Walk: Boozy Beinn Bhuidhe

📌 Glen Fyne, Argyll & Bute
★★★

A Munro with a brewery at the bottom? Sounds like a dream come true. Fyne Ales Brewery is perfectly positioned at the head of Loch Fyne for a sneaky tour (check in advance) or pint at the start or end of this circuit taking in Beinn Bhuidhe, a remote Munro just outside the western boundary of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. A long, flat walk along Glen Fyne followed by a well-worn hill path has probably been the most popular route for decades; there are wonderful views alongside Allt na Faing and on the final summit ridge, but it’s slow, steep going with rocky ground to negotiate further down. More recently a hydro track has appeared, snaking its way to about the 600 metre mark. It makes an easy alternative route (which we suggest using in descent, when legs are weary) at the expense of scenery: it’s a truly hideous scar on the landscape, “designed” with no regard for the hillside it’s been carved out of. Things improve temporarily before an undignified final section past a large quarry, power lines and a power station…

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish off the A83 at the head of Loch Fyne, 1 mi north of Cairndow

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NN 193128

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.272925,-4.919284

🚌 Loch Fyne Oyster Bar to west

🚗 Car park

📝 Key info

▶ 20 km / 12 mi | ▲ 1020 m | ⌛ 7-9 hr

Features: 🍺 Fyne Ales Brewery; △ Beinn Bhuidhe (948 m, Munro)

⬤ Tough | Good tracks along Glen Fyne and for return. Rough though mostly clear hill path between Inverchorachan and the summit, with some wet sections and one relatively easy (but exposed) scramble by the Allt na Faing.

➡️ Anticlockwise circuit with extension to summit: start – Fyne Ales Brewery – bridge at 🧭 NN 215149 – Glenfyne Lodge – Inverchorachan – south side of Allt na Faing – cross track at about 600m contour – Beinn Bhuidhe – return to track – Tom Gobhair – Druim na Muclaich – Clachan Power Station – start

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Glen Fyne: sheep with lambs, Highland cows (including some blocking the track), red deer in an enclosure. Further up: Loads of frogs, a couple of grisly sheep skeletons.

Weather: Overcast to start but sun soon breaking through, especially early afternoon. A few showers later on – of snow on the summit (about 0°C here). Light winds. Slushy snow lying above about 800 m.

April 2017