Meall Buidhe – Up the Grassy Slopes Above Loch an Daimh

The walk

The usual way up Meall Buidhe starts by the Giorra dam at the east end of Loch an Daimh and comes back the same way. It climbs the hill's grassy south slopes to the ridge, then follows the ridge north-west over the south top to the summit. By our map it is a little under 9 km (5½ miles) there and back, with about 550 metres of climb. Allow about 3 to 4 hours, more with stops, in poor weather or under snow. The summit is 932 metres up. No public body publishes this way, a distance or a time for it.

This is the Glen Lyon Meall Buidhe, in Perth and Kinross, on the north side of Loch an Daimh. It is not the Meall Buidhe in Knoydart. Grassy slopes rise gently from the loch, Steven Fallon says, to a summit MunroMagic calls gently rounded. Stuc an Lochain, across the loch, is climbed from the same car park, and many walkers do both in a day. Other ways come from Bridge of Gaur in Rannoch to the north, a long approach, or round the whole loch with Stuc an Lochain. This walk keeps to the way from the dam.

The road to the dam leaves the Glen Lyon road about 4 km west of Bridge of Balgie, one guide says, and climbs to the east end of the loch. Both ways into Glen Lyon, from Fortingall or over the hill road from Loch Tay, are narrow, twisting single track and slow to drive, the Sunday Post says. In winter the roads may be untreated, and one guide says to avoid the high pass on the direct road then. The road from upper Glen Lochay to Glen Lyon is closed to cars, one guide says. There is a small car park below the dam, with room for about ten cars and no facilities, another guide says: the nearest postcode it gives is PH15 2PP. Plan for no toilets at the start.

Before you set off, check the mountain forecast, and under snow the snow and avalanche conditions too. It grows colder as you climb, about 1°C for every 100 metres, and the wind usually rises with height, MunroMagic says. Wear good walking boots and carry warm, waterproof clothing, food and drink. Carry a map and compass and know how to use them: MunroMagic says the way needs map reading and the ability to navigate with a compass. Phone reception in the Highlands is often patchy or missing, Mountaineering Scotland says. Leave word with someone of where you are going and when you will be back.

From the car park take the track on the right before the dam, beside an estate notice board: read it before you set off. Through a gate the track climbs north to a junction after about 300 metres by our map, then swings west past the dam along the north shore of the loch. About 600 metres from the car park a small cairn marks a path straight up the hill. One guide says it is very boggy: walk on, slightly downhill, for about 140 metres more by our map to a second small cairn. Here a grassy path slants up the hillside.

The path crosses a small ditch with no bridge and climbs the slope above the loch. Higher up it is faint in places: by our map it is hard to follow for almost 900 metres, from about 720 metres up to the ridge. Where it fades, one guide says to aim for a perched boulder on a grassy knoll. Paths come and go in boggy ground and near the top, another guide says, so keep your map and compass to hand. The way rises onto the east ridge above Coire nam Miseach, with the 878 metre top of Meall a' Phuill off to the right.

The path reaches the ridge path about 2.8 km from the car park and about 840 metres up, by our map. It follows the broad ridge north-west, past a small cairn, to the 917 metre south top. If the cloud is coming down, the wind is rising or anyone is tiring, turn back here.

Beyond the south top the ridge dips a little and runs north across a broad, stony plateau to the summit, 932 metres, with its cairn. By our map crags fall from the plateau's edge within about 20 metres of the path on the right, to the east, for about half a kilometre past the south top. More crags lie about 150 metres north-east of the summit. Keep back from the edge, above all in mist. MunroMagic lists crags on or near the way up, and crags near the summit. The ridge goes on north to Garbh Mheall: it is not this walk.

Under snow Meall Buidhe is a winter mountain, for walkers with winter skills, an ice axe and crampons. In mist or under snow the crags along the plateau's eastern edge are hard to see: keep well back from them. No avalanche forecast covers Meall Buidhe. The Scottish Avalanche Information Service forecasts six other areas, which is no sign there is no risk here.

Stags may be stalked at any time of year, busiest in the first three weeks of October, and hinds from 21 October to 15 February, Mountaineering Scotland says. Most stalking takes place on weekdays, and often none on a Sunday. The Heading for the Scottish Hills tables give no stalking contact for this hill, so be ready to follow reasonable local guidance. Read the notice board at the start, and if in doubt keep to the well-known way.

The way down is the way you came: back over the south top and down the ridge, then the faint path to the track by the shore. In cloud, check the line with your map and compass before you leave the summit, and again where the path leaves the ridge for the loch. In an emergency call 999 or 112 and ask for Police and Mountain Rescue. Give a six-figure grid reference and a named feature if you can, Mountaineering Scotland says. To be able to text 999 where a call will not connect, register first by texting the word register to 999.