The Brack incl NW ridge

[MRG1]

Walk Summary:
The walk starts on a well made track, after a while the route leaves this to take a direct approach up the side of the hill on a path that is, in places, rocky, steppy and boggy. There is a burn crossing on the ascent.
Reaching the summit opens up views (weather permitting) of The Arrochar Alps region including The Cobbler.
The return route descends the grassy pathless north west ridge, reaching a well made track that returns to the starting point.

Again, like my last report, I did this walk a while ago and am only posting it now.
I doubt much has changed, apart from the fallen tree of death, I hope that's been removed.

Like my last report, I initially walked this route to do a recce for an upcoming walk with others.
The two days were very similar route wise but I'll post both GPX tracks.

4th May 2022 - The Brack recce.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

15th May 2022 - The Brack.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

The best place to park a car is at the old Argartan visitor centre, it has all of the mod cons: a car park and flushing toilets.
I mean, what else could you possibly need?
Well, ok, a coffee and scone / cake establishment but hey, that's just me.

I started from the bus stop on the A83 after booking the Citylink bus.
From the bus stop I took the short track towards the Ardgartan visitor centre.
From the car park I crossed the bridge over Croe water, then turned right.
This took me to a track that ran beside a second car park.
I stayed on the track and continued on for almost 2km then took the right at the junction (NN253040).
After about 100m I took the signposted path to the left up into the trees (at NN252039), the slight rocky scramble here was arguably the trickiest bit of hand to rock on the entire walk.

For me (the hillwalking version of Jar Jar Binks / Frank Spencer) it provides an experience that is akin to K2. For any amused onlooker it provides a bit of light relief.

Track leading to the hill

Signposted turn onto the hill

Rocky Jar Jar Binks bit

This section of the walk was where the steepness started, it's unfortunately also where the boggy bits started, oh and watch out for sticky up tree root stumps.
The trees were out to get me that day.

Upon leaving the trees there was an easily crossed fence and the fairly obvious path continued up the hill.

At approximately NN251036 the path crossed a burn, depending on the conditions this could be a little "adventurous" therefore I should point out that there is another place to cross approximately 10 metres further upstream which might be a little less tricky.

Looking back down into the trees

A bit higher up, looking back

Looking up

The path on the ascent was pretty obvious for a good way however it became a little indistinct in places higher up.
I just aimed for the left edge of the rock faces looming out of the mist.



I was fine on the recce with only myself to talk to, however with the recent recce fresh in my mind and the recorded GPX track to hand it was perhaps inevitable that on the day of the "actual" walk I went wrong on one of those occasions when the path did become indistinct.
I blame others talking to me, however they'd likely point to the fact that …

A: I was doing all the talking.

and

B: I can't multitask.

Thankfully a few of the people who were with me on the day (and annoyingly who'd never been on the hill and didn't have my GPX track to follow) noticed that I'd gone off piste.
It was easily remedied though.

I continued uphill, sometimes seeing a path, sometimes not, until I reached a lochan at NN248029.
From the lochan the path is a bit tricky to spot, basically as you come up the hillside and you first spot the lochan keep an eye out for the path to your right, it heads in between rocks just before the lochan is reached.
From here I followed the path to the summit.
It was a bit blowy on both days so on each occasion lunch was eaten in a sheltered spot just below the summit on the path up.

Cracking view

In fine weather there are countless spots for lunch on the north west ridge descent route.

From the summit it is possible to descend via the same path but it's tricky and slow (at least it is for a hillwalking version of Frank Spencer),.
It''s also possible to descend via the south west ridge as detailed in the official WalkHighlands route.
However I wanted to try out the north west ridge.
So off trotted Jar Jar Binks / Frank Spencer, through the clag on a gently sloping convex slope, what could possibly go wrong?
Thankfully nothing on the steep descent.

Summit selfie

I initially took a roughly NNW line then a WNW line briefly (to dogleg away from a rocky section of the ridge) before resuming a NNW line amongst the mostly grassy slopes.
Many people would probably bomb straight down the ridge finding a way through the rock but I'm a mere mortal and aimed for the green stuff.
Ultimately I was aiming for the Bealach Dubh-lic (as marked on the OS 25k map).

It's probably worth noting that there was a burn that descended the hill which seemed to start around NN243035. When I reached it I continued downhill with this burn to my left. I got the impression that it might be a pain to cross further down had I kept the burn to my right.

Looking back up at the descent, note the rocky stuff I avoided.

Upon reaching the bealach there was a relatively low fence running NE, I crossed at NN2412604086.
Once across I threaded my way through an area that had formed islands due to the surrounding ground collapsing into a black, peaty, boggy mess. I'm sure that'll have a name but I'll just call it "horrible."

I now headed up a slight rise to the NW aiming for the small col just to the left of the tor-like rocks at NN240042 (marked as "400" on the OS 1:25k map).

It was around here that I started to see faint traces of a path that was periodically marked by white posts.
From the little col I walked down the other side to the north, on a path that was very indistinct in places, this descended over some wet rocky areas for the first section but soon turned to grass and led to a stile at NN240045.
From here the increasingly obvious path ran north, then north east into trees.

Can't think of anything so I'll title this one "stile."

In early May 2022 there were two trees lying across this path, they were easily ducked under but be very careful on the other side when standing up, there are some very painful protrusions that are to be considered dangerous. I can attest to that. They took the form of snapped off branches about as thick as my thumb and pointing down at a 45° angle, I can imagine people sat in various establishments in Arrochar (or perhaps further afield) hearing a profanity laden Chewbacca / Sasquatch esque roar / scream echoing through the hills and glens and thinking "what the #@#@ was that!?"
Think Bigfoot accidentally standing on a Lego brick.
Anyway, it hurt and I'm genuinely surprised that it didn't even break the skin let alone do some serious damage.
If they're still there, PLEASE be careful.

Shortly after the fallen tree of doom.

The path exited the trees and joined a well made track at NN241047 at which point I turned right and walked for 1.5km (passing the signposted ascent route up into the trees)
Upon reaching the earlier junction at NN253040 I turned left. It was then just a matter of retracing my steps back to Ardgartan for almost 2km.

It was my first time using Citylink to reach a walk so I was a little paranoid about missing my return bus but with hindsight I might have booked my return from The Rest and Thankful or Arrochar to mix it up a little.
All in all it was a good day.

I'm on a roll so here's a few photos from the "actual" walk a few weeks later

From the walk a few weeks later - a view on the ascent looking back across to The Cobbler.

From the walk a few weeks later - top right are the rock faces to aim to the left of.

From the walk a few weeks later - another view looking back at The Cobbler, this time higher up The Brack.

From the walk a few weeks later - from the lochan, looking up towards the summit, can you see the path to the right of the lochan? I told you it was difficult to spot