Broad Law

A fairly mundane hill but nice views around and the paraphernalia at the top is just so bizarre - like something out of a Spielberg film. Quite an eyesore actually.

Ruadh Stac Beag and Meall a Ghiubhais

Had arrived late at Kinlochewe - time enough to have some lunch and even a cheeky wee half of the Beinn Eighe - a beautiful beer. My plan was to leave the car park beside Loch Maree by 1400 and allow the hordes to get on and off the hill. While I would be following the magnificent mountain trails to the bealach, I knew once was up there it would be a fair old jaunt over to Ruadh Stac Beag - and so it proved. The slightly irritating thing was the number of cairns with various signs - "steep path"; "305m"; "450m". I'm sure they are meant to be helpful but I can imagine it only serves to infuriate the less fit on the hill. However, good progress was made and once on the bealach, the views across to Ruadh Stac Beag and just behind it, Beinn Eighe were outstanding. The book describes going right up to the back of RSB and I could see why - it looked impenetrable and the screes looked very tricky indeed. However, was that a faint path I could see ascending it? Why yes, ould chep, I do believe it was. I took a few moments to sit and appreciate the real wildness of this place - Ruadh Stac Beag was visually stunning and surpassed many a Munro for its appearance. The 2nd hill, Meall a Ghiubhais also looked pretty good but I'd get a real look at its character once on RSB. As I began the careful ascent on to the scree slopes, I began to make real height - however, the path seemed to meander out and rather than walk across scree slopes, I decided to head straight up towards some crags - this afforded some very airy scrambling (head for heights needed) and by going direttisima, I got on to the extremely odd, lunar summit. A fall going up these crags would probably have been very serious so in retrospect, I would encourage 'taking it from behind' - ahem. From here, the vistas toward Meall a Ghiubhais and Beinn Eighe were breath-taking. I still had a 2nd objective for the day and began to head directly South off the summit and down scree slopes - not easy - in fact, as tricky a descent as I've ever experienced. I ended up running down scree slopes until I was back at the Allt path. From here, it was simply a matter of re-tracing steps then heading for the 2nd Corbett. The evening light upon RSB was beautiful. I topped out and huddled behind the cairn wall as the evening temperatures plunged. No time to waste - I bombed down back to the Mountain trail path and enjoyed a relaxing and lonesome return back to the car, passing a fantastic gorge. Please sir, can I have some more?