Walkhighlands

Saturday 20/06/09.
7.30am
Leaving the car park at the side of the loch,head through the east gate entrance to Ardvorlich estate following the burn and then the road towards Ardvorlich house where there is a sign posted by the estate showing the direction for walkers to take .
Heading up a land rover track towards the Ben with views back down towards Ardvorlich house and loch Earn opening out.



following the land rover track all the way until it soon becomes a well maintained path heading onto the Ben its self.

This path is easily followed up the hill until you reach a fork in the track keep to the left side and then carry on until the top which comes up very quickly considering its a munro .
Sorry no pictures of the first top as by now at 10.30am the cloud had dropped and the rain was battering down(what forecast).
From her head off NW towards the second top of the day Stuc a'Chroin.
Just as we were descending down the path which becomes very steep here a little break in the weather gave us the first glimpse of the way up.


There is a fair bit of decent before you start to climb up the next hill ,once you cross the boulders the path is pretty visible but it is very steep here and some light scrambling is required.
Once over the top there is a cairn which isn't the top.

The path goes around the cairn and on towards the true top another 20 to 30 minuets walk .



The path goes around the corrie now for a different route back then rejoins the way up at the fork we left at earlier and descends back to the house and finally the car park at 2.30pm with an hour of stops, all in all a great day out with some scrambling and some great views when the weather permitted .

oi you. i wanted to do a walk report but since you took more pics than me ill let you live this time


..............................Sam

You're on the ball with getting your walk report in CJ - posted on the same day. I've got a whole backlog to get around to writing.

Actually, I nearly went on this route today with a friend who I was going to introduce to hillwalking. He didn't call me back in time and I went off to Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg instead ( I could easily see BV & SaC from there). I'm not sure we would have crossed paths as I suspect you would have returned before I'd even set out. I think this is a pretty good route for an introduction and its nearest to home and... Stuc a'Chroin has been a problem hill for me (as it has been for someone else - was a recent post here about it). We might get another opportunity to do it (or to not do it again) next week.
After this last week I'll be happy with anything that isn't miles of bog.

druidsam wrote:oi you. i wanted to do a walk report but since you took more pics than me ill let you live this time


..............................Sam

Sorry big guy you should have said

After this last week I'll be happy with anything that isn't miles of bog.

[/quote]


There is a bit of a boggy section on the way back around the corrie but mostly good ground the scramble up through the rocks on Stuc is great but slippy in the wet so be careful

I did this route on Tuesday with a friend who is relatively new to walking but is the type who is in the gym every day.
We set off quite late really at about 11.30am and we were soon setting a quick pace, quicker than I would have normally been but my pal had his eye constantly on his watch and wanted to get to the top as quick as possible.
We passed around 5 groups on the way up and 1.5 hrs after setting off we were on the top of BV and 40 mins later were a good way up the hardest part of the scramble on SaC when my pal was overcome with the exertion and a bout of vertigo!! Several rests and much nurse maiding and we were at the cairn and an easy toddle to the summit, a good rest there and then what seemed like along walk out in the lovely afternoon sunshine to the car 5 hrs after leaving. I must say that I had suggested a slower pace and that it was supposed to be a nice day out not a race but this fell on deaf ears as did the option to miss out SaC as he had not much experience of scrambling. It has not put him off though as he has suggested going out again this week although I think I'll insist on a slightly slower pace this time.
Bruce

well done on these 2 cj
i think ben vorlich is one of the easiest munros ive done but also very enjoyable.
after 2 attempts at them both i had to do stuc a chroin on its on due to poor weather but i would still return to have a crack at them both

Still haven't done these- turned back twice due to foul weather. Hopefully soon!

Oh Yes! I finally made it to the summit of Stuc a'Chroin on Tuesday but it wasn't easy. The afternoon heat was almost too much. We decided to skirt around Ben Vorlich as there was not a breath of air for the ascent on that side of the mountain and climb Stuc a'Chroin first. I honestly felt like throwing myself into the bog and rolling around like a pig just to cool down.
The scramble was great and the views from the tops fantastic - seeing Arran so clearly was somehow a surprise. When we got back to bridge over the burn it was 7.30 and still baking hot. There was only one obvious thing to do.





That felt so good. Walking back in wet clothes it still felt hot. I might think again about hill walking in this kind of heat. We were lucky to have enough streams to refill our bottles - must have got through at least three litres.

I was introducing a friend to the munros and I think the day had quite a marked impact on him. It was a good day.

Well thats one way to cool down

Last time I tried that method, in Cwm Y Llan under the South face of Snowdon, the mountain rescue helicopter flew over, had a good look, and then came back round for another look! I just gave them a friendly wave!