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I drove from Edinburgh, where I was staying, taking a bit over 2 hours. There was plenty room for parking on the verge opposite Stuckendroin farm, although mine was the only car there. As soon as I started kitting up, I realised with dismay that I'd somehow forgotten to buy food and water on the way, and all I had was 3 energy bars. Given the location, it could easily take half an hour or more to drive to find a shop and return to the hill. I knew that the walk was relatively short, and I could see Ben Vorlich quite nearby, and it looked a smaller scale than most Munros, plus I had a water filter, so I decided to go for it and keep my fingers crossed that I wouldn't seriously run out of steam.
After heading up beside the farm, the tiny path turned left immediately behind the farm, and then a short distance on, turned right to head under the railway. From there, I mistakenly went straight on for a bit instead of heading more over towards the burn to the right, on the other side of which is a track which goes all the way up to the col between Stob nan Coinnich Bhacain and Ben Vorlich. The burn provided water essential to keep me going for the walk.
- View back across Loch Lomond soon after setting off
- The way up after reaching the track, with Ben Vorlich just visible in background
It was a fairly easy climb. I didn't stick to the track the whole way, taking shortcuts a couple of times.
- The ATV track up Coire Creagach, with Ben Vorlich ridge ahead
- Little Hills ridge from corrie
Eventually, after an hour and a half, I reached the col. The view now opened up to the north, where the Ben Lui group could be seen under the cloud.
- View NNE from col
From there, my map showed a path up the shoulder, but actually the path was sporadic and too difficult to follow to make it worth it. It wasn't always straightforward deciding the best route because the slope was quite craggy, but there were plenty of gaps between crags so there was no need for any scrambling. After a bit, I stopped to eat the first of my three energy bars. Only two left now!
- Shoulder approaching north top
- View north to Ben Lui group, from near north top
- North top
As I was approaching the north top, a meadow pipit was standing on a rock at the top to welcome me. Once at the north top, the summit ridge could finally be seen ahead.
- Summit seen from north top
The view to the west of Loch Sloy was great, but the other Arrochar Alps were mostly hidden by the cloud which kept coming and going.
- Loch Sloy seen from the north top
The Little Hills, my descent route, could now be seen from above on the other side of Coire Creagach.
- Sheep and Little Hills through cloud, from the north top
It was an easy walk towards the summit.
- Looking east to the Little Hills
- View down Coire Creagach from near summit, to Loch Lomond
Until now, I hadn't met anybody else, but two people were on the summit when I arrived (so we acted as photographer for each other), and there were a couple of other groups of people coming from the Inveruglas direction.
- Ben Vorlich summit
While on the summit the cloud lifted a bit more, and the view to the west was improving.
- View west from summit to Loch Sloy and Beinn Dubh
After a small break, I headed for the trig point which was not much further on.
- Looking back to Ben Vorlich summit
Ben Vane on the other side of Loch Sloy, and Beinn Narnain, were at least intermittently visible by now, and the contours of the Arrochar Alps were quite impressive: steep and rugged.
- Beinn Narnain and Ben Vane seen from trig point
- Summit ridge seen from trig point
Once at the trig point, the view south along Loch Lomond opened up.
- View south from trig point to Ben Vorlich shoulder, Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond<
- Beinn Narnain and Ben Vane seen from trig point
Now the descent began. I headed north east down a broad ridge towards the Little Hills, and left the other people behind.
- The Little Hills
This soon became quite rocky, with lots of crags, typically with fairly smooth, nearly vertical faces pointing eastwards. It was a bit of a challenge sometimes finding ways down between the crags, and at one point to avoid a big detour I did a scramble, but there was no actual necessity for scrambling anywhere.
- View north towards the Ben Lui group
Because of the terrain, the going was slower than I'd expected, and it took 40 minutes to descend to the top of the first Little Hill (808m).
- View south to Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond, from Little Hill 808
- Eastward facing rocks, from below
- A twisted rock
After a further half hour I reached the top of the second Little Hill (793m).
- View south west to Beinn Narnain from Little Hill 793 summit
Looking back, I could see that it would be much easier to find routes climbing up than it was going down, since you could see them in advance then.
- Looking back to Little Hill 808 from Little Hill 793 summit
After the second Little Hill, I turned north east to follow the ridge down. An eagle with white patches flew off, chirping (well, it wasn't the sort of sound you'd expect from such a bird), from the rocks below the top. It became a bit less craggy, which probably speeded things up a bit, but it was quite rough ground (with no path of course).
- Little Hill 793 (left) and 808 (right)
- View north past Stob nan Coinnich Bhacain towards the Ben Lui group
The last significant hurdle came at about 250m altitude, when the ridge steepened and was covered with trees. It wasn't easy to see whether it was safe to continue down the ridge line - I could see some rock faces dropping away - so I crossed to the north out of the trees and descended there until I was below them. Looking back up, I think it would have been possible to descend through the trees with care.
All the while, it had been getting gradually more difficult to make progress because of long thick grass which dragged on my feet and hid the contours of the ground. So it was quite a relief when finally I reached sheep pastures and could walk down an ATV track towards the farm. After 6 hours I reached the car, still with 2 energy bars left!
To sum up the route from Stuckendroin, the ascent was quite straightforward. Descending over the Little Hills was picturesque and certainly added variety to the walk, but it was surprisingly heavy going due first to the crags and then the thick grass and rough ground. The descent seemed to take a very long time: although it didn't actually take any longer than the ascent, you'd normally expect going down would be a bit faster than going up.
The final chapter in the expedition was hitting a huge stop and start queue along the lower half of Loch Lomond, which must have taken over half an hour to get through. And then another half hour's congestion delay on the M8 into Glasgow. So not an ideal route for a day trip from Edinburgh.