Cunninghame Ramblers. Ben Challum nr Crianlarich August 2011

This was beside the old priory.

Crossing the West Highland railway line.

Starting to get spread out.

This style provided some amusement

Me at top of Ben Challum(1025M)

We saw some fine examples of "Onyx"

Clever horses in this part of Scotland!

Today's large group of ramblers.

Today I joined up with the Cunninghame ramblers for their mid week walk up Ben Challum which is about 3 miles north of Crianlarich. Once we all arrived at the walk start the leader counted us  and after 3 re-counts agreed we had 28 people. This was a first for most of us to have that number on an "A" grade walk mid week.Crossing over the River Fillan we made our way past the ruins of St Fillans priory with its little graveyards neatly tended by someone who obviously has an interest in the history of the area.Once we safely crossed the West Highland railway line the real climbing began. It was a calm overcast morning with the surrounding peaks all shrouded in mist. Our resident rambling meteorologist assured us we had an 80% chance of it clearing before we reached the summit. The day did not lend itself to good quality photography so my apologies for the lack of photos.We had a coffee stop on our way up Creg Loisgate which some walkers found quite challenging and as always happens with this size of group we were starting to get split up with the young ones marching on ahead.(Iwas in this group). Just before we got to the summit of Coire Challum (997M) we stopped for lunch  as the mist rolled in. The next stretch was done in complete mist which made passing over a narrow ridge quite easy as you could not see the drops on either side. We all safely made the summit of our target today which was Ben Challum (1025M) where our leader then welcomed two of today's group to the "Munro" club as this was their first time up at this height. Pity we did not get the wonderful views today due to the weather. Our meteorologist was not saying much now as his predictions were a way off the mark. The route back was basically the same as the way up so after one or two minor slips we all arrived back safely at the start. Another Munro to tick off the list, it was a super walk and my appreciation must go once again to the leader and the  group for allowing me to join them yet again.