Meall nan Tarmachan: Starting My Munro Adventure

bootsandbanter
3 days ago
6 min read

A long-awaited return to the Highlands

📍Route: Ben Lawers car park → Meall nan Tarmachan South Top → Meall nan Tarmachan → Ben Lawers car park

📏Distance: 10.75 km

⬆️Ascent: 863 m

⌛Time: 3 hours 20 minutes

📅 22 July 2026

Weather: Warm, very windy once some height was gained

Mood: Excited, curious and finally in Scotland

Scotland Was Playing Hard to Get

This trip almost never happened.

After finishing all 214 Wainwrights last year in October, I knew Scotland would be my next big adventure. I booked my first Munro trip then cancelled it. Then another. Then another.

3 cancellations in total. Not because of a bit of rain. I'm certainly not a fair-weather hiker. I'll happily get soaked if that's what the day throws at me. But for my first proper Munro trip, I wanted at least a chance of seeing what I'd travelled all that way for. 4 days of solid rain and low cloud wasn't going to leave me with the memories I wanted.

The cancellations started in April. One trip cancelled each month. By the time I reached booking number four, I was almost convinced Scotland simply didn't want me this year.

Then the forecast finally changed. Out of 4 days, 2 looked good. That was enough. I'm happy with 50/50.

Trip number four was finally happening. I only go into the office once a week, and on the Tuesday before I left everyone commented on how excited I looked. Apparently, I couldn't stop talking about Scotland. I honestly felt like a little kid who'd just been told they could open the sweet jar. There was absolutely no hiding it.

By 6 am on Wednesday morning I was out of the door, full of anticipation. Google estimated the drive at six hours. Two quick ten-minute stops and around 340 miles later, I rolled into Killin, ready for a brand-new adventure.

Killin Welcomes Me

After a 6.5 hour drive, I finally arrived at the Killin hotel. I tried my luck with an early check-in, but my room wasn't ready yet, so I wandered into the village instead.

Lunch was a veggie burger at the Kula café, followed by a couple of peaceful hours at the Falls of Dochart, dipping my feet into the cool water and simply enjoying finally being in Scotland. It was exactly what I needed after a long drive. Or so I thought...

The urge to bag a Munro was becoming impossible to ignore. After checking in at 15:00, I looked at my mapped-out hikes. I needed a “shorter” one as it was late.

Ben Lawers car park just six miles away. The road I'd already driven virtually. I had researched the approach the night before. By researched, I mean I dropped the little yellow Google Street View dangly man onto the road and "drove" the entire thing from my sofa. I'm driving an estate car, which isn't exactly tiny, and I'd already decided this road was going to be "interesting."

From the A827 it's only about 2 miles of single-track road with passing placed. Not just narrow. Wasdale Valley on steroids. The sort of road that seems designed for sheep, horses and people with tiny cars. I don't particularly enjoy roads like that.

Still, the mountain was calling. Luckily, I didn't meet a single car coming the other way. I decided I would worry about the drive back later.

Free Parking? I'll Take That

Start of the route. Meall nan Tarmachan in the background

At the pay machine I noticed someone had left their ticket from earlier that day. Since the machine doesn't require your registration number, I happily gave it a second life.

Thank you, mysterious hiker, you saved me £4.

Before I left, I tucked it back into the ticket machine exactly where I found it, ready for the next lucky person. Hopefully the little act of kindness keeps travelling from hiker to hiker.

The Perfect Introduction

The forecast had threatened rain, so I tied my lightweight waterproof around my waist. Vest on - Scotland was actually warm. Straight away the views were incredible.

In front of me stretched the Ben Lawers dam, while on the right stood the Ben Lawers range, waiting patiently for me to tackle it the following day. The afternoon’s target was Meall nan Tarmachan. The climb wastes absolutely no time. I gained around 600 metres of ascent in just 5 kilometres.

Welcome to Scotland. You're definitely not hiking in the Peak District anymore.

Then came the final push. Only about 800 metres remained, but they packed in another 160 metres of climbing. The gradient didn't bother me. The wind certainly did. Just below the final steep section I finally stopped pretending I didn't need my jacket and put it on. By the summit it was trying its best to blow me back down the mountain. With my hood up, the jacket flapping loudly in the wind, I stood there grinning. The views were worth every gust. Uninterrupted, endless. The kind of views that make you stop taking photos for a minute because your eyes are doing a better job than the camera.

Becoming a Beginner Again

Meall nan Tarmachan top. Views towards Loch Tay

The hike took 3 hours and 20 minutes, and I smiled almost the entire way back down.

Something struck me on that summit.

I realised I didn't really know what I was looking at. A few familiar names stood out. Ben Lawers, Ben More but beyond that the mountains were strangers. It felt oddly familiar. 6 years ago, I stood on Scafell Pike for the first time – my first Wainwright although at the time I had no idea what Wainwrights were. I looked across Wasdale feeling exactly the same. Beautiful mountains surrounded me, but I couldn't name any of them.

Then hiking quietly took over my life. 5 years later I can look across much of the Lake District and recognise peaks, ridges and valleys almost without thinking.

Standing on Meall nan Tarmachan, I wondered whether one day Scotland would feel like that too. Whether these mountains would slowly become familiar. Whether I would eventually know some of their names without reaching for a map. Whether I'd ever complete all 282 Munros. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

Either way, I'm incredibly grateful that the day reminded me what it feels like to start something completely new.

The Hitchhiker

Ben Lawers (Lochan na Lairige) dam with Meall Corranaich in the background

Then came the drive back. Ironically, I wasn't worried about the road anymore.

In fact, I was actually thinking "Hang on, why aren't you worried? You hate roads like this!"

I had almost reached the end of the 2-mile single-track section when I suddenly felt something crawling on my back. Under my hoodie, on my actual skin. Instant shivers and panic and a lot of swearing. I was worried I would crash the car. It slowly wandered across my back, climbed onto my shoulder, and there was nowhere sensible to stop, so I carried on driving trying to concentrate.

Eventually it crawled around to the front where the seatbelt crosses my chest. Without having the slightest idea what this creature was, I trapped it between the seatbelt and my shoulder with my left hand and just kept driving with the right hand on the steering wheel. The next 4 miles are mostly a blur.

I finally reached the hotel, parked up, still clutching my shoulder where I had trapped the mystery creature with the seatbelt. I jumped out, whipped my hoodie off and gave myself a vigorous shake. If anyone had been watching, they would probably have wondered what on earth I was doing. Nothing dropped. I then sprinted to my room and started taking layers off at record speed.

The culprit? Not a spider thankfully. Just some weird fly-like creature that had apparently decided to hitch a lift all the way down from Ben Lawers. Poor thing must have been completely confused when it suddenly found itself inside a hotel room in Killin. As for me let's just say I was only mildly traumatised. 😅

One unexpected detail rounded off the day. My Munro journey started on 22.07.2026, and the hotel had randomly given me Room 22. As 22 is the Master Builder number in numerology, I couldn't help but smile at the coincidence. 😊

🔍 Final Thoughts

4 years earlier, on my first ever trip to Scotland, I climbed Ben Nevis without even knowing what a Munro was. I simply wanted to stand on Britain's highest mountain. Funny how life works. Sometimes the first chapter is written long before you realise you are reading the book.

Now, 4 years later, I'm back. This time with a map full of Munros, a head full of excitement, and a completely different appreciation for these mountains.

The journey has finally begun.