I know it's only been a fortnight since I was last out in the hills but it feels like forever ago...it has been a really long week at work and I thoroughly deserved the opportunity to go away overnight on Wednesday and relax. I was booked in at the Crianlarich hotel on Wednesday night and had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow walkhighlands member for something to eat the night before our walk. Louise Miller had mentioned that she wanted to come out and meet Jelly McBaby, just the other week, and this was to prove the perfect opportunity to let her. As she only stays in Dalmally at the moment, she offered to come along and meet up for tea when I arrived. We had a lovely evening (though less lovely food it must be said...Louise's winter pie was cold inside and had to be returned) sharing stories of our various adventures in the Scottish hills (though Louise has many more stories to tell of adventures abroad). We hit it off straight away and, just like with Polly, I knew I had found another new walking companion to share the delights of Scottish hills with.
We agreed to meet at the hotel at 0845 the following morning, Louise would drive us down to Inveruglas, as there was no point in taking two cars. I was all packed and ready to go when she pulled up outside, quickly transferred my stuff into her car, then off we set on the short drive to the start point at the Inveruglas car park. When we arrived there were already a couple of tourist buses there waiting for cruise boats to take the parties of pensioners out on the freezing waters of the Loch.
The morning air was chill and the wind was blowing slightly more than we wanted at low level...always makes you worry what it will be like higher up. There was also a veil of mist across the far off Ben Lomond, obscuring it from view, and as we got changed into our walking gear we hoped that we would get lucky with the weather further up (the forecast was for pleasant walking conditions, if not clear skies and no rain). Louise donned her new north face jacket at the start along with a natty green hat to stave off the cold, then off we set. The car park is across from the generating station (Hydro electric) in Inveruglas...walk by it and follow the path set just off the road...continuing until the path takes an obvious turn away from the road and out towards the railway bridge.
From here, follow the path beneath the railway bridge, along the side of the stream, then out into open countryside...continuing beyond the electricity substation...beyond the line of pylons beneath Ben Vorlich. The path continues all the way along to the Loch Sloy dam...but we are heading off well before that. There is a turn off for the Glen Loin loop to the left, but ignore that.
Continue along the path until you come to a stone bridge on your left, cross the river here and continue on for 400m...or until you arrive at a very small stone bridge crossing a stream. Running alongside the stream is a faint path to the left...and an obvious one to the right...it matters not which one you take as they merge across the stream a little further on and cross very boggy ground at the foot of the Mountain. Once on this path through the grass, which gets fainter as it climbs beyond the fence line, take care as you pass through some very boggy underfoot conditions to begin with. The higher ground is infinitely easier to cross than through the worst of the bogs, so keep to the left of the worst bits and use the rocks to stay dry as you continue to rise up the steepening slopes.
The path now becomes a lot clearer as it winds up the slopes, heading towards the first of the rocky overhangs which contained a small alcove out of the elements. We took a brief halt here and I threw on my hat as the cold was starting to nip at my ears...Louise is made of sterner stuff CLEARLY as she soldiered away with just her short sleeved top for a while longer. I have to confess that I was giving her a little bit of a ribbing for her choice of neck buff...who wears leopard skin on a hill walk anyway?!! Buff comments aside, Louise was giving as good as she got and was a good foil for my banter and stories. I was most impressed that she has done Everest base camp and yearns to venture abroad on other adventures...whilst I am content with picking off the Munro's before spreading my wings elsewhere...hope I don't leave it too late and live to regret that!!
Once out of the alcove we continued to rise up the steep slopes, following the path as it meandered now in zig zags, onwards and upwards into the waiting mist. I wish I had some of what Louise had for breakfast today...she just wouldn't stop smiling...regardless of how steep the path became.
Although the slopes were steep, not once during the climb up did it feel like a slog. I'm not sure if this was to do with the gentle pace we were taking it at, or the company being so interesting...either way it was a pleasant ascent up a well maintained steep path.
With the mist coming in thicker by the second Louise even succumbed to wearing a jacket. The mist did make it hard to see anything around us but it also meant that we were unaware of the false summits we would pass on route to the top. We passed a few patches of snow on the way up...with a funny message scrawled onto one of them...unless you happen to be called Phil...as apparently "Phil is fat"!! We both tried to capture this in a pic but neither of them came out particularly clear...and we never saw hide nor hair of Phil today either.
We continued on through the mist, on the path mainly but also having to negotiate some steep passages of rocks...well they felt steep when your legs are so short...until we pulled surprisingly onto the summit plateau. We navigated to the cairn and took a well deserved drink stop prior to getting our pics taken. Jelly McBaby then took centre stage...sitting carefully on the summit cairn at 915m as he kept getting blown over...and even posed with me for one pic.
We exited the summit pretty sharpish as the wind was picking up and the temperature dropping...my poor fingers were freezing...I must start to wear my gloves again!! Once off the summit we retraced our steps down the path, managing to avoid the scrambly section on the way up by finding an alternative path that we had missed in the mist, but still taking us through some rather large boulders...one of which Louise had to stop at for another picture opportunity.
As we continued downhill the mist appeared to clear, then return, then clear again. We made pretty good timing on the return journey...probably too out of puff to speak as much on the way down...and the rain starting probably hurried us along as well. There was one other stop for pictures though...on a nobbly outcrop of rock that we hadn't seen on the way up...we took it in turns to sit/stand on this rock and pose for pics, despite the quite significant drop beneath our feet.
From this point down the rest of the walk was spent chatting away about potential future walks together...which may mostly be in Skye as Louise is away to start work there pretty soon...that suits me as I need to get up there at some stage. We followed the path as it crossed the bogs again...no escaping them...and returned to the access path once more to cross the bridge and head for the car.
Thankfully this one belonged to some other poor unfortunate walker who had obviously upset the locals in some way...our transport still had all it's wheels on when we got back to the car park. We changed out of our gear and headed back to Crianlarich to collect my car. Once there we stopped for some hot soup and bread roll...then a hot chocolate...yum yum.
Then it was time for goodbyes and the long drive back up the road...to do it all again with Chris and Michael on Saturday at Garva bridge...until then take care and happy walking.
Glad to be reading another interesting blog, was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.....haha! I love the photos as they add so much more to the written word, however descriptive, and give a real good sense of the day!
ReplyDeleteSusieThePensioner