A braw day up Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:35 pmAfter a rare wee drive along the south side of the loch from St.Fillans observing all the tents and caravans, we parked and were walking by 8.45am. It was an already roasting morning even then and the first couple of hours was really very warm. I personally made myself a target to push on until about 10.45am to gain some height, before having a good stop to relax a little, put on some suncream and have a drink. At this point I was wishing I had remembered a pair of shorts, but "hey-ho", I had to be fine with my long breeks on. After this break, I actually went on to feel very comfortable all day 
- Loch Earn at 8.30am
- Ben Vorlich directly to the south.
- Looking back north again with Loch Earn below and Ben Lawers in the distance nicely wrapped in a band of cloud.
- Getting up there!
- One man and his dog.....
- The summit trig point, cairn and a strange lonely remaining metal pole...
- Here we are on top of Ben Vorlich with Stuc a'Chroin appearing behind us. Ritchie's 47th munro awaits.
- Descending to the bealach, note Ritchie had founded a great wee watering-hole just down behind where Valerie is standing.
- The base of the boulderfield where we headed up the scramble or the prow as some people refer to it. (we chose to leave the path and turn right onto the boulders just after a spot where a large metal fence post stands next to a large boulder. There is also a small cairn indicating this.)
- An interesting bend in the steep path.
- Valerie standing at the point we chose scramble up. The path did continue round, but I was looking to gain height....fun and exciting stuff!
- ....onwards and upwards
- The route is steep and fairly exposed at points, but there is plenty to hold on to, and in the main I simply carefully walked up. However, Valerie might say something different as she had to use her hands a lot more. Ritchie's only difficult was crossing one or two of the boulders at the base of the prow. I do keep him under close control on the lead and help him from time to time on steep sections like this.
- On the first top of Stuc 'a Chroin immediately above the prow, proud of our efforts and ready for a food-stop.
- Looking back down...............
- Thanks to Gary, Paul and Abby (the dug) for this photo. We all met here and had a good old blether. It turned out that Gary and Paul had a small dilemma as they had walked in from the south and had a long walk back to Loch Lubnaig, especially if they opted to take in Ben Vorlich too? I thought to myself for a moment and offered that if they carried on to Ben Vorlich, they could drop down to Loch Earn and we would all meet up again later at our car. This was a spot on plan, everyone maximised their day out and I dropped our new pals off at their van later on that day.
- Valerie on the south west top......
- Now at the summit looking from whence we've came....
- Me!
- The prow rises behind us again now after dropping down the footpath and contouring round the west side of Ben Vorlich. We made effort to keep high and cause minimal extra erosion round this damp section of the route.
- "Come along" Ritchie says, "what's keeping ewes....
- Ardvorlich House...a grand sight on our decent.....feet starting to cry out for crocs
- Paddling in Loch Earn, all three of us for 15 minutes or so........Gary, Paul and Abby soon arrived and we headed round to Loch Lubnaig after some more banter and blether with ourselves and those around. All in all and very fine mountain day.
A great report with a good set of pictures telling the whole story. You and Valerie will be fairly glowing with all that sun you've been getting! But Ritchie seems to keep his cool with all those watering holes! 