Bog Hops and Summit Tops: A Dual Munro Day

[briffle]

It was a stunning Friday afternoon in Glasgow, a balmy 24 degrees that made the sun-drenched sandstone in the city centre warm to the touch. In Glasgow, a day like that sends a clear signal: “Tomorrow, we climb!”

I've chipped off a good few around Crianlarich - Ben Lui, Beinn a' Chlèibh, An Caisteal, Beinn a' Chròin, but never got round to trying my hand at Ben Oss. And so it was decided - Saturday was the day to turn the red markers of Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig into blue ones.

The trip from Glasgow is a relatively short one (one and a half hours), but it seemed that others had the exact same train of thought and thus followed an endless train of cars all the way past Luss, Falls of Falloch, and the Inverlugas Visitor centre. Which - by the way - was heavin'! Driving past it, it seemed as if the coaches were playing a live-action version of 'swipe block'.

Fortunately enough, we managed to get to the car park just off the A82 AND find a space! There was a group having a picnic in one of the parking spaces. When we asked about whether we could park there, they said that they were saving space for someone else. Is this common ? If that had been the last spot, I’d have had to summon every ounce of politeness not to lay siege to their picnic.

Prepared for a slog (because every report about Ben Oss forewarns of boggy battles), we hoped the day’s sun had crisped up the landscape somewhat. It had, sort of. Navigating Coille Coire Chuilc Pinewood was quite tough due to the bogs. If you were clever around where you stood, it was quite easy to avoid the worst of it. A short lapse of judgment, however, quickly resulted in your legs going shin-deep into muck.

Starting the hike - high spirits!

The weather was stunning, so we didn't let that get the best of us, and we powered on up. The approach is quite gentle, and it takes a wee while for the ascent to get hard going.

The Approach

The first 600-700 metres are very manageable. The sun was out, but visibility wasn't great - there was a mist dominating the horizon, creating an eerie haze over Loch Lomond.

Through the forest

We found ourselves at the Y-point between Beinn Dubhcraig and Ben Oss and had a discussion about whether to extend the stretch all the way to Ben Oss and grab Beinn Dubhcraig on the way down, but we were pretty hungry, so we took the 'quick win' and made our way up to Beinn Dubhcraig. We took 10 minutes and enjoyed a lunch with incredible views over Loch Lomond.

Sandwich up top

Me, with Ben Lui looking mighty

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhchraig

After a short break, it was time to grab what we came for. Before we ascended Ben Oss, there was a 200m sharp descent into Bealach Buidhe - "The Yellow Pass". Ben Lui looked incredibly imposing, and there was a small degree of scree to navigate on the way down into the pass. After that, we turned a sharp left and started walking. The walk report on WH tells you:

"Look out for a tiny cairn that marks the point to leave the clearer path - an old stalker's route across the flank of Ben Oss. Instead follow a fainter path that heads west up a grassy slope at first"

Yeah, we forgot to do that, and so we continued to trudge on in blissful ignorance for about 200m. When we noticed, instead of turning back and retracing our steps, we made the executive decision to just beeline it back to the path. As the 'guy with the map', I got a fair share of hums and haws, but that's why they call it an 'adventure', right?

Walking around the crags - oops!

The way up Ben Oss was easy enough, but we didn't spend too much time at the top - the views were similar to the ones we had before, and we were all out of lunch. Time to head back home.

Way back down

Usually, the way down feels much faster than the way up, but for some reason, it seemed like the way down kept on going forever. All told, the way back was less a walk in the woods and more an exercise in communal suffering—with spectacular views. There’s nothing quite like the great Scottish outdoors to remind you of your place in the universe, or at least your place in a very long line of cars heading back to Glasgow.

Notes:

• On a sunny day, I should have taken more than 1L of water
• I should probably buy a water filter - there was a running burn all the way up the ascent, but I didn't feel safe drinking the water.
• Trailrunners > boots on a sunny day