In August last year I tried to walk up Beinn Ime via Beinn Luibhean but admitted defeat due to the wind. Roll forward 6 months and it was time to finally climb Ime. We set off early on Friday (cheers to Wills and Kate as we had the day off) and started from Succouth this time which meant walking between The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain before finally getting to Beinn Ime.
The weather was glorious although quite breezy at ground level and the forecast higher up was winds touching gales in places and to be a lot colder than the 16-18C at the car park. The first 3 miles was a gradual ascent on a well crafted path that took us to the back of the Cobbler. We then veered right and started climbing Ime. The ground at this point was quite boggy and to be honest there was no well defined path, probably because Ime isn’t as popular as the other two peaks in the vicinity.
After 20-30 mins we picked up on a path as the climb became more strenuous. This took us up the majority of Beinn Ime. At this point the wind really picked up and it was pretty cold. Until now it had been shorts and t-shirt weather but a warmer top was required to get us up the final peaks.
There were great views from the top but the sun started to hide between clouds and it became pretty hazy in places. At this point it was bloody cold – despite the great ground temp’s we were glad of hat s and gloves and some shelter behind a rock so we could grab some lunch. We didn’t hang around at the summit – just too cold but coming down off the main peak there was a great photo opportunity and the sun had popped out again – still really windy though.
In the background to the photo above you can see the seaplane that takes off from Loch Lomond and the Clyde. I’ll need to try that one day when the weather is good – the views from it will be amazing. After taking some shots we made our way back down – we really covered ground pretty quickly on Friday as can be seen from the RunKeeper stats below.
Even better – no midges to report which was a surprise. I just need to remember that my legs need sun tan lotion or they burn. Not clever. Next up is probably Ben Vane which leaves the more isolated Beinn Bhuidhe to complete the five munro’s that make up the Arrochar Alp’s. Hopefully we’ll get them both done by the middle of summer.
As usual, full set of Flickr photo’s can be found here.
Hey Ian!
My name is Megan Rechin and I am a community outreacher (if that’s a word 🙂 ) for a website
called healthrally.com started by a new software company focused on health motivation.
The website is not actually up and running right now, but that’s why I decided to contact you.
I saw from your recent Twitter posts that you are into fitbit, as are we at healthrally.
But we need people like you, with a determined and healthful mindset, to test out the site to see if
our idea can really help motivate you before we reveal it to the public.
And I think you would be the perfect person to do this!
Here is a short description of how the site works:
HealthRally.com is a private social network where you choose a health goal like
losing weight or quitting smoking, pick a reward that could motivate you, and then invite your
close friends and family to cheer you on and motivate you to succeed with pledges toward your reward.
It’s a new approach, and we are seeing our first group of users achieve their goals and have a bunch of fun in the process.
If you would like to try it out, just write me back at megan@healthrally.com and I will send you the link 🙂
You can also follow me on Twitter: @meganrechin
Or if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Thanks!
Megan A. Rechin
Community Outreach and Rally Member
HealthRally.com