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Having a few days off, I thought I’d chalk off another Munro. Having heard how popular Ben Lomond is due to its proximity to the central belt, I thought today was probably my best bet to try it….midweek/weather hadn’t been great/forecast not promising…except for a small window of sunny spells today that with any luck I’d hit just at the right time.
Once again, I’d mistakenly assumed popular=easy…I’ll get it into my head eventually that there is no such thing as an ‘easy’ Munro.
On route, up the east bank of Loch Lomond, I remembered reading about the Milarrochy Tree…a quick check on the sat nav showed it was only a couple of minutes away. I didn’t want to dilly-dally and miss my good weather, so I swung into the car park, fired off some shots and was back on the road in no time.
I panicked upon parking in the Ben Lomond car park as the sign said that the price is now £5 and I only had 4 pound coins with me…but closer inspection showed that the machine wasn’t in use…although it was when I returned after my climb….I’m glad I’m paranoid and had taken a photo of machine just in case 😁. Whilst getting my kit on I was visited by a friendly local…..
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- Friendly local….
The climb itself gets pretty steep from the get-go and with me having just come out of isolation last week having been hit with the dreaded Covid, I was keen to see how it had affected me.
The answer it turns out is quite a bit….I found this a proper slog, my stamina being even worse than usual, but with stubbornness and a good packed lunch lovingly prepared by my wife, I finally made the summit….and boy, the views don’t disappoint, looking back down over Loch Lomond the views were glorious and I’d hit the summit at just the right time, with the wind getting rid of any cloud as soon as it tried to appear.
I retreated back the way I came as opposed to the Ptarmigan route and reached the car 4 hours and 13 minutes after I’d left it, which sounds a reasonably impressive time until you look at my fitness app and see that my heart rate averaged 144bpm and peaked at 181bpm….I really need to work on my fitness….
On the way down, I passed about 20 people in total, with only 1 guy who passed me getting to the summit before me, so all in all, quite a quiet day for one of the busiest Munro’s….
