We went up on the track behind the holiday village with great views over the loch to the left. At the edge of some forestry we climbed over a fence and ascended a steep slope, soon coming to another forestry road.

Crossing this, we were on the slopes of a nameless ‘hump’ (seems to be the rather pejorative name used for a highland hill not big enough to be a Graham) and carried straight on climbing up and up. Bearing slightly left, we were soon at the summit of our first Graham, Stob Na Boine Druim-Fhinn (Dropped Peak of the White Ridge). This mountain has a funny looking double peak, which from a distance looks like the mouthparts of a tick – so we have always called it “The Tick”.

There was a trig point here and we sat and ate our sandwiches in glorious sunshine.

We then sadly had to drop more than 100 meters down to a bealach, and then immediately back up to Beinn Tharsuinn (Transverse Hill) which was a much more rounded and easy going hill. We were in our stride now and sore feet hadn’t yet set in. From that peak we again dropped down and had to scramble back up the rocky slopes of Lochain where there was still quite a lot of snow. In one patch, I saw the unmistakable tracks of a haggis.

The views from the top here were just superb with the snow covered peaks of Breadalbane in the distance.

We carried on to the secondary summit which is where I had been on Thursday. We had a bit of fun at this point because try as we might we couldn’t find the gully I had come up the first time. Probably foolishly I selected another gully which looked promising, only to discover it was a lot steeper than I had thought. Unfortunately by this time we were committed to it and we had a rather more exciting descent than we had been intending, culminating in a slide down a heathery bank which gave me a bit of a ‘soggy bottom’. Looking back we had come down one of the more craggy areas, so I should definitely have spent more time looking for the right path. It seems that every time I go into the mountains I learn a new lesson about what not to do.

From there we crossed the stream near the waterfalls and made our way back along the Cowal Way to Lochgoilhead and home. Somewhat footsore and tired, but a fantastic day. We didn’t see another soul on the hills all day – I bet the more popular Munros (and the Cobbler) will have been mobbed on a beautiful Sunday like today.

First I followed the Cowal way as far as the waterfalls near Beinn Bheula. The going was very uneven and wet, but at least it is a bit better signposted than it used to be. I had been going to try to access the mountain following a track from Walk Highlands which directed to Curra Lochan further up – but I spied a break in the forestry debris and decided to go that way instead. I intrepidly jumped across the burn, climbed over a fence and carefully picked my way over several hundred yards of wet ground to another fence.

Now I was on the mountain itself at about 350m and from here it was actually pretty easy. Beinn Lochain from this direction is steep and simple, with all the craggy bits over to the other side. I went straight up and it only took me about 45 minutes to get to the (tiny) cairn at the top. The view was fantastic, and really made me appreciate what a great wilderness we live in, as particularly to the north there was mountain after mountain, some snow topped, and no habitation or work of man to be seen.

At this point, I looked down, and was a bit concerned to see mist sweeping in at about 500m, obscuring Corra Lochan below. Although I had the GPS I was nervous as this was the first ‘real’ mountain I had ever done on my own. So although I would have liked to have stayed longer, I hurried back down. Looking back from the bottom, Lochain was still largely clear, but Bheula had disappeared into the clouds.

It seemed a long way back after the big climb, and I can tell you I was ready for some food when I got back. Now my feet are aching and I am going to have a nice hot bath.

We’ve been wanting to do this one since we moved in, but it is a bit awkward because it is really too far (9 miles each way) to easily walk out and back, and because the buses don’t run at weekends, it has had to wait for R to be on holiday.

Anyway, it is mostly a nice walk, starting on a very quiet road, and moving on to forestry roads. Very gradually the route rises to about 350m, by which point unfortunately, it has left the good path and hit a mixture of bog and marsh grass. We’ve not had much rain of late, but it was still extremely boggy, to the extent that I wonder if it would be passible after a period of heavy rain. The path runs beside a small lochan (Cura Lochain) situated between Beinn Bheula and Beinn Lochain (how confusing is it that within 10 miles there are two ‘Lochains’ – Beinn Lochain and Beinn an Lochain) and today it was boggy, the clouds were low and it was rainy and cold. So not very inviting and I was glad R was there because the lochan looked like just the sort of place where a each-uisig (gaelic lake monster) might jump out and get you.

We pushed on back down the hill to the forestry path and an hour later were home, rather cold and wet. I really think the Cowal Way needs some serious work – there is not much point in a long distance ‘footpath’ if it is just a general indication of where you might want to walk rather than a track which has actually been properly marked and improved in places.

Tomorrow we are going to Bute.