Another Fine Day in the Scottish Hills

Mike takes in the view from the summit of Ben More

On Friday June 3, Mike and I enjoyed a walk in the mountains above Glen Dochart, and bagged two new Munros in the process. We climbed Ben More (1174 m / 3851 ft – the name means Big Mountain in Gaelic), Stob Binnein (1165 m / 3822 ft – pronounced Sto Binian – Anvil Peak ), and Stob Coire an Lochain (just below 1050 m – Stop Corr an Lochain – Peak of the Corrie Pond). The going was a bit stiff, especially the steep ascent on the northwest ridge of Ben More, but the day was sheer perfection.

Ben More and Stob Binnein are both Munros (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet), indeed they are the 16th and 18th highest in the country. Even though it is over 3000 ft, Stob Coire an Lochain doesn’t count as a Munro – it is a “Munro Top”. Not sure why this is – possibly because the ridge joining Binnein and Coire an Lochain is short and doesn’t really dip enough to clearly separate the two peaks. (In fact it is only ten minutes or so hiking between the two.)

Regardless of designation the views were outstanding – from the top of More we could see up to Ben Nevis in the north, the Isle of Arran and its high peak of Goat Fell in the southwest, and all the way to Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth in the East. From Stob Binnein we could see the Wallace Monument in Stirling. We spent the entire day gazing at rank after rank of imposing peaks, deep green glens, and blue lochs.

We began in the town of Crianlarich and walked out about two miles along a dismantled railway track. The old track kept us off the busy A85 highway, and put us right along the shores of Loch Dochart. Just past Benmore Farm we started our tramp up the hulking side of Ben More. It took us just over two hours to get from the base to the summit – a rise of just about 1000 metres in a distance of around 2 km.

After drinking in the view on Ben More we went down 300 metres to the saddle between More and Binnein – called a bealach in Gaelic. This one is named Bealach-eadar-dha-beinn (pronounced Byalach-aitar-gha-ben) which means “pass between two mountains” (sounds a lot more romantic in Gaelic). Then we regained almost all of those 300 metres as we went up the ridge to the top of Stob Binnein and along to Stob Coire an Lochain.

Mary taking a nap on Stob Coire an Lochain

Coire an Lochain was probably the most inviting of all the peaks because it had a small pond right at the top. Alongside this tiny lochan the springy heather was dry, the sun was warm, and the wind was light, so we indulged in a wee nap.

All good things must come to an end and soon enough we had to think about coming back down. I didn’t want to hump back up to the top of Binnein, so we contoured around the western side to come out just above the bealach. From here we went down the western slopes of Ben More into Benmore Glen.

Down in the glen we stopped to bath our feet in a quickly running stream – refreshed, rested, and with mountain-water-clean feet we tramped around the base of Ben More and retraced our steps back into Crianlarich. A wonderful meal and a few pints at the Rod and Reel Pub awaited us. Then it was up onto the bus and back home – another fine day in the Scottish hills.




Map of the route


View Ben More and Stob Binnein in a larger map

More pictures of Ben More and Stob Binnein from Mary
More pictures of Ben More and Stob Binnein from Mike