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Changeable weather was about the best the forecast could offer for Saturday with some probability of sustained rain. I thought it was a good day to sort out the remaining red dots in the Arrochar Alps; Ben Vane and Ben Vorlich. Not hills I've been particularly looking forward to; I'm not a fan of hydroelectric power and in this case additional scars on the landscape from electricity pylons. Still it is what it is I guess.
- The route up Ben Vane...
So to the walk; well it vaned on me all the way up Ben Vane and I was suitably soaked; as well as pretty hot by the time the summit was reached. All in all, the climb wasn't as steep as I'd been expecting from reading peoples reports; just a couple of bits where the hands were required. I didn't linger at the summit; there was a good wind blowing and it was cloud covered so nothing to see.
I was thinking on the descent that I could use some good fortune from the weather gods to give me a spark of motivation for Ben Vorlich. And thankfully the weather gods were kind; it stopped raining; and began to clear. So I stopped for a spot of lunch and a beer...
Not long after that I was 'doing it all again' aka climbing up Ben Vorlich; these are two long sustained steep ascents to do back to back given you drop back down to 150 metres before the reascent. Still it wasn't long before the hard work was done; head down when it's like this I say and just get on with it. The legs were suffering a little bit as I strolled along the gentle ridge to the summit which was again cloud covered, though dry this time. Don't be fooled by the initial summit cairn and trig point the summit is another two minutes beyond that. And of course; the tributes to Whiskey still continue...
A quick refuel at the summit with some ham and then back to the car. Some of the views you'll see over Lock Lomond are attractive enough; but in my view scarred by man. There are far nicer places in Scotland, but we are spoilt in this country; it's far from ugly...
The route... Two up and downers as they say in the trade... And that makes 51 munros for me in 2011; a little milestone; my target was to get to the halfway point this year; which now looks easily achievable; just another 28 required to hit that not so little landmark...
And the stats; two steep puppies all done in 6 and a half hours...