UKH

Unless the weather is abysmal, I'm planning on walking over the 7 Lawers Munros on Monday the 22nd. Since it's a linear hike it's generally done with 2 cars. I'll have my car but if anyone is also planning the same and wondering how to make it work, what with teleportation still a little way off, please let me know. I'm not averse to hitchhiking, but the area/roads dont really lend themselves to it.

As other Lawers regulars will likely say, it works well as a circular walk from the Glen Lyon side, eg from Camusvrachan. Meall Greigh is a bit awkward from there but you could leave that and do the other six Munros as a very natural horseshoe. Tends to be done clockwise, ie Meall Garbh first, as that allows the steep An Stuc slope (which might well still have snow on it) to be done in ascent.

If you're not set on doing all seven Munros in one go, another good option - from the high road this time - is to add Tarmachan into the mix, traversing it by the main path then the N ridge (ie ignoring the normal main ridge) before adding the western Lawers Munros possibly as far as Ben Lawers itself. This would be much more often done if there wasn't a high road, which tends to be treated by people as a sort of barrier (the same thing happens at Glenshee). Anyway, lots of scope for loops and variations. Nice hills. Forecast for Monday looks OK at this stage.

Thanks for the suggestions Dave

Hope it goes well - let us know how you get on. Nice range of hills, lots of scope for loops and variations. Plenty of interesting quieter routes and corners - eg the east ridge of Lawers has gone out of fashion but remains a very good way up. I'm also fond of Meall Greigh as a single-hill outing, eg from the Boreland plantation then down the pleasant path to Lawers village and back along the road. Good hills to get to know over time - I'm on 60-odd ascents for the central three Munros and at least 15 for all the others, and I'm nowhere near tired of them.

Cheers Dave. I live many hours drive from Scotland so it's an effort to come up and visit the fantastic mountains. I'm very slowly visiting all the Munros - but when you live so far away and the midges render Scotland un-visitable for a lot of the year you have to make your time count.

Fingers crossed the you get good weather and views. 

Re the midges, unless it's really still or you are camping at lower levels I rarely find them an issue when hillwalking. I live in the north can be in eaten alive territory within 30 mins of the house.

Yes, they can be a pain but usually once you climb out of the glens you'll get a breeze and that keeps them away. 

Unfortunately accommodation is not as available or affordable as it was when I did my round so camping is very much a necessity at times. Midges are a thing.

Fair enough. I understand the accommodation problem. Even hostels etc got tougher to book and a lot more expensive since covid 😞

Hope your Monday weather is as nice as today's - a lovely day, took a wander round Vorlich and Stuc from Edinample, very pleasant. Almost no snow left on those hills (I didn't set foot in any), but there's a fair amount still on the southern side of Lawers high up, and generally the bigger things still have quite a bit - eg both the Ben and the distant Cairngorms looked pretty white. Saw a dipper in the glen at the end, and a friend who was also on Vorlich but by a different route saw a couple of ptarmigan.

Good luck with the rest of the Munros. It looks like you're the opposite way round from me - I'm in daytrip range of lots of those while your NW England base presumably gives you plenty of Lakes options. My better half is a Coniston girl so I've been thereabouts a lot over the years due to family stuff - have been up the Old Man more times than I've been up Ben Ledi (just), even though the latter is less than 20 miles from the house!

Thanks Dave. I was up in the far north a couple of weeks ago and there was a lot of snow on the ground (and falling from the sky). While I enjoy winter mountaineering, walking through the snow or dealing with crampons sure slows you down.

While I've visited the Lakes a lot and been up most of the mountains there, I dont find it to be a welcoming place any more - I feel they really should have signs at the entries to the Lakes: "Leave your money here, turn around and go away." More local to me and far more open armed in my view is North Wales so that's where I prefer to go. Of course, nowhere near the vastness and variety of Scotland of which I am always a little jealous. 

I'm usually sleeping in a hammock/tent/front seat of my little Hyundai i10 (I'm 6'2...) so midges are a real bother. But during my visit last September, for the first time, I was inundated with ticks! Little swines. So I limit my trips to Scotland to just a few short months of the year.

Yet most of us who live in Scotland see no need to flee for all but a few months of the year. I suspect you are just missing a few tricks.

Feel free to elaborate on the tricks I am missing. I would love to know how to enjoy Scotland year round. The only effective method I've found is to bring someone with me that they prefer to eat but the bloodcurdling screams of friends or family tends to bother me.

Not really a trick, but I just see so many people not making full and effective use of repellent. Put it on really liberally on all exposed skin, and, most importantly put it on in anticipation of the midges and not in reaction to getting bitten; before getting out of a car or tent, before the wind dies down etc. Midges will not bite skin properly covered in repellent - once you have confidence in that it should be possible to live with them swarming about or crawling on you. 

And obviously pick less midgy camping spots when you can and use a killer spray before getting in to a car or tent.

I arrived mid-afternoon so decided to walk the Tarmachan ridge that day and the following day I left my car at the National Trust car park, walked up to the far end of Lochan na Lairige (I was aiming to hitch, but started walking at 6:30am and didnt see a car). I walked the 7 Munros as planned; changed into clean underwear after the hairy descent from An Stuc which had an inconveniently placed sheet of snow right above the 2 main routes down. You were right about the very obvious horseshoe but I wanted to complete the round as it's so far for me to come back to. From Meall Greigh, I descended a direct line to the small dam at the top of the Lawers Burn and then followed the track as it contoured round to Allt An Tuin Bhric. From there it was just roughly contouring around (ascending over Creagh Dubh) the last few miles on pathless terrain. I got back to the car at around 4pm. Pretty long day but I didnt see another soul until Meall Greigh, even on Ben Lawers, which I understand is quite rare.