Day Walk: Meall Ghaordaidh (Munro), northern approach from Glen Lyon, Sunday August 30th, 2026

Four members - HP, PF, GM & ARob (organiser) - ascended the Munro from Glen Lyon.

Two members - SP & TF - opted to climb from Glen Lochay (Southside).

Weather: Light winds, low cloud and frequent showers

Terrain: mainly grassy slopes (good path if approaching from the south)

The Northern approach is short but very steep, no softy paths or guide book pages (see Strava fly-over)

We parked just below Glen Lyon Dam in the Meggernie Estate (these are good guys, it’s the owner of the Chesthill Estate at the East end of Glen Lyon that restricts access and gives the whole Glen a bad name).

Crossed the bridge and climbed up a steep grassy slope through a gate and into Coire Laoghain. We continued south under the impressive cliffs of Creag Laoghain (The North spur of Meall Ghaordaidh) until we came to a grassy ramp. We ascended this very steep ramp which took us from 600m to 900m. Thereafter it was a simple, but blind, hike south up the main ridge to the summit 1039m.

We found a message and a wee box of shortcake from SP & TF at the cairn, so added that to lunch (thank-you).

Meall Ghaordaidh summit & lunch

In view of the poor visibility, a number of options were considered, the least favoured being to return the same way as it was so steep. We decided to drop cautiously onto the Laoghain Horseshoe and continue eastwards, either to drop easily back into the Coire or go right round to climb Creag an Tulabhain. We took on Tulabhain, but the Corbett, Beinn nan Oighreag, was out of the question due to the conditions.

AR, HP and GM contemplating Creag an Tulabhain

Happily, the mist cleared briefly as we approached Tulabheinn, the only summit we saw all day! We circulated the summit trying to work out which rock was the 809m top.

Dropping back onto the horseshoe we then descended back into Coire Laoghain and out to the Glen Lyon road. A tough day, but fairly short as we managed to get back to the café at Bridge of Balgie in good time for coffee, cakes and a warm up/dry out.