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The Cobbler was the last summit we wanted to climb in the Arrochar Alps ahead of an upcoming move away from Glasgow in August (there are other nearby hills we haven't done, but none on our must-do list). We'd been putting it off while my partner got some basic scrambling experience on other hills, and hopefully now we'd be able to thread the needle without any problems.
Parked in the car park at half 9 - plenty of space, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover the parking fee was only £1 per day. I'd no idea at that point that the local council were due to raise the fee to
£9 per day the next month!
It was a lovely morning as we started up the zig-zags - not too warm (though still shorts weather) and barely a cloud to be seen. Much better than the MWIS forecast, which had predicted "occasional glimpses of sunshine". The Met Office were forecasting cloud to come in from mid-afternoon, so we'd started fairly early to make the most of the decent morning.
Zig-zags:
Bench with a view (taken on descent):
Leaving the welcome shade of the trees, we headed past the reservoir and up the Allt a' Bhalachain:
First views of The Cobbler from the path are impressive:
Looking back (taken on descent):
On top of the world (well, the Narnain Boulders
):
It occurred to me that Beinn Narnain and Beinn Ime had been our very first hills after moving to Glasgow in 2014. So it seemed fitting that their neighbour, The Cobbler, would be our last. Anyway, soon we reached the path junction where the direct ascent path turns off to the left. Following it up, the easy gradient steepens a little...
...and then a lot
The path loses definition among all the boulders at times, and we had to use hands at a couple of points where we probably weren't quite taking the easiest line. Ahead, the Cobbler's rocky architecture looked magnificent:
View back the way we'd come:
Suddenly we popped out on the summit ridge, where we got our first views north - surprisingly it was almost completely overcast in that direction. Onwards to the needle:
The needle turned out to be much more straightforward than I was expecting - no problems for either of us, although it's definitely harder in descent. So is that what the Inaccessible Pinnacle is like?
The rock was also completely dry, which was reassuring as the ledge on the right hand slopes outwards over a long drop. View from the top (just to prove we did it
):
Back at the base of the needle, looking across The Brack and down Loch Long:
Mean, green, Beinn Ime to the north:
Across to the North Peak (Beinn Narnain behind):
The North Peak is lower, but is another very characterful summit and well worth the detour:
North Peak summit cairn (evidently it hasn't been windy recently!):
Beinn Narnain - my first love
Down to the bealach on a well-built staircase:
The long road home:
Stopped to dip our feet in the burn further down, then set off back down the zig-zags - back to the car just as the sun was replaced by stubborn clouds.
Worth the wait, this one! So long, Arrochar Alps...
