Introduction

Our resident cyclist, Big Vern, recently introduced me to the joys of mountain biking. In his wisdom he took me on a near impossible "off road" journey across Scotland that has left me swearing I'd never get back in the saddle..... My pain was such that I was keen to get my own back by taking him for a serious day hillwalking........

The hills, Beinn Heasgarnich, Creag Mhor and Ben Challum were deemed robust enough to restore some of my battered pride. Unfortunately he managed adequately ..........

These are big hills, and present a challenging days walking.... the tour of the 3 munros now verges on unattainable, as the road to the original starting point (Badour) has been blocked to vehicles. Unfortunately this adds an extra 9 miles of road to the hillwalk..... so, ironically, I really recommend the use of a mountain bike to get to Badour.

If you are walking in then to take on Ben Challum with the other 2 hills is a mammoth task that really is too much for a single expedition...... even with the use of a mountain bike it will be a big achievement to complete the 3 hills.

Route

• The nearest available parking can be found at Kenknock (Click for scalable map). From this point use a mountain bike or walk along the road to get to the original starting point of Badour.

• These hills are huge grassy expanses and as such there is no distinct path leading all the way to the summits. So from Badour head NW to get to the plateau Eag Uillt.

• From this first plateau it is a bit of a slog 2 km north up steep grassy slopes over numerous false summits before eventually reaching Beinn Heasgarnich, 1076m, GR 414383 (Sheet 50).

• From the summit follow the ridge south for approximately 1 km, then head west and drop down to the highest point in the boggy dip between the 2 hills, GR 398367 (Sheet 51). There is a wee path that appears for a while for this section..... or maybe it's just that we kept on losing it.
  

• Head west to the ridge between Meall Tionail and Creag Mhor and it's well worth taking a few looks back at the descent that you have just made and you'll truly appreciate the bulk of these hills.

• After enjoying a spot of June snow surfing enroute, we followed the crest of the ridge south to the summit of Creag Mhor, 1047m, GR 392362 (Sheet 51).

• There is a clear track leading along the ridge SE for the descent from Creag Mhor.... this however disappears abruptly towards the end and great care should be taken as there are severe cliffs at the end of the ridge Sron nan Eun. At this point you need to head north to allow a safe descent.

• Once safely on to the gentle grassy slopes it's a straight forward wander along the road back to the car.

These are 2 big hills which being a wee bit out of the way offer a good days walking away from the hordes on the Lawers hills. As I've mentioned a mountain bike will be a bit of a bonus..... I'll be using one on my return attempt of Ben Challum.