Hill: Stob an Aonaich Mhoir
Date: Saturday 27th December 2008
Company: Just me
Distance: 27km
Time: 6h 40mins

Having over-dosed on turkey and trimmings on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, I set off from home at 05:00 this morning, heading for Loch Rannoch, with a view to undertaking a good walk.

It was quite a chilly morning, with the car thermometer reaching as low as -9C en-route.


I fortunately arrived at Loch Rannoch just in time to catch a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise at Loch Rannoch:


I parked in a small car park, at the edge of Loch Rannoch, opposite the Rannoch Power Station Loch Rannoch:


After climbing a small fence, to get in, I followed the track running alongside three large pipes. I crossed a small bridge over the pipes to get to the other side of them.

Power Station pipes:


I then crossed circa 0.5km of grass to reach the main tarmac road.

Tarmac road:


After 5km of tarmac, I passed the Loch Ericht dam.

Loch Ericht dam:


Next I passed a small ruin marked on the map as Ruighe Ghlas.

Ruighe Ghlas:


With about 6km of tarmac walked and another 6km to go before heading uphill, not to mention the 12km of tarmac on the way back, I was already finding it hard-going on my feet.

Looking South:


Stob an Aonaich Mhoir has a number of tops before the main one. Carn Dearg looks to be the finest of all the tops.

Sron a’Chlaonaidh of Stob an Aonaich Mhoir:


Carn Dearg of Stob an Aonaich Mhoir:


It was with great relief that I eventually left the tarmac road and started the grassy ascent of Stob an Aonaich Mhoir.

Ascent of Stob an Aonaich Mhoir:


The ridge was bitterly cold. Unfortunately, the summit was capped with cloud so I got very little in the way of views.

Loch Ericht from Stob an Aonaich Mhoir ridge:


Approaching summit cairn of Stob an Aonaich Mhoir:


Summit in Cloud:


On the way down, the cloud cleared just long enough to get a view of the Fara.

View towards the Fara:


The walk out seemed to take forever. Although I don’t use a bike, I was wishing I had taken one on the way back.