Brown Cow Hill aka Hill of the Brown Cow

And so to the last Corbett in the Cairngorms. A visit to mum and dad's usually entails a gander at the hill map in the area - if I was away early enough, I'd get to Corgarff for 0900 and enjoy a good run over this hill. I was there bang on time and with running gear on and light pack. Although cold, it was a good weather forecast so no need to worry about inclement weather. I enjoyed the run along the Land Rover track and then the steep climb up past the grouse butts. I was making good progress and started to enjoy the views across to Ben Avon and the tors in particular. It seemed an age since I'd been up there with Darren and Graeme in 2010. Jeezo.

I dropped down off the initial climb, and crossed a relatively deep heather expanse - it was a bit of a struggle up to the plateau of Brown Cow Hill but the view back to where I came from, and the Ladder Hills was very rewarding. From here, it was a nice run over to the small cairn with the stunning tors of Ben Avon in the distance. All that remained was to descend back down the glen and round past the estate buildings to the car. I was all done in 2.5 hours with 16km of distance, which is reasonable going in Winter.

Glas Bheinn from Kinlochleven

The last official working day of the year and I was away from home by 0430. My plan was to head North to Kinlochleven and get 4G on my preferred hill so that I could dial into the last meeting with the team. I needn't have worried. I drove through Glencoe at 0630 and thought I'd drive up to Fort Bill for coffee and breakfast at Costa. Disaster - not opening until 0800. I just hit a garage, fuelled up and got some Red Bull before the lovely meander along the wee road to KLL from South Ballachulish. And it was still pitch black at 0745! I phoned my wife and wished her and my daughter 'good morning', as they laughed at my eagerness. And lack of hill progress. Eventually in the grey murk of dawn, I got my hill gear together and set off up the path out of KLL. Progress was good and the view back down Loch Leven with the Pap of Glencoe is always special. 

Eventually, I levelled out and the view ahead was clear to my objective for the day, the Corbett Glas Bheinn. Most reports suggested crossing the head of the loch and contouring round but it made for a boggy approach. As I had my trail shoes on and was largely running, I decided to head straight along the loch and then take a more direct approach up to the summit.

The track was excellent for approach running and I was entirely on my own. I thoroughly enjoyed the isolation of it all and one of the trees at the side of the loch was very pretty. The sound of the streams running off Sgurr Eilde Mor was lovely.

I reached the old building at the adjoining point between Loch Eilde Mor and Beag. A simple crossing off this and it was straight up the slopes, which were boggy lower down. I ploughed up for a good 45 minutes, with the view back to the Lochs very nice indeed. And at 1000, I took my call and proudly showed off my background to the team. Tres jaloux! I was a happy soul at the summit.

I continued North-East off the summit and then jinked back towards my crossing point, careful of the crags just off the summit. Once down safe, it was a simple pleasure of running/walking back out to the car. I got down for 1200 and was home by 1445 in time for coffee and lunch. A great wee end to the year's hills. But for 2022, I aim to compleat the Munros.