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To be honest, I wasn't going to bother posting this - it's Ben Lomond, after all. There are probably hundreds of posts and I've been up it probably about 20 times AND it wasn't even my target for yesterday. I had intended to walk up the 2 sub-2000 from Cashel but when I arrived at 8.30am, the gates were shut so I just drove on to Rowardennan and set off up Ptarmigan - I just prefer going up that way! There was a lot of white cloud covering the ben but I was in the clear up through the bracken and along the ridge and the loch was clear below.
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- Ptarmigan and the loch
Once over Ptarmigan and at the foot of the NW ridge, I considered heading over to the graham Cruinn a'Bheinn but it was smothered in dense cloud while the top of the ben was in clear blue skies and sunshine - a no-brainer! Once at the summit, which wasn't TOO busy, I sat to enjoy my lunch and the view of a great inversion, only the summits of the big Munros were visible poking through the white sea of cloud. Very nice indeed.
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- Ben More and Stob Binnein poking through
Because of the great conditions, I took the time to stroll over the various tops to get a view back to the summit over the corrie - I must admit, I haven't done that for a while. Well worth the little effort involved.
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- Looking back to the summit
Usually, I find the descent down the 'tourist route' a bit of a chore but today it was great fun. It was busy ... yes, but I met and chatted to all sorts ... 3 lovely ladies from the Czech Republic who were enjoying every minute of their stay in Scotland, many family groups with children (some with more enthusiasm than others, it must be said) but all wanted to hear about the route to the top from someone who had been there and a multitude of others from Australia, Sweden, Germany .... all over, in fact. What an enjoyable walk down such a sociable hill! I'm the first to admit that most of the time I like the hills to myself but this day will live as long in the memory as a trip up something like An Teallach - for different reasons, of course. So, the message is - if you haven't been up Ben Lomond on a sunny Saturday for a while give it a go. You'll probably have a ball! And, nearing the car park you can look back and savour views like this.
