The weather wasn't great in Tyndrum this morning, so I opted to head West towards Oban hoping for better weather.
The weather certainly improved throughout the day, and it stayed dry, so I wasn't complaining.
It was considerably better weather than yesterday when I ascended Ben Bowie.

The first hill of the day was Beinn Lora. A 308m Marilyn located above Benderloch.

Hill: Beinn Lora
Date: Thursday 11th August 2011
Company: Just myself
Time: 1Hr 55Mins


I parked in the car park at Benderloch where there is room for about a dozen cars. I then followed the blue way-markers to ascend first to Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint and then onto the summit of Beinn Lora. The waymarkers are useful and the track is mostly very good.

Start of Beinn Lora walk from Benderloch:


Track just beyond starting point:


Within a minute or two of setting off, the ascent becomes quite steep for a tourist track. There are however a number of benches where you can have a wee rest .

View through the trees from one of the benches:


Track ascending Beinn Lora:


With all the recent rain, the waterfall was today in spate. I wonder if it is normally just a trickle?

Small waterfall:


Beyond the waterfall, the track got even better.

Superb quality track:


On reaching the junction between Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint and Beinn Lora summit, I opted to visit the Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint first. It is just a five minute diversion – worth the effort.

Junction for Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint and Beinn Lora summit:


View from Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint:


View from Eagle's Eyrie Viewpoint:


I then returned to the junction and followed the track towards Beinn Lora summit.

A short distance beyond the junction I found a really ugly wide vehicle track that seems to have been bulldozed up the hill. Don't be tempted to follow it, just stick to the blue waymarkers.

Small lochan en-route to summit:


A short distance above the lochan is the edge of the trees. At last you get a view of the summit, which according to the sign lies 900m away.

Just beyond the treeline, looking towards the summit:


Ascending final section of Beinn Lora:


The view from the summit trig point is not bad, but the view from a couple of hundred metres beyond the trig point is considerably better.

View from summit trig point:


Good viewpoint (a couple of hundred metres beyond summit):


Good viewpoint (a couple of hundred metres beyond summit):


Looking back to trig point from good viewpoint:


I returned to the car via the same route.

My next intented hill was Na Maoilean but I couldn't get to it as there was a lorry blocking the road. I therefore headed for Aird's Hill instead.

Aird's Hill is reknowned in the Marilyn-bagging world as being a “wee shite”, as the summit is covered in trees.
Despite only being 181m high, its' ascent is not straight-forward.

I did my homework before heading up this hill. Armed with a set of useful way-points from Google Maps, and having read a good report of this hill on the internet, I had no problems finding my way to the summit.


Hill: Aird's Hill
Date: Thursday 11th August 2011
Company: Just myself
Time: 1Hr


The road that skirts Aird's Hill is quite narrow and there is limited parking – room for a couple of cars in the passing place beside the gate.

Parking at start of walk (passing place):


In the passing place was a squished can of Special Brew.

This got me thinking:
- Was it a requirement to be a Special Brew drinker to do this hill?
- Would my days of drinking “K” cider be good enough?

Special Brew :


Castle Stalker from starting point (zoomed):


After climbing over the gate, I followed the wide zig-zagging track as far as a gate.

Ascending the initial zig-zag track:


On reaching the gate, I followed the fence/dyke up the hill. The ascent is along the edge of the forest. The going today was via high wet grass.

Follow the fence up the hill from this gate:


Follow the dyke up the hill:


View towards Beinn Bhreac and Beinn Lora:


On reaching my next Grid Reference, I crossed the dyke and passed through some ferns into a wide firebreak.

Now ascend via the wide firebreak:


I then followed this wide firebreak until I was only 80m distant from the summit.

Continue following this wide firebreak, past the tree in the middle:


Keep following the wide firebreak:


When the distance to the summit began to increase on my GPS, I knew it was time to take to the trees. 80m distance can't be that hard, can it?

80m distant from the summit, enter the trees:


If doing this hill you may want to take a balaclava and ski goggles. Pushing your way through the trees is a bit sore when the pine needles smack into your face.

It didn't take long to reach the Grid Reference listed in the Database of British Hills as being the summit – NM9256845812. I then went to what I thought was the highest point at NM9255745839. The difference could be down to GPS accuracy (within a very enclosed forest).

The summit (highest point I could find):


After reaching the summit, which has absolutely no views whatsoever, I returned to the car via the same route.

Useful Grid References for ascent of this hill:
NM931463 (Start of walk)
NM9301746292
NM9299245998
NM9275045925
NM9262645943
NM9256845812 (The summit according to DoBH)

I then drove back towards Na Maoilean.


Hill: Na Maoilean
Date: Thursday 11th August 2011
Company: Just myself
Time: 1Hr 25Mins


I parked near the high point of the road and then made my way directly up the hill.

Na Maoilean from starting point:


Na Maoilean:


View towards Bonawe/Loch Etive:


Prior to heading for the trig point, which is listed as the summit in the Database of British Hills, I made my way to the other ring contours which are also marked as being 350m on the map.

Lochan just below one of the 350m contour rings:


One potential summit:


It didn't take long to ascend each of the potential summits before I proceeded to the trig point.

Ascending the ring of potential 350m tops:


View from trig point:


View towards Connell bridge from summit (zoomed):


From the trig point, I made my way back to the car via roughly the same route.

A nice set of three Marilyns. Happy to have Aird's Hill done and dusted .