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After the last eventful visit to Inveruglas we agreed we needed to come back to conquer Ben Vane, as pointed out from the posts of the Ben Vorlich walk we never reached the true summit. A sticking point now for durquhart
. So we decided this was the perfect day for it. We set off at 8am as usual with an hour and a half drive to Inveruglas. As it was a Sunday morning there was virtually no traffic, so we made it to the visitor car park in good time and thought we'd be one of the first up. How wrong were we! So instead of togging up in the waterproofs this time we could start off bathed in sunshine. What a relief and what a difference in only a few weeks.
- the view from the car park
- here we go
- the road under the railway
So onwards and upwards towards the sub station and great views of Ben Vane, once we could figure out which one was Ben Vane (hopeless I know) ha ha.
- Ben Vane
- A'Choris
- looks like a wee bugger!
As we reached the start of the climb we met a party of six ready for the climb, so on we went. As it was only the two of us we stretched off to leave them behind. After 20mins or so I could see someone making there way back down, a fell runner and I thought we were early. A while later another two were on their final decent
. Now it was getting relentless but really enjoyable. Thanks to a few other reports it was a simple climb and I could easily find some predominant features of the walk, well climb.
- the cave
- the view from the cave
- first place for a pit stop
Missed the chance of a photo op of the chimney
- first views of Sloy dam
- Ben Lomond in the clouds and and Loch Lomond and the islands
- Sloy dam again
As the top approached the clouds started rolling in again as per usual
so there were no views. At least most of the walk was clear to appreciate the views. The only problem were the false summits, it was kind of expected from the previous hikes but we did get caught out. After the second disappointment the both of us thought the summit was in sight but after durquhart advised to look to the right, I realised there was another bit to go
lol.
- we made it yeah!
- we made it yeah!
- stunning me that is ha ha
So after a few snaps we started heading down, it was a quick descent and gladly we beat the busiest part of the day. We passed about 40 people heading for the summit with durquhart winding them up telling them there was another 2 hours to the summit (when they were only 20mins away). Nasty!
You do take to much pleasure in that Wiv ha ha. Hopefully this is the start of many great walks in the sun and since this the 3 days we've got out it has been fantastic. Thanks to a few walks before this it wasn't as hard on the legs, hopefully this continues.