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A classic mountain day on our local 'big hill' Ben Ledi.
It has been a decade since I have been up Ledi, despite it being one of the local ‘Big Hills’. There have just been too many other days out to have. I was reminded that it is a beauty of a hill, short n steep, popular and straightforward.
We arrived early to find the car park all but full (more on this later) and headed up as the sun rose about 8am.
Ben Ledi by
Matt Robinson, on Flickr
The path up was sheet ice from the multitude of walkers over the previous few days, until above the treeline, but the rising sun was superb. The worst was avoided by taking the woods or heather rather than the path.
Ben Ledi by
Matt Robinson, on Flickr
The ridge proper was superb – dry snow, no ice, blasting arctic wind that took the windchill down to about -15….but the views were worth it. A quick summit stop, then lunch hidden in the rocks, saw us bum sliding back down to the icy path.
Ben Ledi by
Matt Robinson, on Flickr
Ben Ledi by
Matt Robinson, on Flickr
Superb to the West over the Trossachs.
Ben Ledi by
Matt Robinson, on Flickr
A moment of frustration on the top when two runners dressed in cotton hoodies and rugby shorts arrived – no spare kit with them at all and already cold going uphill. Mountain Rescue fodder walking past a memorial to MRT who died on a rescue…. And real frustration at the bottom when we were all but blocked in by some appalling parking - I'm a confident driver, used to mini buses and trailers as well as teaching mini bus drivers. Balancing our tyre up on a narrow kerb with a foot drop behind while leaving a finger width between our car and the offender's car is not on. In an emergency an ambulance could not have got in or out of the Lenny falls walk.
