The Fruin

[colinwatson]

The forecast today was poor, so I decided to abandon my plans for a trip to Galloway and headed to Glen Fruin. I used the car park at the reservoirs above Helensburgh. There is some construction work being carried out at the moment, so the car park was busy and some of the contractors saw fit to park in the disabled bays, tsk, tsk.....

Set off around 9.30 on a cold, driech morning to make my way up the muddy track towards Highlandman's Wood. At the end of the track I started to make my way over very soggy ground up the south ridge of The Fruin.....didn't take long for my feet to get wet!

The Ardmore peninsula from the south ridge

The ground was pretty wet all of the way to the mast just before the spot height at 354 metres, where I had a tea break. Unfortunately, I chose to walk on the west side of the fence which took me over drainage ditches and really soggy ground, but at least the wind wasn't too fierce at this point. Plodded on to the summit. Sorry to say that the farmer hasn't made life too easy - a new fence with lots of barbed wire and the metal gate was padlocked and had wire over the top which meant that you couldn't climb over it. By now it was really blowing, so I had to take care not to snag my waterproofs on the barbed wire. However, once over, I was at the cairn.

Looking towards Argyll's Bowling Green from the simmit.

One of the things I love about climbing the Marilyns is that you get to see familiar landscapes from a different perspective.

The Tail o' the Bank from the summit

On the top......

On the way back, I kept to the east side of the fence and the going was much better. Made good progress back to the spot height.

Looking over the Kilcreggan peninsula to Gourock

Not much wildlife today - just a raven, roe deer, grouse and a meadow pipit on top of a wall.

Meadow pipit on a dry stane dyke

I picked up the muddy path from the spot height back to Highlandman's Wood, stopping just before the Three Walk Way path for something to eat. The rain was just coming in, so I relished the view to Loch Lomond before it was snuffed out.

Loch Lomond from the dinner time stop

I picked up the Three Lochs Way path which was a bit drier underfoot and from there back to the car.

Another great day, although if the path was drained it would make a great walk for parents to introduce children to the hills......

[Sgurr]

Glad to see you didn't find a magically easy route, and didn't manage to gallop over it much faster than us. . All the snow has gone since we did it on the 17th. It covered everything so we managed to fall into every hole and bog going, and despite me taking off my thick fleece and laying it across, husband still managed to snag his trousers on the barbed wire. A true Marilyn baggers' hill. Anyone wanting an easy day would divert to Ben Bowie. WE came and returned from the northern approach.

[colinwatson]

Yes - it was actually quite tough going at times. If I were to go back, I would keep to the north side of the fence on the ridge.

I suspect that I may have climbed The Fruin in my schooldays, but wasn't 100% sure!