Ben Vorlich and Stuc a`Chroin

[tomyboy73]

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Wasn`t exactly sure where this walk started so after i parked my car a couple of hundred yards from Ardvorlich house, which is just after the wee humpback bridge, I walked back there to find that you walk throught the entrance to the driveway and up by the house. It was just coming up for 1 o`clock and i thought if i was going to do these two munros and get back in time for the world cup final I`d better get my ass in gear. Although the sky was pretty bleak looking , it was really clamy and after ten minutes i`d stripped off the jacket,gaiters and zip offs of my trousers. Looking up to Ben Vorlich all i coul see was cloud i`d placed my trust in the weather forecast which said it would brighten up by mid afternoon, but looked like it was wrong again.

looking grim

I soldiered on up the path towards the hill convinced that again after setting out to do 2 munros for the 3rd time , i was only going to do one. It`s quiet a steep path with no scrambling or much deviation to the route and as i was on my own and it wasn`t a very nice day, i found it quite boring. But the wind was really geting up now and a few walkers i met on the way down advised me to wrap up as they found it quite wild near the top. So after about an hour, i must have been about 3/4 up, i sat down behind some rocks out of the wind(well, almost) had some tea and sandwiches and put some more clothes on. As i approached the final climb to the summit the wind was blowing really hard and as i climbed up the scree i was glad it was quite a wide path.

Approaching the summit of Ben Vorlich

Anyway, got to the top and had to stand against the trig point whilst i got my camera out for fear of being blown away It was also really cloudy and not much could be seen including Stuch a`Chroin, so i thought i`d hang around a bit and wait for the cloud to clear.

Summit

After checking with the map,and the clouds giving a sneak preview of the surrondings i headed for Stuc a`Chroin. The way down to the separating beallach was much rockier than the path up vorlich. I read that it was bit of a scramble up this one and i saw a path beyond a boulder field to my right and decided to go for that route instead. After bounding across the rocks i got to the bottom of the path and began to trudge up, as my legs were telling me to go back down, and i was hoping for better views from here as a reward to myself. Eventually i got there and the wind had died and the cloud had mostly cleared.

fro Stuc a`Chroin

So i headed back down, slipping ocasionally on the scree and sinking into the mud as the ground is really marshy as you make your way round the side of vorlich, and eventually back onto the path back down to Ardvorlich.

[Bay Bloke]

I did this last year, exactly the same route is you. I contemplated the scramble up Stuc a Chroin, but as I was on my own thought better and went up the scree path to the right (which was still pretty hard going!).

Definetely want to do the scramble at some future point.

[Jock McJock]

Thanks Tommyboy, hoping to do these two in the near future so nice to get a good report on them

[skuk007]

Nice report tomyboy, looks like the weather at least cleared as the day went on.

[Scotjamie]

Thanks from me too Tomyboy
I have been saving these southern hills for a short winter day's walk but you make them look tempting for any outing

[Penguin]

Looks good and it's been added on my potential list for my next trip to that region.

Penguin

[Graeme D]

Did these two on a November day a couple of years back and got the same treatment from the wind as you at the top of Vorlich. I remember holding onto that metal pole for dear life as the wind battered me with a vengeance.