Beinn a'Chleibh, Map 364N; 6th June 2004

Route: 3.6 miles; 735m=2400' ascent; 3hrs 30mins.

Route: This route below starts from the A85 north-west of Tyndrum, 1 mile WSW of Ben Lui. I do not really recommend it unless you are ticking off Munros and have no time to combine it with Ben Lui. I was short of time and so picked the most direct route. The usual route with Ben Lui is described in www.walkhighlands.co.uk. It starts at the same point and shares some of the disadvantages. I much prefer doing Beinn a'Chleibh in combination with Ben Lui, Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhcraig as here, using an easy traverse from the col between it and Ben Lui to the col between Ben Lui and Ben Oss.
For the walk below there is no suitable bridge over the River Lochy, and the ford is too deep to retain dry feet except maybe in very dry weather. The bridge lower down is for the railway only and opens into thick forest. After the river crossing you need to stoop to go under the railway bridge. The path in the forest visible on the map is not always easy to find, and there's a double deer fence to climb at the upper forest edge if you miss any gate or stile. It's also rather wet and boggy. On the return I lost the path and needed a compass in the very dense forest. However, although much of the difficult forestry has recently been felled, the remaining stumps and branches may be equally tedious to cross. The ascent above the forestry is steep with crags that can't be seen from above on the descent. Taking the usual route up Fionn Choirein to the bealach between Ben Lui & Beinn a'Chleibh is probably a bit wiser, although slightly longer, and the path for it is marked on the 1:25000 OS map.