The Fruin

[wjshaw2]

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Having read a few other reports, and seen how wet the hill was, I thought we'd go up by the simplest route I could find, which seemed to be from the wee old windy road from Faslane through Glen Fruin. So we parked in the plentiful car parking area there, where the views open out to the north and west and set off up a wet track - a track where each pool was filled with frog spawn, doomed to be run over by the first tractor that'll come up the path.

Poor, foolish froggies.

At the end of the track, the next km was indeed wet, very wet, and we chose today to both forget to bring our gaiters. If you squeezed this sponge of a hill, I'm sure you'd get a decent sized ocean out of it. But as a bit of a slope started, so the ground became slightly less wet, if a bit more tussocky.

Once you're beyond the bog, the heather bashing begins.

The easiest walking was near the barbed wire fence built on top of the old wall. There are no stiles in the fence, so it has to be climbed and it took a toll on Sarah's favourite walking trousers unfortunately. Coming back, there is a gate near the summit, but it's padlocked so even it had to be climbed. But at least it didn't have any barbed wire. We were, as usual, a bit late getting going so didn't take the diversions off to the south side of the hill to look for the Cup and Ring marked rocks and the Dun that the map shows down there. The next time, perhaps?

Luss Grahams from the summit cairn

Back to the fence line for views over the Clyde

Across Kilcreggan to Gourock and beyond

Across the bog to Cowal on the way back

Sunset's colours sharpening everything up

I think if you were climbing this on a wet day when you can't see anything, then it would be just a tick on a bagging list, but on a clear day like this one, the wet feet could be forgotten (temporarily) by looking up and around. Cowal looks amazing, the sweep of the Clyde majestic, the Luss Grahams imposing, and you mercifully can't see Faslane for much of the way as it's hidden behind the curve of the slope.

The ravens were doing barrel rolls and laughing at us poor earth bound creatures, a sky lark or two sang for joy at the eventual dawn of spring we all felt in the air, and even the pippits' colours looked vivid in the bright spring light.

It's a very straightforward route, with good views, but it's a trudge really, one of the wettest I've ever done for the first part. Do it on an icy, clear day and it'll bring great rewards. Do it later in the year and the tussocks and heather will double the trudginess.

Goodbye to the sun from the car park.

[PeteR]

'Tis a wet one is the Fruin, that's for sure. I did it in the heart of a wet summer when the spongy bog had accumulated maximum wetness. Still better than a trip to a shopping centre or stuck in doors

Some nice photos you got there by the way