Schiehallion

 

Schiehallion is a hill I've wanted to climb for a long time as it is such a prominent hill which can be seen from many other Munros in the southern part of Scotland. Without a car though it's a bit of a nightmare to get to. The only practical way would be to use the twice daily school bus run by Caber Coaches between Aberfeldy, Tummell Bridge and Kinloch Rannoch. For anybody keen (mad enough?) to try this out the nearest time point to the end of the road to the Braes of Foss car park  is at the Glengoulandie deer park. No doubt the bus driver would drop off and pick you up at the junction of the unnumbered road with the B846.

I decided to take the easy way out and hired a car and drove to Braes of Foss.

There's supposedly a £2 fee but the machines weren't in use. 

The path leaves the car park at the end and...

,,, soon heads off uphill. The easy start to the path is deceptively easy and I wonder how many non-walkers have been tempted thinking it will be easy. 

There's a sheep fank just before the steeper section stsrts and ....

...looking back there are good views over Loch Tummell

The easy path continues for a surprising distance...

...but eventually begins to get stonier. The weather conditions on the way up were very misty so from now on I've also used some taken on the way back down to give a better idea of the route. 

The clear path ends suddenly at this cairn and from this point onwards is much rougher and in places disappears altogether...

...and in misty conditions is easy to lose.

This photo was taken on the descent when the mist had started to clear and shows the long whaleback ridge leading to the summit. This stayed in cloud the whole day so I didn't feel to cheated although I wished I'd started later in the day and had better views high up.

Back in the mist there's a shelter on the way to  the summit....

...and beyond the boulders become much larger and jumbled.

The summit itself  has a small cairn perched on boulders. In clear weather the views are extensive but sadly not on this day. Nevertheless it was a good spot to sit and have lunch and listen to the silence. Climbing my 160th Munro had taken about two and a half hours to the summit.

On my return walk the cloud base lifted giving good views over Dunalastair Water to the north

Whilst to the south west are (I think) the Munros of Carn Mairg circuit.

 

By the time I reached the car park the cloud had lifted and I had a good view of the hill.