Ben Lomond

Saturday 31st, July, 2010.

Ben Lomond / Beinn Laomainn - "Beacon Hill" - 974m - (Munro)

Some Ben Lomond Facts!

Ben Lomond is the most southerly Munro
....and also probably the busiest Munro.
The West Highland Way runs along the base of the mountain by the loch.
Since 1995 Ben Lomond and the surrounding area has been designated a war memorial called the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park. The park is dedicated to those who gave their lives in the first & second world wars.
That well known tune The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The mountain is alluded to in the third verse:

‘Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep sides o’ Ben Lomon'

Where in purple hue, the hielan hills we view

And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’.

It started off as a patchy day at Loch Lomond, fairly warm but intermittently cloudy and drizzly. We had some pretty good views for the first half of this walk but were soon enveloped in a thick soggy mist.

There are several routes up Ben Lomond. We took the Ptarmigan Ridge, which can be highly recommended after our experience. This route is a pretty steep ascent up the west face of the mountain. There are many reasons to take this route; the fast ascent means you have amazing views almost immediately, the walk follows a ridge next to a stream forming a series of picturesque waterfalls and on our way up we only saw one other person the whole way! When we reached the summit we realised how grateful we were for this as it was mobbed. We wanted to make this a round route so we went back down the tourist path. (It was a little like a motorway and didn't have nearly as nice views).

Why is it called Ptarmigan Ridge? Well I guess there used to be Ptarmigans there. So here are some Ptarmigan facts. Ptarmigan comes from the gaelic tàrmachan, which may be related to the word torm, which means a "murmur". The silent initial p was allegedly added in the 17th century through the influence of Greek especially pteron (πτερον), "wing", "feather" or "pinion". Ptarmigan's are becoming increasingly rare in southern Scotland.

Nature curiosities:

Well to be honest we kept our heads down for most of this walk both as it was fairly steep and the weather was not ideal for nature spotting. We did watch a lot of activities going on on Loch Lomond; water skiing, jet skiing etc..... so tourist curiosities rather than natural ones....

New kit:
Coolmax hiking socks

Review:
Excellent we had cool feet. It couldn't stop the fact that water was seeping into my boots though.

...and very importantly - lunch...
Lunch had to be eaten on the hoof this time. Too soggy to stop.
Werthers originals helped us up the steep slopes.
A superior roll this time: Falko poppy seed roll, Saunderson roast ham, lettuce, tomato, salt, pepper and a little mayonnaise - yum.
Some strange baked crisp like things with a squirrel on the packet. (not good)
Apples and orange juice.

The pictures: