Meall na Fearna

For my second walk in July 2025, when I was based in Lochearnhead, I decided to climb the Corbett Meall na Fearna. To get to the start of the hill walk I would need to walk about four miles, mostly along the single track road that runs along the southern side of Loch Earn as far as Ardvorlich. This would add about three hours walking in total but I would not be under any time pressure to complete the hill walk.

The map shows my track taken from my GPS Spot personal tracker. Click on the square in the top right corner to see map full size.

The  first part of the walk from Lochearnhead is along the main A84 which has a broad pavement all the way.....

...until the junction of the road that runs along the south side of Loch Earn.

The road signs read "Walking and cycling friendly road". Well I'm afraid a lot of drivers along this road including, no doubt, many of the hill walkers heading for the car parking area at Ardvorlich don't seem to realise that having a car pass you at 40mph when you are standing on a narrow grassy verge is not being "Walker friendly". Fortunately, only about 20 cars passed me. Rant over!

Lochearnhead and Glen Ogle.

Looking across Loch Earn with the white buildings of the Clachan Hotel where I was staying.

Unfortunately, my camera's memory card malfunctioned and I lost a small number of photos along this part of the walk so I have used some photographs from the Geograph website which can be reproduced if credited.

 This is a view of Edinample Castle which can be seen from the road. It was built in the 16th century but extended several times over the years. Signs at the entrance to the grounds make it clear that it is not open to the public.

Photo © Copyright Dave Fergusson https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2589907 Commons Creative License

The sign at the main gate to the Ardvorlich estate directs walkers to use the east gate which is a little further along the road.

Photo © Copyright Dave Fergusson https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2590026 Commons Creative License

The road frequently comes down to the shore of Loch Earn as here at Ardvorlich. Sadly there was evidence of camp fires not being cleared away.

Photo © Peter Wood geograph.org.uk/p/7318322 Commons Creative License.

The ornamental gates of the east gate of  Ardvorlich House is the starting point of the hill walk.

The track passes quite close Ardvorlich House and then climbs through trees to reach the open hillside and into Glen Vorlich.

After about two kilometres the track to Ben Vorlich branches off to the right but the route to Meall na Fearna drops down...

.....and crosses a new concrete ford. I suspect this has been improved as there is a small HEP plant in the glen....

.....the pipe for which can be seen to the left of this new timber bridge over the Ardvorlich Burn.

The track becomes less well defined as it climbs, with Ben Vorlich on the right.

Looking back down to Loch Earn.

The track suddenly becomes much clearer as it crosses an area of deep heather....

,,,,,and there is a substantial cairn. Quite why this has been built here I couldn't work out as there are no paths diverging from the track.

Further up the glen the track becomes less obvious....

...and eventually at about NN 63805 20076 the track finally disappeared and I started walking south eastwards using my GPS to navigate to a series of waypoints. To the left are the slopes of Beinn Domhnuill which I wasn't going to go over.

The terrain was a mixture of heather....

.....and grass

I'm now climbing into Coirein Riabhach where the.....

.....peat hags begin.

Meall na Fearna come into view about a kilometre and a half away across bog and peat hags.

Thankfully, the dry summer of 2025 meant that it wasn't too difficult to walk over although there was quite a lot of detouring needed to avoid having to climb up and down the peat banks.

In one or two places short sections of track appear, although I suspect these are animal rather than human ones.

The gradient steepens as the bottom of the hill approaches....

...and there are several deep peat hags to work around. Looking at the summit I decided that I would climb it from the west (or right hand) side, although I think either side would have been alright.....

....and headed up the steep slope.

Looking back down hill with Ben Vorlich dominating the view.

After a few minutes climbing I reached the small cairn of Meall na Fearna at 809m above sea level. It's a climb of about 700m metres from Ardvorlich and had taken exactly three hours, about half an hour longer than my route card had suggested. That was hardly surprising given the terrain and the amount of wandering around the peat hags.

The two Munros of Stuc a'Chroin (in the background) and Ben Vorlich tower above Meall na Fearna.

Click on the diagram or photo to see the full sized panorama looking north from the summit. The distant hills stretch from Ben Challum near Tyndrum across to Ben Lawers.

A zoomed in photo looking towards Ben Lawers with Lochan na Mna adding interest.

Another clickable panorama show the vast expanse of moorland in this part of Perthshire.

As I was in no hurry to get back to Lochearnhead the return walk to Ardvorlich took me about two and a half hours.

The entire hillwalk lasted six hours including several breaks. Of course I then had another hour and a half back to Lochearnhead.

Whilst Meall na Fearna doesn't have the cachet of Ben Vorlich it is still an interesting hill to climb and a good viewpoint.