Ben More, the Chocolate Mystery and my favourite trig point

[ArgyllGoSlow]

We were chuffed to be heading for our 25th Munro. The weather was 'changeable' and the plan changed on a daily basis depending on the forecast. Last minute we decided on Ben More at Crianlarich a normal meeting up point for us. I had been unsure about this one as it always looked a huge challenge but it would be memorable.

When I was loading up the car boot I noticed a black bag, inside this was a bar of Cadburys Energy chocolate. I had no clue where this came from (or that Cadbury's made such a bar) but assumed my husband had put it there as a surprise

I had also recently bought walking poles to help with my ascents and Ben More was certainly an ascent!

We parked on the roadside and followed the sign up the hill. I immediately hit my head on a branch (great start!0. Climbed over the style and headed up the hill. The plan (as usual) was to follow the Walk Highlands advice. When we headed through the gate the advice was 'every man for themselves'. We spotted a wee cairn and started heading up, and up and up joining a clear path quite quickly. Reaching the dry stane dyke was good as we knew how far we had to go. However, I kept on thinking about how we had not reached the steepest bit yet!

We stopped for food on the way up and enjoyed great views down the really steep hill. A wee bit of rain on the way up but mostly dry and good views back down

As we followed the path to the top we were not sure whether we would get any views or not. As we arrived we could see the cairn and the trig point in the cloud distance. It was quite atmospheric and I loved profile of the trig point in amongst the cloud.

We sat for a wee while and had a piece. The we realised that the cloud was moving and we had a chance of views. It was great, suddenly we could see Stob Binnean and views over to Ben Cruachan, Ben Lui and Loch Tay. Even the Trig Point and the Cairn looked different in the sun.

The cloud moved in again and we decided to head back down the hill rather than do Stob Binnean. It was a long way down with some more rain and also included me skiting down some mud. Luckily I had spare clothes in the car! My legs were wobbly for a wee while when we got down to the road and headed back to the car.

Turns out my husband did not know about the bar of chocolate so it remains a mystery. But it will be taken on my next adventure and will help me 'skip' up the hill.

With the help of the poles the ascent was not as bad as expected. The summit was great, the clouds added to the character and we spent a wee while there just enjoying the experience. So, all in all a great 25th and chocolate to look forward to next time