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After predicting a sunny day for our walk on Ben Vane, how silly of me to forget the F40 suntan lotion..,....
Just as well one of the party had some in his vast rucksack then....
Having previously failed on Ben Vane on an extremely claggy wet day I was glad to wake up to early morning sunshine at 6 am in Edinburgh, only for my buddy to call off ill...... she did look a bit peely wally...
Ner mind, the other traveller was waiting at the car so we duly got in about 7 am and had a pleasant drive up to Inveruglas. As usual a busy car park with tourist coaches and a few other climbers getting prepped up. For some of the group I was leading, it was their first munro. I could have picked an easier one I suppose, but this one had been on my radar for some time now....
Onwards past the power station and up under the railway, it took us the best part of an hour to reach the cut off point. I was so engrossed in chat that I actually missed it. So did the few folks ahead of me.....
The next part ahead was the only real boggy part and even then it wasn't too bad, certainly nothing like the boggy parts in some of the Crianlarich munros that I've encountered.
As described in various reports, this might be the smallest munro but it's a pretty tough climb. Not many flat parts to get your breath back at all, just steep, steep and more steep. With several newbs in the group we had regular stops for drink / food / photo opportunities. The cloud was just hanging around at the summits of Lomond and Vane, but we all reckoned the warm sun would soon shift that and we were proved right. Really was a glorious day for a walk, especially compared to the previous week......
The saying are we nearly there yet was heard a few times as we crested a rise thinking that was the summit, only to find it was yet another false peak...... I reckon there was at least 3 here but I'm not going back to accurately count them. Given our early start, we were pretty much on our own but could see several more folks back down in the distance catching up.
Finally reached the summit plateau in about 3 hrs which wasn't too bad really as we weren't going at a fast pace. Plan B was to perhaps drop down and do Ben Ime as well, but it looks a lot more fierce in reality than it does on a map so that plan was quickly binned. Ime can wait for another day. We dropped down to the North side for lunch out of the cool breeze and probably stayed there for 30 mins soaking up the sunshine.
I pointed out several familiar munros to the newbs; Cruachan in the distance looked very snow-less compared to mid April when I was there. Nevis was the only one that looked to have a full covering of snow itself. I'm slowly getting to the point now where I can just look up and say the names of munros without always having to refer to a map....
Going back down for me is faster usually than the up effort and this was no exception. The reference in the title about being nearly scarred for life was when we met a couple on their way up who were BOTH wearing tight lycra shorts. If you think of Linford Christie at the Olympic Games you will see what I mean.....
Apologies to the couple if you are on WH and recognise yourself......
All in a pleasant 6 hr round trip and I didn't mind the sunburn......