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We climbed the Cobbler on August 9, 2007. Well, that’s quite a long time ago, but in 2007 this walk was not listed on walkhighlands yet, so with a little delay here is my report on this walk.
We had spent the night before in Tarbert in Kintyre (after having been on the Isle of Arran) and had originally planned to explore Kintyre a bit, but as the weather forecast for the next days was not very promising, we decided to go for one of our favorites hills we hadn’t climbed yet: the Cobbler.
The journey to Arrochar was quite long, so it was already half past 11 when we left the large car park at Succoth and set off on the path through the forest.
We followed the walk description given in Cameron McNeish’s book “100 best walks in Scotland”. Because of that we had to turn left after some time to walk along the forest road which is crossed by the path. That was no problem so far, but the next advice was to follow a path along the so called “Buttermilk burn” (or Allt a‘ Bhalachain). When asked for their names burns rarely answer, so of course we first passed the Allt a‘ Bhalachain. Some minutes later it was evident that we had to turn back, and after having returned to the burn we found the path on its western bank. This path leads steeply up through the wood, is rather muddy and not too pleasant. So I would recommend not to use this path but stick to the description given on walkhighlands instead.
When we had left the forest behind us we enjoyed the superb views towards Ben Lomond and the efforts were soon forgotten.
![2007_145_ViewToBenLomond.JPG]()
- free at last
Only a few minutes later we crossed the Buttermilk Burn, joined the normal route and had the first impressing view of the three peaks of the Cobbler.
![2007_146_ButtermilkBurn.JPG]()
- Spiny Norman, the giant hedgehog
On our further route along the very good path we passed a yellow tent, some side streams (of the burn, not of the tent), the Narnain Boulders and were passed by some other walkers. Then we crossed the burn again and climbed the steep path up the corrie below the three peaks. To the right we could watch some people climbing up the rocks below the northern peak.
![2007_151_Rockclimbers.JPG]()
- Still can't see them...
After more than half an hour of hard work we emerged at the summit ridge. We walked to the central peak at once where two people were just coming back from their summit experience.
![2007_159_CobblerHauptgipfel.JPG]()
- Well, it's only three metres high...
There was also a third person. It was Paul from Glasgow who we got talking to. He told us that it was his tent down at the burn and that he’d been staying here on his favorite hill for some days just because he enjoyed it. He also told us about a horrible legendary figure (whose name I’ve forgotten). To calm this figure you have to climb through the hole in the rock and up to the top. And of course to become a man!
So I had to give it a try. First I squeezed through the hole in the summit rock (I never knew exactly what that means when I read the description in McNeish’s book, and in fact it was rather different from what I had imagined – it’s really good to see several pictures of it here on walkhighlands so that you know what awaits you).
![2007_160_RockWindow.JPG]()
- I honestly didn't get stuck in this hole.
On the other side there was a ledge which was less than a metre wide with big drops. From this ledge the next steps had to be taken. As I’m only a mountain walker (if nobody else had chosen this name I could also say a “mountain coward”) it didn’t seem too obvious to me where I had to place my hands and feet to get up. So I decided to take some pictures first. After two or three hours (or so) Paul came through the hole and asked if everything was alright. Then he showed me how to get to the summit platform. Well, that was alright, but it was quite airy up there. Maybe a bit too exposed for me. But Paul didn’t give up: “Stand up tall! Stand up to be a man!”. So slowly but surely I stood up – it must have looked like Mr. Bean on the platform in the swimming pool. But finally I made it – more or less!
Moving back down wasn’t too hard for me now as my legs and arms are quite long. When we left the central peak Paul was playing his mouth organ. We visited the north peak after that, enjoyed the views for some time and watched other people climbing the central peak. Then we took the return route of walkhighlands and walked back to the car.
![2007_165_Gipfelbezwinger.JPG]()
- synchronous climbing
It was a memorable day (I still remember it after nearly two years, and that’s not too bad for someone in my age). And of course it was an excellent decision to climb the Cobbler that day because the weather turned really bad from the next day on.
