Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers

Beinn Ghlas

Gaelic meaning : Grey, green mountain

Height : 3,619 feet
Walk distance : 6.5 miles

OS Map : Ben Lawers

Difficulty rating :4

Ben Lawers

Gaelic meaning : Hill of the loud stream

Height : 3,983 feet

Difficulty rating :3

Two Munro's for the price of one!

Ben Lawers is the 10th highest Munro (3,983 feet) in Scotland and one of the most visited, situated on the north side of Loch Tay, it's one of 7 Munro's along a long ridge which, if you are a strong walker could be walked in a day. It's in an easily accessible location and is only a couple of hours drive from Edinburgh. Home to some rare animals and Alpine flowers it's a dedicated nature reserve. 

Ben More & Stob Binnein in the distance

From the car park Beinn Ghlas (3,619feet) hides Ben Lawers, so to get to the main peak you have to go over the smaller one. In the car park you'll see the now unused visitor centre, the path is easy to spot from there. Head over the duckboards into the fenced area (keeps the sheep out) and upwards and onwards.

Walk wise the path is very narrow and is badly eroded. Lots of loose boulders litter the path, so you need to be careful of where you stand. The path at times is very steep and feels a like it goes on forever. I found it really hard going for most of it, particularly on Beinn Ghlas, 2.5 hours straight up basically.

Meall Corranaich

Once you reach the summit you finally get a proper view of Ben lawers and the surrounding area, what a view it is !

Follow the path down for approximately 900 feet, then head straight back up and up to the summit of Lawers for a nice well earned rest. The path is so easy to follow there is not much that needs to be said about it.

If you get the weather like I did take your time and appreciate some of the finest views Scotland has to offer. Due to the relatively central location you can see a huge chunk of the country. 

I found this walk absolutely breathtaking (in more ways than one). This was only my 2nd and 3rd Munro but I enjoyed this so much I think I can officially say it's where I caught the bug. Ben lawers is definitely recommended.

Little update, I walked this again with some friends in April 2011, another great day and we decided to come back using the path around Beinn Ghlas. This is a much easier and kinder route on your knees, I'd recommend that for your return.

Here's the route profile :

And the a rough outline of the route itself :

The Great Glen Way

Running from Fort William to Inverness along the banks of Loch Lochy and Loch Ness this promised to be a toughish 73 miles. Unfortunately my blisters, swollen feet, nails dropping off etc. got the better of me and I stopped at Fort Augustus about 35 miles in. The first two days are spent pretty much walking along the Caledonian Canal so the path is well kept but very solid so have well worn in shoes as you'll get blisters a'plenty.

Falkirk Wheel to Glasgow

As walks go you can't get much easier terrain than this. 24 miles along a well kept and flat path following the canal. Fairly uninteresting barring the schemies and the odd Heron. Easy on the legs but a tough slog on your feet, needed a good few blister stops on the way.