Ben Vane
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:46 pmDay two of our bank holiday weekend trip to the Loch Lomond Munros. After a good evening of sitting in the tent enjoying some very tasty sloe gin we had a fairly leisurely start to the day. We drove to our new camping base at Ardlui to drop off the camping gear then back to Inveruglas for the start of the ascent up Ben Vane. We had planned on climbing Ben Vane on the previous day and Ben Vorlich today but walking plans must always be flexible and a delayed start plus injury meant that we still had Ben Vane to conquer and Ben Vorlich would have to wait. That mountain is becoming my nemesis, this is the second trip where I have planned to climb it and failed, third time lucky maybe 
.
The walk in to Ben Vane from Inveruglas is very pleasant, particularly in the sunshine with a gentle breeze. Typical Scottish weather it alternated the sun with bits of drizzle so we had the usual addition and removal of layers of clothing every ten minutes.
We began the ascent fairly steadily and were soon overtaken by a couple of people running past and shortly afterwards met a family with small children walking down already. So we felt quite slow and plodding in comparison.
The weather was good enough to allow us some great views back down the Munro and also provide the perfect temperature for walking. The ascent itself was tiring but easy to navigate. There were a few patches of scrambling, where it took a while to pick the best way up but nothing too taxing.
At the summit we had a wee dram of celebratory whisky and ate lunch sheltering from the wind. We had decided that merely walking up and then straight back down again would be a bit of a short walk, so we had planned a longer route down circling around Ben Vorlich before returning to Ardlui.
On the map it didn’t look too bad but it turned out to involve wading through seemingly endless tussocks of grass, crossing multiple streams and splashing through some rather boggy areas. So all in all some fun if tiring walking . Not the most scenic route and not recommended unless you are still feeling quite fresh!
The final descent was pretty steep, more scrambling than walking, but the thought of a nice pub meal kept us going
. Also the views improved as we could now see down to the loch.
Overall a reasonably easy munro to finish off the weekend, with perhaps more than we bargained for on the route back!
.The walk in to Ben Vane from Inveruglas is very pleasant, particularly in the sunshine with a gentle breeze. Typical Scottish weather it alternated the sun with bits of drizzle so we had the usual addition and removal of layers of clothing every ten minutes.
We began the ascent fairly steadily and were soon overtaken by a couple of people running past and shortly afterwards met a family with small children walking down already. So we felt quite slow and plodding in comparison.
The weather was good enough to allow us some great views back down the Munro and also provide the perfect temperature for walking. The ascent itself was tiring but easy to navigate. There were a few patches of scrambling, where it took a while to pick the best way up but nothing too taxing.
At the summit we had a wee dram of celebratory whisky and ate lunch sheltering from the wind. We had decided that merely walking up and then straight back down again would be a bit of a short walk, so we had planned a longer route down circling around Ben Vorlich before returning to Ardlui.
On the map it didn’t look too bad but it turned out to involve wading through seemingly endless tussocks of grass, crossing multiple streams and splashing through some rather boggy areas. So all in all some fun if tiring walking
. Not the most scenic route and not recommended unless you are still feeling quite fresh!The final descent was pretty steep, more scrambling than walking, but the thought of a nice pub meal kept us going
. Also the views improved as we could now see down to the loch. Overall a reasonably easy munro to finish off the weekend, with perhaps more than we bargained for on the route back!