Munros - 1, Visibility - 0

[GillC]

Today was originally going to be accompanying my bro, Phil, for a birthday climb (his birthday) on Narnain. The day before however,,he called off, preferring instead to "laze about and maybe do some shopping" lol what a big wummin!

Anyway, not to miss a chance to get out, Margaret and I pulled Vorlich (L Lomond) out of the hat, neither of us have been up here before and it's a nice easy one to get to. An hour from home and parked up at Inveruglas at 11am.

The forecast was changeable and at this time, it was pretty much constant drizzle, not sure Margaret was coping with my ever optimistic "look, the suns coming out" exclamations every 5 minutes (sorry M, )

Armed with our WH route description, off we went up the road to Sloy. I'd taken this route in a few years ago to climb Ben Dubh then over to Vane but our more recent ascent of Vane was done via the Glen Loin loop due to bus timetables etc. I'd forgotten the long upward sections of the road but these certainly give your legs a good warm up before starting the climb itself.

Soggy soggy day,, Ben Vane hiding in the clouds,

Passing the Glen Loin loop road and the Ben Vane route, you carry on up towards the dam, looking out for the small cairn on the right, marking the start of a cut up the foot slopes of Vorlich. The cairn is slightly bigger now,,,I added a few rocks that were lying around.

At this point, you start climbing up a stream, not sure if it's always like that, or just because of todays rain. But it's up, muddy, rocky, up, rocky, muddy and ...up! Passed two chaps coming off the hill, who warned us that the path pretty much disappears a bit further up.

You gain height here very quickly, good to see the road disappearing behind you and starting to look across at Ben Vane,, instead of up at it.

Margaret with the Glen Loin loop road and lower slopes of Ben Vane in the background

Vane hiding in the clouds

I've read a lot of reports on Vorlich that describe it as a bit of a 'nothing' hill, a big lump with no real personality. However, I have to disagree. I thought that today, even in these conditions, this hill had a lot to offer, uphill, meandering paths, bit of scrambling, deep crevices, sheltered mini-canyons and I'm sure, on a good day, spectacular views.

We had got lucky and the rain had actually gone off for the start of the climb and didn't return until nearer the top, which gave us a chance to enjoy all of the above. The upward stretch opens out onto a very green, stream covered and more gently sloping area. It's hard here to see an obvious path, but after a few steps forward in the general direction of 'up' it was usually pretty easy to pick it up again despite the earlier warning of the exiting walkers. The views here were still good, over to Vane, almost free of cloud on a couple of occasions, but never quite making it. The dam at Sloy with the white streams flowing down into the dark waters. We could even see the rocky crags above us on Vorlich.

The obligatory dam shot!

Mid slopes of Vorlich

As we started the next steep section up, the cloud, previously swirling around and above our heads, was now swirling below us too. Visibility was closing in but the rain was still holding off.

murky murky murky

It's a long way dooooooowwwwwwnnnnnn

The ground starts to level off after this section, and surprisingly to both of us, the south ridge and on up to the Trig/cairn is a lot longer than we had anticipated,,,not in a bad way. All reports seem to indicate you simply climb straight up, up and up,,then you're there. Not so. The path wound its way round the upper ridge and through the small canyon areas, sometimes totally sheltered from the wind that was whipping up. The rain had come on again and wouldn't leave us until well into the descent.

We soldiered through deteriorating conditions, up over sloping rocky/grass terrain, again with a path that appeared, disappeared and appeared again. Lovely to hear Margaret saying she could see the trig. Knowing the true summit is a couple of hundred meters "after" the trig,,we carried on through.

yep,, i'm in there somewhere,, at the trig and heading for the cairn

This is where we got a bit confuddled. Straight on through, poor visibility or not, we quickly realised, was not the way to go. After about 50 yards, the ground dropped away, with no sign of it rising again. We made our way back to the trig and off in the opposite direction. Visibility was only about 30yrds but we eventually saw the crag appearing with the cairn off to the left. Vorlich seems to be littered with paths, so I think, somewhere we ended up coming round the opposite (not wrong!) side of the trig. Still, we were there, at the top, wind whipping up and freezing rain. The views,,well, what can I say? we could see all around us, 360degrees, ooooh,,for foot after foot of incredible .....cloud!

Munro number 30,,,god that wind was FREEZIN' !!!

My hands were so cold after messing around with cameras to get pics, the thought of even hanging around for 2 mins to get my gloves on didn't compute, so off we went, me, almost running and with my hands so cold it actually hurt to hold my poles, I tucked them under my arm, clenched my fists and BOLTED! Bearing in mind that both of us had expressed our readiness for food, about half an hour before we reached the top,,we just wanted to get down into some shelter and fuel up. We passed 2 guys about 5-10 mins from the top and headed down the the shelter of the small canyon area. Comfy rock (is there such a thing?) and time to unpack some grub. I was glad I'd decided to pack a flask of coffee today, envisaged the conditions would require something warming.

wishing i'd put a wee dram in the flask too lol

Quick sandwich, coffee, some dark chocolate and packed up again for the descent.

The paths on the top of the hill are much more defined and weave through the rocky terrain. There are some very large cracks, breaks in the rock and climbing this in snow must be quite risky, no problems today,,we could see all the way down into the blackness below !!

Coming down from the ridge and onto the broader green slopes, we stayed away from the burn and headed slightly left, it was still 'down' so we couldn't go far wrong. As we got a bit lower and the road suddenly appeared,,we got the feeling we were slightly further east than on our ascent. Although on a path of sorts, we did then curve round to rejoin our ascent path. We were both a little surprised at how quickly we got down, we somehow felt it was too quick. A quick look back up and we could see the 2 guys we passed near the top closing in on us, no lunch break for them I think.

Almost back down at the road. Pylon city

Back down to the road, quick high 5 then headed off down towards Inveruglas again. The two lads caught up with us and we enjoyed a chat with them back to the car park, (where the midgies lay in wait. AWFUL! )

I'd had a niggling thought in the back of my mind that, this was just a hill I had to do, to clear up the hills in that area, but Vorlich exceeded my expectations. Margaret had been a bit lacking in energy at the start of the day and had later voiced that she nearly backed out before we actually left the road to start up the hill. She and I were now glad she hadn't. It was a tough wee slog at the start but we both had a great day and it's definitely one to revisit on a finer day. Thoroughly enjoyable (once I got some heat back in my hands lol )

[ScottishLeaf]

I like Ben Vorlich, though I approached it from the other side though, from Ardlui.
We had a cracking day on it and the views down Loch Lomond are sublime, as well over towards Ben Lui, The Trossachs and the other Arrochar Alps.

Glad it's got another fan

[mrssanta]

a walk out with you sounds like it would be a great day of laughs, your smiley face is such a tonic!

[GillC]

haha,,thanks MrsSanta, (just don't ask Margaret about the 'growling' when coming off Bidean last year lol )

[Fife Flyer]

Very entertaining Gill
Not much fun in that sort of weather, when everything is cold & wet, one needs a sense of humour
Had to check my balloons to confirm I have been up Vorlich, must of been a few years ago

[GillC]

Indeed Martin,,gotta larf! if you ain't having fun, whats the point?

[MarilynMunro]

Have to agree, couldn't call it boring, I enjoyed my day there, although I was lucky with the weather. That was the first time I used that "skin so soft" stuff(sounds more manly), worked a treat.
Like your cheery report