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?.......
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