The Allt Coire Dubhchraig

This is my first entry on Blipfoto. Originally I signed up to check out an Aberdeen-based photo challenge that had been advertised on Twitter. Well, my plan to take a photo in response to the challenge fell through and instead today I ended up more than a hundred miles from Aberdeen climbing the mountains just to the west of the village of Crianlarich. The photo shown here was taken during the descent of Beinn Dubhchraig, which at 3,209 feet is a Munro. It sits at the eastern end of a group of four Munros which are dominated by the massive bulk of Ben Lui. I climbed all four of them today in a mixture of sunshine, cloud and a blustery wind.

Four Munros probably sounds a lot for one day, and yes, I would be inclined to agree. However one of my more foolish New Year's resolutions this year was to have climbed my hundredth Munro before my birthday in late July. At that point I had climbed a total of fifty-one so had plenty of work to do. With the long winter here in Scotland initial progress was slow but since the snow has melted I have been ticking them off on a regular basis.

Beinn Dubhchraig means Mountain of the Black Rock in Gaelic and from the black rocks of its summit I got fantastic, moody views down over and north across the vast sweep of the Central Highlands. I then descended back to my car, following a track which kept close to the course of the stream seen in the photo, the Allt Coire Dubhcraig. This tumbles down the mountainside in a series of small falls before it meets the larger River Fillan in the glen below. The trees below are part of the ancient Caledonian Forest. The mountain seen in the distance is Ben Challum, another Munro just to the north-east.