from walking and running the route. The route took me 8h 45min at what I thought at the time was a gentle(ish) pace, however it took my legs almost a week to recover and so much for my off-season.
