TR - Graham - Meall Odhar

Lindsay

Meall Odhar

2 December 2007

Tyndrum was the starting point for this walk and it is a very
interesting wee village. There were gold and lead mines worked here
and it has two railway stations, which is rather unusual for such a
small hamlet. It is popular for the Green Welly Stop, which is on the
main road north from Glasgow to Fort William, it is on the route of
the West Highland Way and a tour bus company is based here.

I parked beside the Lower Station, which is on the railway line for
Oban, and crossed the line at the level crossing before walking north-
west through a forest along the side of the railway line. After around
650 metres the path left the railway line and climbed through the
forest and later became rather steep and stony as it reached the old
lead mine workings which date back to the beginning of the 18th
century.

The lead mine area was fenced off with numerous warning signs but a
stony path wound its way uphill on the north side of the old mine. The
views back down into Tyndrum and Strath Fillan were inspiring with
patches of low cloud hanging around and as height was gained the snow
capped peaks of the surrounding mountains came into view.

The path continued to well above the old lead mine and thereafter an
easy short walk led to the summit cairn of Sron nan Colan where I sat
for a while taking in the views. There was no wind and despite the
snow capped tops it wasn't too cold.

Sron nan Colan wasn't my target hill it was further west so a short
descent took me to the top of the tree line above Cononish Glen. It
was a bit boggy here as I walked between a few stunted trees before
commencing the ascent of Meall Odhar, which was rocky in places.
There were some deer feeding on the horizon but they soon disappeared.

It was a relatively easy ascent and just before the summit I came
across a couple of stags but they had also spotted me and ran off
before I could get a decent photograph of them with the snow capped
Beinn Chuirn in the background.

From the summit of Meall Odhar I again had some good views including
the Crianlarich Hills, Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Lui, the
Tyndrum Corbetts, Beinn Dorain and Beinn a'Chreachain and away north
to Meall a'Bhuiridh and Creise.

Once I had tried to name all the visible hills I returned to the tree
line east of Meall Odhar and followed the Allt nan Sae through the
forest into Cononish Glen. This route was rather boggy in places
churned up by the deer but at least there was a gap in the trees
instead of fighting my way through the forest.

On reaching the vehicle track on the north side of the River Cononish
I walked along it for a few metres before following another vehicle
track that climbed through the forest before descending to the Lower
Station at Tyndrum and the end of a very pleasant circular walk to the
Graham, Meall Odhar.

Time taken - 4.25 hours.
Distance - 10 kilometres.
Height climbed - 580 metres.

Photographs taken on walk can be viewed here:
http://www.caledoniahilltreks.com/g...dec07/index.htm