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We (now when I say we, I mean Me,Tam, Jim and Michelle) (thats enough of the brackets, I tried that last month and got beaten to walk report of the month by a dog !
) and Molly , a dog BTW, decided on our first winter walk of the season and headed for The Brack.
Twas a cold and frosty morning and still dark when Tam picked me up at 8.30 am. it was also very foggy and stayed that way until we got by Balloch and the blue skies started to appear out of the fog. A blanket of cloud still hung low over Loch Lomond as we drove up the west side of Scotland`s longest loch.
It was going to be a cracker of a day ! As we drove towards Luss, Beinn Dubh and the rest of the surrounding hills looked tip top with snow covering them from top to a couple of hundred metres from the bottom.
And then into Arrochar , where the unmistakeable shape of The Cobbler stuck out in all it`s white glory.
We arrived at the car park in good time and waited for Jim and Michelle. Once we started we found it a tad cold outside as we walked along the forrestry road towards the hill. We were all wrapped up well but as usual the layers started to come off before we were even on the hill proper.
The narrow path up through the forest was quite wet and muddy and on occasion wee Molly had to be lifted over the large steps. I`d forgotten how lfar it was through the trees until you reached the hillside. After we had crossed the burn , the path began to harden and get quite icy in some places and a bit of care had to be taken.
- Beinn an Lochain
We had great views over the trees up the Rest & Be Thankful towards Beinn an Lochan Ben Luibhean and The Cobbler.
As the path carried along beside the burn I took a path up that led me onto some icy rocks. I tried to turn back down and carry on alongside the burn but it felt more dangerous to go down. So I clambered up by the side of the path, dragging myself up by grabbing handfulls of grass. Tam was further ahead so I told Jim & Michelle to carry along the path they were going.
- The Cobbler
- Frozen grass
We were getting into the snow proper now and Molly loved rolling about in it. We passed the shelter stone and carried on up crunching through the top crust of snow.
As we neered the brow of the hill just before the lochan , the sun popped up.
- Sunshine
The Lochan itself was frozen over.
- Frozen Lochan
Although it was obviously cold it was still quite mild and we were able to hang around here taking plenty of photos.
- Loch Long and inversion over Helensburgh
- Ben Lomond
- Tam Mac way ahead
- Lochan
We marched on and the snow was getting quite deep but as a few people had already been up here in the previous days there where decent footprints to follow in and the going was quite easy.
Tam was waiting for us before the top sheltering behind a big rock as it had got quite windy now. He was enjoying a nice cuppa from his flask, until de sat his cup on the snow and it just slid away from him down the hill !
- Tam before he lost his cup
- Love is...
We made our stop on top short as the wind was quite fierce and Molly was fair shivering but once off the summit the wind was gone again.
- Summit pic
- First use of ice axe this winter
Well, the other went down quickly, I hung around a bit for some pictures and put my waterproof trousers on, I fancied a bit of sledging !
- Ben Lomond
- Snowy hills
I made my way down trying to bum slide as much as I could , but the gradient wasn`t so good mostly as the route twisted and turned from the summit.
I decided to go looking for Tam`s cup and followed it`s path down from the rock he sat at. This was better, a decent slope I could slide down and slowed myself whenever necessary with my ice axe. And then I spotted it sitting on a raised lump right beside a hole by a rock. He was overjoyed when I caught up with him and gave it back.
- Happy chap
- Happy couple