Ben Lui & neighbouring Munros

Getting there

• On the A82/A85, 1km south east of Tyndrum, there is a junction is marked Dalrigh, turn in here and sharp turn left into a large car-park with some information boards.
• Alternatively, start from the car-park at Tyndrum lower station, note that parking is more limited here and you may have to park by the Tourist Information Centre instead.

Beinn Dubhchraig

• Leave the car-park and aim westwards along a good track, initially past some houses. Turn right, keeping to main track, over a wooden bridge, past the junction with the West Highland Way and under the railway bridge. Follow track for 3km until just before the green buildings of Cononish.
• If you are heading in from Tyndrum station, cross the railway and follow the track through dark forests to Cononish.
• At Cononish, just before the large green sheds, there is a wooden bridge over the River Cononish. Go across this bridge and aim south uphill over wet grassy ground.
• After crossing a fence line and 300m of ascent the gradient easies and Beinn Dubhchraig comes into view.
• Continue uphill on grassy ground following the occasional iron fence post to reach the lochans at 900m.
• Turn south-east and follow path over some boudlers to Beinn Dubhchraig's cairn. The view south down to the hills around Loch Lomond is particularly lovely.

Ben Oss

• Return to the lochans and follow a path around the south side of the lochans.
• Aiming west, the path zig-zags through boudlers and some scree down to the bealach.
• The path then widens, but travels over lower ground, therefore at some point leave it and aim uphill over grassy ground to reach the northern shoulder of Ben Oss.
• The last section prior to the summit is an easy trudge over fine gravel. From the summit, it still seems a long way to Ben Lui !

Ben Lui

• From Ben Oss, initially aim south, following a faint path over grass and occasional boulders.
• Gradually the path, which disappears now and then, turns west and the wet ground of the bealach at the head of Coire Laoigh is reached.
• The path becomes more obvious as the bealach is crossed and starts to climb and turn north.
• At around 1000m, there is a path heading north east, this is an exit route down Ben Lui's east shoulder, there is some plane wreckage down here.
• On approaching Ben Lui's summit the ground becomes more bouldery and is a place to take great care especially in windy conditions.
• The summit cairn is perched precariously above the coire ! Stop here for a while and take in the views and, if in winter, watch the climbers coming up Coire Gaothach.

Beinn a'Chleibh

• Aim north-west towards the north-east top, then turn west-south-west downhill.
• The ground initially is loose, then grassy and, depending on conditions, possibly wet and slippy.
• Once at the bealach between Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chleibh, pick up and follow a well defined path up the north eastern arm of Beinn a'Chleibh.
• There's not a lot of ascent and the flat plateau of the summit is quickly reached.
• The path leads directly to Beinn a'Chleibh's small summit cairn where some particularly fine views out towards Ben Cruachan can be savoured.

Return

• Return to the bealach between Beinn a'Chleibh and Ben Lui, then follow the initially steep path into Fionn Choirein.
• Leaving the boulders behind, the ground becomes grass covered but can be extremely wet.
• Don't bother looking for the path marked on the OS map, just run down the obvious path on the east side of the burn.
• Into and through the forest is fast and great fun - expect to get mud covered !
• Cross the Eas Daimh where it meets the burn coming down from Fionn Choirein - this can be tricky in spate.
• Further down cross the railway and wade across the River Lochy - an opportunity to clean all the muck off !
• Reach the car-park where you've hopefully arranged a lift or left a bike to get back to Dalrigh.