Ben Vorlich, (Loch Lomond)

Sunday, 10/10/10!

Ben Vorlich/ Beinn Mhùrlaig - "Mountain of the Bay" - 943m - (Munro)

Some Ben Vorlich facts!

Situated at the northern end of Loch Lomond & Loch Sloy, this was Braxony's second last Munro to climb in the Arrocher Alps, (Beinn Bhuidhe still to go...)
There are three summits on Ben Vorlich, the central one being the highest but the most southerly one has the trig point.

This was (by and large), a super day for walking, sunny and a slight breeze for a good deal of the way up but suddenly transforming into extremely strong winds nearing the summit.


Braxony were joined on this walk by Jim & Laura. Just like Ben Vane, we parked in the Inveruglas car park opposite the hydro-electric power station. There is no fixed route up Ben Vorlich, you really can approach it from wherever you fancy, however we probably took the most popular route. We headed off in the same direction as we did for Ben Vane, following the path beside the A82 southwards and then turning right onto a tarmac road under the railway. We followed this up a gentle slope, passing the electric substation on our left. We headed directly towards Ben Vane but then took the right hand road, where previously we had taken the left over a bridge towards Ben Vane. This right hand branch took us directly towards the Loch Sloy dam.

After following this a very short way we then headed off the road and directly up the west side of Ben Vorlich. We took a very faint path which can be found by heading off the road between the 3rd & 4th pylon from the dam.
Th ascent is then a reasonably steep climb straight up side of the hill. Pick a point at the top and head straight for it. The ground is good enough for you not to have to deviate from your chosen route.

This is looking back to Ben Vane which is directly opposite you as you climb. (It was nice to see it a little more clearly than when we had been walking up it).


Beautiful albeit slightly hazy views. We may have slightly disturbed a farmer who was taking a couple of collies out around his sheep.

A little half way rest.

Looking back down over loch Sloy, as we walked directly up from the reservoir.

It was getting pretty windy as we got higher to the point were Laura and I were struggling to keep our feet. (seriously it was extremely strong winds). So we decided to find a sheltered spot for lunch, we cowered behind some rocks. The unveiling of the Kidder Pasties! Look it made it intact!


Deliberating if said pasty can be broken in two

Jim is looking a little quizzical about the pasty....

So we made the summit. In super strong winds, Bryony is falling over on the cairn.

and Jackson, Jim & Laura at the trig point....

This is particularly for Simon, look at that lovely seam of quartz - lovely!

So the weather picked up pretty quickly as we started our descent. The sun came out again, wind dropped and it all looked gorgeously autumnal.

Bryony admiring the views, as J inspected some rocks. We headed down the east side of the hill. As the crow flies heading towards loch Lomond and the car park. The ground got a bit tussocky and uneven further down but on the whole was not too bad.

The rocks being inspected: Orange fungi rocks.

Beatiful hazy views over Inveruglas island, upon which are the remains of a castle, once the stronghold of the MacFarlanes. It was burned to the ground by Cromwell. The island was looking pretty spectacular with an amazing display of autumnal colours.

A lovely days walking ... incidentally on the way home we passed maybe about seven identical gold buses, each identified by a clan name ..... must be some large clan gathering ...or a battle J suggested ....it's a sad day when you need to get bussed to a battle though - what ever happened to marching for days on end?.......

Homage to Edward Kidder.....

.....Edward Kidder was a renowned 18th C. pastry cook (or pastry-master), who published a series of wonderful recipes and designs for pasties in receipts for pastry and cookery, c. 1720. He printed particularly interesting recipes for doe, stag & lamb pasties. Complete with intricate templates.


A popular superstition throughout Cornwall is that a crust of the pasty should be left uneaten. Cornish miners would discard this last crust in order to appease the "Knockers", the spirits of dead miners believed to haunt the tin mines. Sailors and fisherman would likewise discard a crust to appease the spirits of dead mariners. These crusts were usually snapped up by seagulls, popularly held in West Country superstition to be the souls of dead mariners.

It was commonly held that the pastry of a pasty ought to be strong enough to survive being dropped down a cornish tin-mine and not shatter! In earlier centuries pasties were made with a hard durable crust formed from rye flour. It was so tough and resilient it did not crack easily and was highly suited for pasties which were to be sent long distances as gifts - venison pasties for instance were popular wedding gifts and were even sent abroad. By the eighteenth century this inedible pastry had given way to a more edible variety.

1. Assemble the ingredients: 500g plain flour, 220g chilled fat (butter or butter & lard), iced water, 1 egg, beaten, 350g lamb, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 200g peas & green beans, fresh mint, flat leaf parsley, pepper, thyme.

2. Make your pastry by sifting the flour, season with salt, add the chilled butter cut into small cubes. Rub the flour and butter together until it is a breadcrumb consistency, add chilled water until it is a smooth dough consistency. Divide into seven sections and put in the fridge.

3. Cut the lamb into small pieces. Season and add the dried thyme.

4. prepare your other ingredients; dice the onion, chop two cloves of garlic, chop two mushrooms and chop up the mint and parsley.

5. Mix these ingredients into the meat mixture.

6. voila!

7. From one of the chilled pastry portions, roll out and cut out your pastry decorations.


8. It is probably better if you have a slightly daintier knife than the one I used.

9. roll out the other chilled pastry sections. Cut out circles. Put the filling mix in the center.

10. Fold over the pastry circle and brush whisked egg around the edges. Press the edges together, in a crimping effect.

11. Brush with whisked egg.

12. Add the decoration.

13. Arrange on a tray on greased proof paper.

14. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

15. Remove and leave to cool.

16. And the halved view.....mmmmm

Ben Vane

Saturday, 4th of September, 2010

Ben Vane - Beinn Mheadhain - "Middle Hill" - 915m - (Munro)

Ben Vane facts!

Another of the Arrocher Alps. The bealachs with the other peaks are very low so Ben Vane is normally climbed on it's own.
This set of hills are believed to have their own ghost - a man with bowler hat and umbrella... we didn't see him.....
The route passes Loch Sloy which is an old name in Scottish history. The mountainous region at the head of the Loch Long, bounded on the east by Loch Lomond and on the west by Loch Fyne, may be said to have formed, back in the dark ages, part of the boundary between the kingdoms of the Scots, the Picts, and the Britons of Strathclyde.
The UK's largest conventional hydroelectric power station, Sloy Power Station, is located, near Inveruglas at the start of this walk. It takes water from Loch Sloy through four large pipes down the mountainside giving a working height of 277 metres.

A beautiful day for walking, sunny but a good breeze.

This was Braxony's 10th Munro - hurrah!



Braxony were joined on this walk by Simon & Emma. We began by following the path beside the A82 southwards from a carpark just outside of Inveruglas, passing the giant pipes running down from Ben Vorlich, (shown above), which drive the turbines of the Inveruglas hydro-electric power station. After almost a kilometre we turned right onto a tarmac road leading under the railway. Soon after this we passed a large electric substation on the left. The steep slopes of Ben Vorlich towered on the right, whilst the more elegant summit of A'Chrois was on the left, rising above a dense blanket of forestry. Ahead was Ben Vane itself, a rough, rocky pyramid of rock and grass. Once beyond Coiregrogain the tarmac road curved round to the right, heading to the Loch Sloy dam - another part of the hydro power scheme. Here we turned left onto a forestry road, crossing a bridge over the a river and running just to the right of a plantation. Four hundred metres beyond the bridge, we left the track and followed an initially unclear and rather boggy path. The path soon began a slightly boggy ascent, which reached a low shoulder at the foot of the ridge that lead up to Ben Vane. We crossed the shoulder and followed the path that soon began to climb directly up the mountain. The path was steep and eroded in places. Excellent views soon opened up behind us over the forestry and Loch Lomond beyond. There was some interesting scrambling on the rocks on the way up, (which only after did we realise was optional). Higher up the ridge became better defined. There were several false summits before we actually reached the real top of Ben Vane. The view is given great depth by the shape of the mountain, but there are higher peaks all around restricting the panorama. The views were nevertheless beautiful.

The Summit!

Jackson tucking into his tiffin

Braxony tenth Munro - high five!

Simon and Emma - showing Braxony how it is done.

The views

Starting the descent the same way we had come up.

Loch Sloy

Simon & Emma having descended

Braxony with Ben Vane in the background.

Numerous pylons and the power station

Caterpillar - still to be identified

Simon's special socks

Chaffinch