A wet day on Ben Lomond.

25/10/2017.


The highlight of our Holiday in Scotland was to be the climbing of a Munro...But which one? We have plenty to pick from, I have only conquered 22 of them in the past. As we are staying in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park it had to be no other than Ben Lomond. Its a popular hill, as its the most southernly of the 282 Munros, being close to Glasgow and the built up areas of central Scotland. Standing at 3196ft, I have read somewhere that the summit attracts around 30,000 people every year...I hoped it wasn't going to be too busy today..We chose today for our walk as we have been checking the weather forcast and all weathermen informed us that today was going to be the best day of the week..so here we go.

Parked up at Rowardennan, nice and early we set off along the Tourist path,apparently its quite an easy climb on a decent path all the way to the summit..On reaching the summit we would then return along the entertaining Ptarmigan ridge. The walk starts through beautiful ancient Birch and Oak woodland. We climbed steadily through the trees and then suddenly we were treated to our first view of the Ben.

It was up there somewhere, head in the clouds, just as you would expect for a biggy. We soon freed ourselves of the trees , grand views were beginning to open up behind us, looking back over the Loch...It was along here that we passed a strange looking chap.He was wearing a huge coat that came down below his knees,Hood up, head down. In his hand was a Co-op carrier bag containing several bottles of pop and what looked like a road atlas...he grasped onto this bag with the largest pair of motorcycle gloves you have ever seen...He walked weirdly too, sort of on tip toes..As we passed him I said morning...he looked at me with hollow eyes,but said nothing. I assumed he was a drug addict, trying to clean his mind in a way that only mountains can...Anyway he was soon left behind. I looked back often until he was just a spot in the distance.

Drizzly rain came and went, I remember swearing about the weather man. After a steep section we made it out onto a plateau, and suddenly there it was in front of us, the summit that we had come to climb, still in the clouds but we got a good idea of what we still had to ascend..Spoke to a Dutch family along here with two young boys..the boys seemed to have had enough,..being buffeted about by really fierce winds I said to the Dutchman that this was supposed to be the best day of the week..He laughed like a drain although I had the feeling he didn't know what I had said..

Its a bit of a long dull trudge if the truth be told...and any excitement is held back until we neared the summit. Soaked through to the skin now as the zip had broken on my jacket, gloves came out for the first time this year, putting them on was a struggle ,cold and wet I shouted at the rain, I believe I called it an arsehole at the top of my voice..

The low cloud came and went, then came and went again. Spoke to a couple from darn sarf..They said Alfie didn't look very happy, he has seen worse I said as I pulled him back down to earth by his lead after a strong gust lifted him of his feet.

Well we made it to the summit, heres a picture of the missus and dog to prove it. That's 23 Munros in the bag...I thought about the first person to climb the Munros, I believe he was a vicar called A E Robertson in 1901. I vaguely remember a story that on completing his round of Munros he kissed the summit cairn and then his wife...No kissing today. We peered over the edge looking down to the Ptarmigan ridge, you're not getting me down there in this weather said the missus. So we tucked our tails firmly between our legs and returned the way we came...That long trudge back down seemed like a nightmare, my foot was hurting and we were cold and wet...but looking back now, I cant wait to do it all again...pain is soon forgotten...Halfway down we came across Co-op bag man, still head down, still on tip toes...I didn't bother saying hello in case he killed me. My camera stayed in its bag on the way down.. as we made it down to the trees, our old friend the Sun made a brief appearence 

Typical.