Faulty gear (box) not enough to stop me...

After a successful jig of the roster at work I had managed to get off on Tuesday 14th, which would allow me to meet up with Polly for a walk. Unfortunately, my intention to return to Arrochar and bag Ime (along with the Cobbler) was foiled by school holidays and no accommodation anywhere in the immediate area. We scratched our heads and came up with Beinn Mhanach (up beyond Tyndrum) as an alternative.
I booked overnight accommodation in Crianlarich for the Monday night and left after work on Monday for a leisuirely drive down from Aberdeen. A strange thing happened on the way down...my mobile fone kept receiving messages...more than is normal...and a quick check informed me that it was almost time for ice cream and jelly!!
I stayed at the Inverardran B&B, where I stayed on one previous trip down last year, and enjoyed an early night in anticipation of an early ish start tomorrow...
Polly text me early the next morning to let me know that she was on her way and would actually be early this time...There endeth the good news for Polly today!!
When Polly pulled up in her car she informed me that it had been in for a service yesterday and there was a problem with the gear box, though she had been assured that it would be okay to drive until getting replaced...clearly this information was generated by a trained monkey and not an actual mechanic working for arnold clark (doesn't even deserve capitals for the way they treated Polly)!! As we had decided to leave my car and take Polly's I started to unload my gear as she started her engine...DISASTER!! Apparently the crunching noise we heard was her gear box giving up its ability to enjoy a healthy life and basically die in front of us!! The car was stuck in reverse gear and nothing would shift it from its final resting place.
The alternative now was for Polly to attempt to sort things out with arnold clark (spit) over the fone and take my car instead...unfortunately this didn't work out as planned either...arnold clark proved to be less than helpful and Polly was left with no alternative but to head back to Glasgow by train and try to sort things from home...I had fallen behind, time wise, and would have to review my own plans now.
I settled upon the alternative plan of doing Ben Challum, as it was a shorter day and less of a drive, after I had dropped Polly off at the train station in Crianlarich. I drove the short distance to the layby adjacent to the start of the walk, only to find it chock full of cars.

So I headed back along the road for 250yrds to another layby, parked up, and then walked back along the busy road to pick up the path on my right.

Initially the path is on tarmac and heads out to farm buildings, crossing the bridge over the river fillan on way, not the easiest walk in four season boots. 

Once at the farm turn to the left and follow the path up to the cemetry, where you then turn left off the main path and follow a faint path through the grass to the railway crossing...unfortunately I veered slightly right and crossed at the bridge instead.

Once over the rail tracks the path heads off uphill, following a fence line for the majority of the way. This is a rather boggy route and I would imagine it's a nightmare in wet weather!! Thankfully the ground was quite firm in places due to the remaining frost, though it had its wet moments on the way up also.

I crossed a stile over a high fence and kept climbing, crossing another more awkward stile further up...

dignity goes right out the window when you cross these things...thankfully there is no video evidence of any slips or stumbles that may or may not have occurred!!
The views opening up of the surrounding hills were magnificent...all the way back to Crianlarich (and beyond)...out to Ben Lui circuit...and on to Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy...and everything in between. Further up, around 600m the path flattens out and I caught my first sight of Ben Challums snowy top.

There is a short drop down then sharp re-ascent to the stony south top, very slippy with ice on the main path, far easier climbed on the grass further to the right through the patches of snow that remain. After around 90 mins of walking I topped out on the south summit, an icy stony plateau with a cairn encased in snow. The snow thickened as I proceeded towards it, making walking far easier. I initially thought that this was it, but I could see that there was another top further along and folk were heading to it.

At this point there is a cleft in the summit leading to a short ridge. Head left towards this ridge (which was covered in thick snow today) and follow it to a small bealach...then climb the sharp slope to the real summit cairn 1025m.

On my right there was a vast amount of snow that had collected and I stayed well away from that to the left of the slope up. I managed without micro-spikes and ice axe on the way up, using my poles shortened instead.

I met a young couple at the summit and offered to take their pic in a quid pro quo style...then got a pic of Jelly McBaby on the cairn. I snapped off a few of the surrounding hills and then beat a hasty retreat from the wind.

There were a few opportunities to practise ice axe arrests on the way down the slope between the two summits which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The rest of the way down was spent trying to keep my feet on the icy surface and plodding through patches of snow and finally boggy wet slopes further down...I will admit to slipping at one point and doing the splits (I thought I had done my knee some real damage as it twisted awkwardly beneath me, one pole sticking in the ground in front of me and the other behind me, but thankfully the pain was instant and left just as quickly). I carefully crossed the stiles on the descent and made it back to the railway crossing (again at the bridge) before heading back along the path to the car. After an eventful and unfortunate start to the day I had a really good time, albeit alone again, and am really enjoying the extra challenges of winter walking.

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