Crianlarich Munros

Getting to to the start near Crianlarich

• Crianlarich lies at the junction of the A82 and A85 where the roads coming up from Glasgow and Stirling meet the road coming down from Fort William and Oban.
• The start of this route is from a long lay-by, 2km south-west of Crianlarich on the A82.
• The finish is at Benmore Farm, 3km east of Crianlarich, therefore a bike or shared transport would be helpful in cutting down the time on the return along the road.

An Caisteal

• From the lay-by, go through the gate, over a ence on your right and head south-east over a saturated field (often containing a bull and cattle).
• Now on the track, go under the rail-bridge and cross the wooden bridge over the River Falloch.
• Head up this track for around 1km to a burn, then turn south over more saturated ground to cross a fence and start to climb up gentle grassy slopes.
• Further up, the ascent steepens, the ground becomes drier and a path is picked up and followed south.
• The path is followed for 2km over a few bumps to a narrow bit, keep to the crest, don't be tempted by a path off left (east) - it will take you to more difficulties.
• The summit has a small cairn just a few minutes further on from this easy bit of scrambling.

• Leave An Caisteal and head south on the path and drop to around c910m.
• When the ground flattens, turn south-west and drop down on wet, grassy, steep ground to the bealach below.
• A faint path is picked up to cross the bealach and go around the lochan (not marked on the OS map), then start heading directly up Beinn Chabhair, initially following a burn.
• Easy, wet ground gives way to steep terrain further up, though no difficulties are encountered to reach the summit crest where a path is followed to the cairn.

Beinn a'Chroin

• Return to the bealach below An Caisteal, then head east-north-east over more wet, grassy, pathless ground up to the col between An Caisteal and Beinn a'Chroin.
• Once at the col, pick up and follow the path heading south-east.
• Errosion has taken it's toll on the path, but stick with it as it zigs, then zags around the western side of Beinn a'Chroin, then turns eastwards onto the tops.
• Over the years there has been a bit of debate over which part of this hill has the summit.
• The current OS maps marks the centre top with the highest spot height, thus indicating it as the summit.
• This highest point is just to the west of a small cairn overlooking a small lochan (not marked on the 1:50000, but marked on the 1:25000).
• The path heads over the tops to a cairn on the east top.
• The views from all the tops looking south are good, but from the eastern top, the views to Cruach Ardrain, Ben More and Stob Binnein are superb.

Beinn Tulaichean

• From the Beinn a'Chroin's eastern top head north on a faint path and drop around 200m to around c750m where a wide gully heads off down right.
• Go down this, cross the burn and drop to the wide bealach with some old iron fence-posts below Stob Glas.
• Cross this, and contour around the base of Stob Glas, over grass, boulders and a slabby ledge to reach the burn below Beinn Tulaichean.
• Head east up grassy ground to attain the broad ground connecting Beinn Tulaichean with Cruach Ardrain, then turn right (south-east) to reach Beinn Tulaichean's summit. This is a fine point to look onto the three highest peaks on today's route.

Cruach Ardrain

• Return north-west and climb up Cruach Ardrain on the obvious path.
• Cruach Ardrain has two cairns with a slight dip between them. The main summit is the north-east top, which has a large cairn sitting on it. Excellent views from this.

Stob Binnein

• Head north-east from Cruach Ardrain's main summit, down steep ground on an obvious worn path that zig-zags through some loose ground to the safety of the bealach below.
• From this bealach turn east for 500m, dropping around 50m of height, then head north-east for 1km over wet grassy ground to the bealach below Stob Binnein.
• Don't head directly to the summit of Stob Binnein as higher up, the ground is just too steep to make for easy progress.
• Instead head for the northern arm of this mountain, around halfway between the summit and the bealach. It's a fair slog up to this and once on the arm, it's still a climb up 150m.
• A suprisingly small cairn marks the top, but the views are wonderful.

Ben More

• Return down the northern arm of Stob Binnein, cross the bealach and head up Ben More via the obvious worn path.
• Further up there is one little awkward move just before reaching the flat top with its large cairn and trig point. There's ground dug out around the trig point to shelter out of the wind. When up here, you're on the highest peak south of Glen Dochart - this is a fantastic view point.

Return to Ben More Farm

• From the summit, head north-west, downhill on a worn path. Pick up an old wall and keep it on your left. The ground becomes sodden the more height is lost.
• At around c350m a track coming out of Benmore Glen is picked up and followed down to Benmore Farm. Just before the farm, at the gate, there is a stile to cross directly to the road, where hopefully you've arranged transport to get you back to the lay-by at the day's start.