The Arrochar Alps: Ben Vorlich (229)

Walk date: 18/06/16

My Munro #'s: 276

Pronunciations - translations - heights:
 As spelt - hill of the bay - 943m


Statistics:
Duration - 14:30 to 18:30

Distance -  14.8 km
Total ascent -  942m
Weather - gorgeous day - hiking in shorts!  A little cool when on top.
Team - Paul P

Other hikers: loads of others.

Andrew and Paul P hiking week 2016!

DAY1 - Saturday
It's that time again!!  Finally, after a year's wait which included a back op, the mountains have finally beckoned us back.  With just 7 Munros to go, this week would hopefully see 6 visited, leaving just Ben More on Mull for our August big-group meet!

This hike was a little longer than imagined as the only parking is the café car park just north of the hydro road, but fortunately the pay and display machines weren't working, and to be honest it made a nice change to start the hike with a blast from a double espresso!

The path to the start of the hike is actually quite good, and then it turns into the tarmac track which, apart from an offroad shortcut near the start, takes you all the way to the ascent path which starts just near the dam.  The tarmac means that the pace out is fast, and although the ascent path is steep, it's high enough quality that it feels quick too.  

Due to the amazing weather this rapid ascent meant we were rewarded with amazing views of neighbouring hills and down to Loch Lomond.  A note of caution is that the true summit is the second top - the one without the trig point!  Good return progress, just a pity about the 53-mile detour due to a road accident on the way to Inveraray!

The dam coming close:

Ascent path progress:

Neigbouring hills:

Back on tops:

Gorgeous panoramic:

Time for shorts!

We're back!

Down to Loch Lomond:

Starting the return:

Terrain of the tops:

Returning views:

Loch Lomond oddness:

The Crieff and Loch Earn Hills: Ben Vorlich (165) and Stuc a' Chroin (182)

Walk date: 17/05/05
My Munro #'s: 22 and 23

The summit ridge of Ben Vorlich:


Stuc a' Chroin from Ben Vorlich:


Loch Earn:



(6 hours) These hills are to the south of Loch Earn and so travelling west a sharp left is needed before the Loch starts at St. Fillans. Park around Ardvorlich and start climbing the path as it passes attractive gardens. This is a traditional straight up ascent; very different from the long introductions of the Cairngorms. The spacious ridge of Ben Vorlich is soon reached and the effort is rewarded with grand views of Loch Earn, the surrounding glens and the next target, Stuc a' Chroin. This hill is steeper than Ben Vorlich. I took a route to the east of the main buttress, which was basically a scramble over steep grassy slopes. My descent took me over heathery slopes across Ben Our but a route returning to Vorlich and rejoining the main path would likely have been much better than my sporadic stumbling progress. This was a very hot day and I took my time. Very enjoyable though!

This day was also the debut of my GPS (a Garmin eTrex Vista C!). I had happily taken in many a walk without such an item and would have continued, except for my parents insisting that if I was going on solo bagging expeditions I was having one of these. And I have to say I have since come to like it. You do have to be careful not to rely on them too much (and to take spare batteries), and to keep your actual navigation skills in check, but they can be a handy reassurance and they can save you a lot of time, which is especially handy if daylight is an issue. My initial thoughts on this day included the realisation that the plotted route is only an estimation! Even with Ordance Survey maps via Memory Map on my PC, there's no way to exactly know the features of the hill when you're sat safely at home (especially as to start with I only had 1:50,000 scale mapping). For instance on this day my plotted route up Stuc a' Chroin included scaling sheer sections of its rock face. I declined the leyline option and used intuition instead - beware of the purple route line!