Ben Cruachan and Stob Dàimh from the Falls of Cruachan

Ben Cruachan is 1,126m, which Walkhighlands describes as the highest summit of a range of sharp peaks between Loch Awe and Loch Etive, and under its central corrie sits the Cruachan pumped-storage power station. Wikipedia gives its opening date as 15 October 1965 and puts the upper reservoir 396m above Loch Awe; Drax has run it since January 2019. The mountain is therefore the unusual case of a Munro whose walk begins by climbing to a hydro dam, near Taynuilt on the A85.

Walkhighlands starts the walk from a rough layby on the north side of the A85 by Falls of Cruachan station, and says that if it is full the next proper layby is about 700m on towards Oban, because parking at the power station visitor centre is no longer possible. A path goes under the railway and climbs steeply through oak, birch and hazel wood beside the Allt Cruachan, then a surfaced track leads to the dam, where a metal staircase reaches the crest. A track follows the west side of the reservoir, and then an eroded path climbs Coire Dearg to a bealach with a small lochan. The last section to the summit is stone and boulder where the path is lost. The summit has a cairn and the stump of a former trig point, and the ridge ahead is rocky, crossing easy slabs and a gully that can be bypassed on the right at the cost of some height, on the way to Stob Dàimh.

Walkhighlands gives the circuit as 13.75km with 1,376m of ascent in eight to nine hours, and rates it four boots; some walkers omit Stob Dàimh and return the way they came. ScotRail serves Falls of Cruachan station, but Wikipedia and ScotRail’s own timetable notes make it a summer-only stop, so a train home is not a plan to rely on after the season closes. A fit walker with the whole day to spare, who wants two Munros and a rock ridge without a serious scramble, is who this suits. Anyone short of time or uneasy on narrow rocky ground is better suited elsewhere, and for a Southern Highlands day of about half the length, with a built path as far as the ridge, The Cobbler takes four to six hours by Walkhighlands’ reckoning.