Who is Mr. Vane?

As expected the weather had turned again over night, but the forecast wasn't that bad really. Some lower clouds, some showers but also some sparse patches of blue sky and sun. My friend wasn't up for another day on a hill and went happily to Fort William while I took the bus to Inveruglas to tackle Ben Vane.

Walked up the road to the Loch Sloy dam and pretty soon put on my rain gear as showers washed over me time and again. The Cobbler - a corbett - could be clearly seen and its top was just cloud free. But Ben Vane and the nearby Ben Vorlich were hidden.

Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond in the back

The Cobbler

Missed the actual path forking off, as it wasn't on the map but soon realized my error and freelanced pathless up a grassy slope of an outcrop before I joined the path.
The sun stayed a bit longer now as I was labouring up the very steep and rocky path. My legs were still tired from yesterday's walk/run and the steep ascent forced me to take frequent breaks. Tough little hill this Ben Vane.

Loch Lomond front, Loch Arklet middle and Loch Katrine back

A rare bit of blue sky while heading up

More Loch Lomond

There was a bit of a view over Loch Lomond but when I reached 800m the wind picked up and the clouds swallowed me. I could still see enough of the path and shapes of a false summit or two in the mist. It was as if Mr. Vane wanted to keep me way. When I stepped onto the summit plateau the wind picked up and threw frozen water into my face at high speed. I fought my way to the cairn, crouched just behind it and took a quick summit photo before I fled further down again.

Phew. Crouching behind the summit cairn to get at least a photo

Took extra care over the wet scrambling bits. Eventually I reached the lower parts again and caught some more sun between the showers. Took the proper path down now and was back at the power station on the A-road 15 mins before the bus picked me up. Cool.

Ben Lomond looked a bit more hospitable

Really enjoyed the walk today although the weather wasn't that good. But in the end it wasn't too bad either. Ben Vane is a tough little bugger, but worth the labour I'd say.

So I have ticked off munros number 30,31 and 32 in my two days in Crianlarich. Not too bad. Still a few to go in the area here and I need to come back for a week and tick off some more.

My friend was back around the same time. We had some coffee and chilled at the hostel for a bit, just reading and me writing this. There is no wifi anywhere in Crianlarich which is a bit of a bummer, but in the end it's not too important. I can upload my musings later on.

A Reunion, A Fell-Run and Two Munros

We left the house Saturday morning just before 9am and I said goodbye to everyone in Crianlarich. What a great group that was!!! So much fun and laugther all week. Truly a fantastic time even without a single new munro. No disappointment at all.

The sun was blazing from the sky and it was easily the best day so far. I couldn't wait to get up into the hills. AH! Got some food, dropped my bag at the hostel and picked my friend up at the bus stop. Hadn't seen her in ages. Must have been like 7 years maybe? We both weren't sure. Amazing to see her again and in Scotland even, which we both love above all.

Dropped her bag too and set off through the Crianlarich Community Forest, then up a boggy path with Cruach Ardrain as our first goal. The sun vanished pretty soon behind high dense clouds, but it was still a very enjoyable day.
We climbed up to the ridge over the Grey Height and Meall Dubh, but before the last steep climb up to the munro top my friend had to drop out. She was just too exhausted, but didn't mind waiting for me while I kept on going to the top. Said I was gonna be back in an hour, an hour and a half maximum.

An Caisteal and Ben a'Chroin

The last and steepest bit of Cruach Ardrain

After the next steep bit the path split and I could clearly see Ben Tulaichean and the path leading to it. It looked so close and so easy, would've been a shame not to take it whilst I'm here. So I literally ran down and over the bealach and climbed it as fast as I could, reaching the top huffing and puffing after 26 minutes. Couldn't enjoy the view very long since I had another munro to climb. The one I was initially here for. So I had only a very short chat with one of the guys up there, ran back down and over the bealach and climbed up to the path junction again. 50 mins round trip. Wow. Guidebook said 90. Cool.

Would've mightily regretted not bagging Ben Tulaichean

One happy climber with Cruach Ardrain in the background

But my strength was waning. Climbed the last 150m or so to the top of Cruach Ardrain with legs burning, took another quick look around and walked back down as fast as I could since I was nearing the hour and a half mark and didn't want my friend to start worrying.

Hurrying back to Cruach Ardrain

View from the top: Ben More left, Stob Binnein right

Just before the top a two-sided view of Ben Tulaichean

As it happened she hadn't even looked at her watch and had just enjoyed the nice view relaxing and thinking about this and that. Phew. After a short break we started our descent and were back in Crianlarich at 5pm both quite knackered.
Had a victory-cider on one of the benched outside the shop and tried cooking a quick meal in the tiny hostel kitchen while two other groups where chopping stuff and stirring pots on 6 of the available 8 hobs. I'm always too lazy to cook a meal that takes longer than 10 mins in a hostel. Those guys must have spent an hour or so. Don't get it.

We chilled on a bench outside with the rest of the cider and went to bed quite early after a long exhausting day.

Lismore

The last tour on Friday with the group was a walk on Lismore taking in the coast of the northern half of the island if you will. We took the ferry from Port Appin and started our walk up North, then walked around the the tip all along the coast passing a little village before we eventually arrived at another Clan McDougall castle ruin - Castle Coeffin.

A few impressions from Lismore:

Castle Coeffin

The path was a bit boggy at times but views of the mainland and the coast ahead were just lovely.
Once again I realized how much I enjoy a day walking along a British coast. It's got that raw beauty, the smell of salt, the green fields, the views. A nice change from dragging myself up rugged mountains.

Traversed the island and walked back to the ferry along the South-East coast passing a Broch, which is an old round tower which supposedly belonged to a chieftain about 2000 years ago.

Me and two others walked ahead on the tarmac road to the ferry landing and really had to push it to actually catch it at 4:15 and let the operators know that the others are not far behind us. They had no room for all of us anyway to took a few local people over and then came back for us. By then all of our group had arrived.

Had a pint at the restaurant on the other side and I would've loved to taste one of their famous fish dishes. But there was dinner waiting for us back at our house.
Packed most of my stuff before another great three-course-meal. I've never eaten so much salmon in my life and was full to bursting afterwards, hahaha.

I was too tired to sit long with the others - shame on the last day. Packed the rest and went to bed rather early.

Two Lazy Walks

Not much to tell about yesterday. All the hills were clad in low clouds so going up was more or less pointless. Instead we went to Glen Creran for a nice short easy walk, hoping not to get too wet. The first part through a bit of woodland and pasture had been spoilt by large vehicles recently which made the path a bit of a mucky wide bridleway instead of a nice grassy one. View were sparse, still the fresh air felt good and we were spared the rain so far.

Crossed the road after a semi circle to walk along the road for a bit and then through some nice woodland with moss covered trees, an infestation (in a good way) of bluebells and wild garlic and a lovely fairy bridge. Had our pick nick at a nice spot near the car park and drove to another nice but short woodland walk nearby without having donned our rain gear once so far.

The second walk took us only 45 mins through a beautiful wood at Glen Dubh before we had a pint (or two *cough*) on our way back and some time to chill back at the house. I played two games of snooker again and lost both due to too many fouls, arg. Still good fun, since we're getting better at it.

Number Two on Round Two

Wednesday was weather-wise the best day of the week so we seized the opportunity to tackle a munro. Since all of them still had more or less snow we had to choose the lesser evil, which turned out to be one I had done last year: Stob a'Choire Odhair. After Ben Lawers this was going to be my number two of the second round of climbing all munros, hahaha.

To be honest I was a bit disappointed... not doing a new munro at all this week. But I knew that the walk into Glen Kinglass was going to be absolutely stunning. Surely, one of the most beautiful approaches. And Stob a'Choire Odhair is a fine munro indeed with wide views over Rannoch Moor if you're lucky. Last year we weren't very lucky, so I had something to look forward to.

Glen Kinglass

Started our walk in sunshine in good spirits and although clouds thickened during the day we didn't get any rain at all. Amazing! The pace up the mountain was slow enough to give everyone the chance to keep up and still fast enough to get the heart going, so it was a great workout in the first place.

Halfway up, looking back

Indeed, we had much better views on the top than last year, plus the snow present on the surrounding hills, gave the place a whole new look. Really enjoyed it a lot. We had our pick nick up on the top at probably the only spot where there was no wind. Ha!

Rannoch Moor

Devoured three chicken legs left over from last night's dinner and an egg and some cheese. First time I was really stuffed after pick nick. I already have a reputation of eating loads, hahaha. Especially meat. I normally have at least two helpings, but the others eat potatoes or rice or whatever with it and leave room for desert. I have none of it, so I can stuff my face until I'm full, yeah.

Unfortunately, there was too much snow on the neighbouring Stob Ghabhar, so we had to pass on that one again. (Last year too much cloud and too little time.)

Walking back down

Oil beetle female

Had a stop over in Tyndrum for a pint on our way back and one guest had to buy new shoes and was very lucky to find the last pair of really good ones at the Green Welly shop. What a day!

Back in Glen Coe

Still no suitable weather for a group on a mountain plus the guide wanted to have a look at the snow situation on the hill tops himself (instead of trusting any weather forecast), so we did a lovely walk around Buchaille Etive Beag at the Eastern end of Glen Coe.
Drove through Glen Orchy on our way there, which is really very beautiful and which I hadn't seen before. The drive over Rannoch Moor is always stunning and I just cannot get enough of it, haha. We started our walk heading into a valley with the hills towering left and right with some sun and clouds, but soon the first shower washed over us.

Looking into Glen Coe with Aonach Eagach on the right

The valley ahead

The walk was just really nice and we weren't bothered much with the rain. Passed a bealach and headed down East into another valley with great views towards Loch Etive at it's bottom. Here we turned left again to get back to the bus. I walked ahead with one of the other guys at our own pace which was a nice change after the slower shuffling along with the group.

Looking towards Loch Etive

Looking back

Had a short stop at The Kings House, another very popular and busy pub and B&B along the West Highland Way. I was rejoicing when I saw they had Thatchers Gold on tap! Whoohoo. Helped myself to two pints before we drove back to the house. 

Really love Glen Coe and I'm always happy to go back there. It's just so impressive and beautiful. Some day I have to come here to finally bag some of those fine munros. But so far the weather was not my friend.

How Many "R's" Are in Kerrera Ferry?

As the hill forecast was still too bad our guide picked a walk on the island Kerrera instead which was in the end a wonderful choice! Only one short shower and a mix of (a lot of) sun and clouds.

The small ferry operates just south of Oban. In two batches we were shipped over and started our walk along the coast to Gylen Castle - a McDougall ruin. I've got a bit of luck when it comes to islands thinking of my travels to Valentia Island, Dursey Island and recently Skye.

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The ruin of castle Gylen

Saw some amazing basalt formations which looked like man made walls and some more conglomerate and rock that was lifted after the ice age. We actually learned how and why this happened. Quite interesting. I scrambled up one or two of these. Couldn't resist.

How could I resist scrambling up here, huh?

Pressed rock elevated after the ice age

Had a nice pick nick in the sun around 1pm and after 13 kilometres we were back at the ferry and spent the better part of an hour in Oban at a hotel pub with a pint. Only two or three of us could be bothered to walk around the town, haha.

In the evening the owner of the house and estate came over for a very interesting chat about the house and it's history as well as the estate's history and what actually belongs to it. Turned out it's 6000 acres large spread over a thin strip along Loch Etive. The farm with it's highland cattle belongs to it as well as the mussels farm and a few more bits. Learned about breeding highland cattle and growing mussels which was a nice topic just before dinner.
Enjoyed the food again although there wasn't much for me in it as it was based around potatoes and pasta. Ate everything else and was stuffed by the end. Nice. Had a wee dram afterwards and went to bed quite early again around 5am.

Nursing the Old Bones

I indeed felt a few muscles in the morning after my long hike the day before. Ouch. Also my knees were a bit knackered as well, felt a bit awkward crouching down, but still ok. So I wasn't too unhappy for an easy half-day walk and some "spare time" in the afternoon. Just a bit of stretching so to speak.

Set off straight from the house at 10:30am through the extensive wild garden at first and then over the A85 onto a rarely trodden but broad gravel path through a mix of trees, bushes and rolling pasture. Climbed a little knoll for some nice views around all the way to Mull in the distance and Ben Cruachan in the North West which was mostly hidden in low clouds. 

Just after a short break some rain washed over us, coming back every now and then so we kept water proofs on. Saw some highland kettle with their newly born calves and walked along the coast back to the house enjoying a bit of sunshine.

Had our "pick nick" at the house lazing about in the spacious living room. Then everyone was free to venture the garden or just relax. I couldn't wait to set up the snooker table and get playing. So I did with one of the other guests. We managed two games in like 90 minutes. Gosh, this is hard. I thought it would be easier if you're playing pool sometimes, but nothing really works. Even potentially easy shots got wrong most of the time. We made most of our points with fouls, hahaha.

Evening dinner was nice again. There were two big legs of lamb and I made sure there was nothing left of it, getting myself about 5 helpings. Yeah. Was pretty tired though and went to bed just before 10pm falling asleep straight away.