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Day three of our mini break saw us heading for Ben Vane.
This was to be our fourth munro of the trip, the forecast was telling us there would be mist on the tops throughout the morning clearing off the summits by early afternoon so we decided to start the day later than usual to give us a reasonable chance of some good views.
The drive to Inveruglas from Glasgow only took about 40 mins, the A82 is a good road and gets you into the mountains in no time at all.
We parked at the visitor centre paid the £4 for all day parking and got ourselves ready. We were following the W.H route which most people do for this mountain.
A couple of views from the car park.
The views along the road leading to the dam are enough to keep the spirits up as you walk, A' Chrois looks steep and rugged then Ben Vane appears looking quite challenging, the closer we got the steeper it looked,
Track views.
Further on the dam appears and the steep slopes of Ben Vorlich are on the right.
We crossed the bridge and started up the path leading to the shoulder, once up there, the path leads to the start of the climb up the front of Ben Vane.
The dam and Ben Vorlich.
On the approach to this section I wasn't sure I was looking forward to this ascent,
It looks pretty steep.
as it turned out it was one of the most enjoyable ascents we've made, we found a nice steady pace and just kept going. The path zig zags its way up the mountainside, threading its way through the crags, any scrambly bits can be bypassed and the views across to Ben Vorlich are spectacular showing how steep the ascent up that mountain is too.
The dam looks small in these surroundings.
Loch Lomond.
The walk description tells of several false tops on the way up, knowing this helps to accept that the next little summit isn't the top, when you do reach the summit cairn it comes as a pleasant surprise. The mist was down when we got to the top so no views again, we weren't too bothered on this occasion because we'd already decided we'd come back to this mountain again, its a cracker.
Familiar summit views.
Leaving the summit we decided to find a lunch spot further down so we could enjoy the views we had on the way up. We found a really nice sheltered spot under an overhanging craggy bit, it was out of the breeze so it felt warm and pleasant, by now the cloud was breaking up and the sun was making an appearance so we took our time just to make the time out last that bit longer.
Lunch time views.
Wiggy rock.
After lunch we continued our descent stopping again for a snack once we reached the forest track.
Ben Vane from the forest track.
The walk back down the dam road was a bit of a downer because we knew we were on our way home the next day, we'd managed to do four new munros so the trip was well worth it, we've still one Arrochar Alp munro to do now, Ben Vorlich, so we'll be back, we're planning another long weekend for that and Ben Arthur.
Our next trip is in a few weeks, heading for Arran for a week of mountains, stone circles and castles then the following week to Cannich to have a go at the Mullardoch and Affric munros, can't wait.
