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I think I must have picked the best couple of weeks to be back in Perthshire as the weather has been stunning lately. I wanted to climb Ben Vrackie early morning so I was up at 0500 and out of the house by 0545
Ben Vrackie through the early morning mist
I parked my car at the Ben Vrackie car park up behind the Moulin Inn and proceeded up the path through the wood and out onto the moorland above Moulin. The mountain top was visible in the distance, illuminated in the early morning sunshine.
I continued on the gentle uphill climb towards Creag Bhreac & the bealach then down towards beautiful Loch a' Choire. Ben Vrackie looked stunning with it’s mirror image reflected in the loch.
Crossing the damn, I soon realised that the nice path was a lot steeper than it had looked from a distance however on a beautiful day like that I was in no hurry to get to the top and wanted to enjoy every second of it.
I was pleasantly surprised by the state of the path and it’s clearly been well constructed and maintained making the climb up less of a scramble on the steep slope. After twenty minutes I was high above Loch a’ Choire and decided to take a quick break for a cuppa and a Tunnock’s Waffer while taking in the views to the West / South including Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlas & Schiehallion which had now become visible over the top of Craigower. I also found myself taking off my fleece and Shemagh as by now the sun was strong and warm and there wasn’t a breath of air on the mountain.
Onwards and upwards, I carried on up the path and eventually it switched direction towards the summit and after a few more minutes I was rewarded with my first glimpse of the summit cairn. Two minutes later I was stood on the summit of Ben Vrackie, two hours and five minutes after leaving the car.
It was so still on the top, not a whisp of wind and only the sound of distant cuckoos and the traffic on the A9 far below. The view was just breath-taking with visibility well over 30 miles even in the early morning haze. This called for more tea and well over an hour and a half just sat up there taking it all in.
Before leaving I snapped several photos in an attempt to make a 360 panorama and then headed back down the path and followed the same route back down to the car park.
Throughout the entire walk I didn’t see one other person and had that wonderful feeling of having the mountain all to myself. It was just one of those special days that you get every now and then when out walking and I loved every minute of it.
Some of the many photos are posted here. If you'd like to see the rest you can find them on my gallery (
http://www.goldfishrock.co.uk/p312174492), including a bigger version of that panorama.
