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Munros #3 and #4 for me today! First solo outing also!
#3 - Ben Vorlich (Loch Earn) - 985m
#4 - Stuc a'Chroin - 975m
Arrived around 9am and suited up.. After half a km or so I realised I had severely underestimated how hot and sunny it was!
Apart from the heat, the walk was fairly easy going. Great path and a moderate incline. There weren't any false summits and the top of Ben Vorlich was easily gained.
Had a sausage roll and a sandwich at the cairn and lapped up the weather and the stunning views.
Suitably recharged, I set off towards Stuc a'Chroin. I had bumped into some fellow walkers on the way up and they suggested to go straight up the face rather than take the bypass route. The conditions were perfect and so I decided to go for it!
The descent from Ben Vorlich and approach to the prow is deceivingly longer than it looks. I reached the base of the prow at approx. 12pm and set myself a goal of 1 hour to make my way up the face - as a total novice and someone who suffers from a healthy fear of heights I thought this was do-able.
I made good progress but found it to be much more 'scrambly' than I had been expecting. Much of it was done on all fours and making sure I had secure hand-holds was necessary. It felt a lot steeper than I had been expecting. At one point I headed up a gully only to find I had hit a dead-end.. the only option was to descend a bit to reach a faint path I had spotted.
This was the only hairy part of the day.. I had to head back down facing into the mountain searching for a foothold on some slippery grass. My fear of heights was starting to get the better of me and I wondered what I would do if I got stuck, unable to move! After a few curse words, I convinced myself to pull myself together and reached the path. From there I saw a more obvious route and followed it upwards. I could then see the light at the end of the tunnel and eventually flopped onto the summit!
I spent around half an hour on the summit, chatting to fellow walkers and taking some snaps. The consensus was to follow the bypass route back down which I did.
The walk back was in three parts. The first was a steep gravelly path down from Stuc. The second was a boggy trudge around Ben Vorlich which meant my feet were at a constant 45 degree side angle as I circumvented the mountain. The third part was when I joined the path which came down from Ben Vorlich. The good path felt good on my weary feet and the walk back down to the car in the afternoon sun was most enjoyable! I had a smile on my face as I reached the start point and another two in the bag!
