Over The Hill

The three-day weather forecast promised a high with clear blue skies and a cold northwest wind for Sunday, bracketed between two deep lows with extensive rain for the Saturday and Monday, so we were hopeful for a good days walking and some wonderful views from the top of the second smallest of the Munros, the 916m high Ben Vane.

The standard route of ascent for Ben Vane is from Inveruglas via the Loch Sloy access road, however, Alan had chosen to take a very different approach from Glen Kinglas via the minor top of Beinn Dubh; and so it was an early start to get us over the Rest and Be Thankful and parked up alongside the old road bridge at Butterbridge, just opposite the estate track at the southern end of Glen Kinglas.

The estate track leading into Glen Kinglas is a good hard surfaced track which makes for easy walking along this beautiful glen through which Kinglas Water flows, flanked on both sides by steep hillsides with a mixture of grassy and craggy slopes. We followed the track until it meets with the Allt Chnoic just short of the shores of Loch Sloy, at which point we struck off over the pathless hillside ascending towards distant ridge line and the minor top of Beinn Dubh at 773m.

In stark contrast to the easy estate path, our route up the hillside was an awkward ascent as we picked our way through deep troughs of grassy tussocks, minor hillocks and a few rocky outcrops, which, although negotiated without any difficulty, made for slow going as we "topped" a couple of "false" ridges before we eventually gained the ridge proper just short of the summit cairn on Beinn Dubh.

The much sought after clear blue skies were sadly lacking, as a mixture of fine mist and low cloud drifted over everything above about 750m height, and apart from fleeting glimpses as the mist cleared for very short periods, the wider panoramas never materialized, and the wind became decidedly stronger, and much colder as we lost the protection of the hillside and gained the top of the ridge.

We headed south from the summit of Beinn Dubh and picked up a faint and at times indistinct path, as we descended towards the small lochan in the bealach, before a final climb up the broad northern slopes to the summit of Ben Vane with its small lochan and two small summit cairns. By now the wind was quite strong, and the temperature was certainly dropping, so we dropped off the south edge of the small summit plateau and found a reasonably wind-free hollow in which to have a well earned lunch break.

We departed the summit, retracing our steps for a short distance off the summit plateau before heading northwest directly down the grassy slopes heading for the forest line and small dam on the Allt Uaine. With good visibility and our objective in sight right from the point we left the summit, it was an easy descent down the hillside with some stunning views of a snow-capped Ben Ime towering over the head of Gleann Uaine.

From the dam, we followed the Hydro pipeline for a short distance before breaking off and again picking up the Allt Uiane to descend, and eventually cross the river towards the small, disused cottage at Abyssinia, from where it is a short uphill walk to re-join the estate road in Glen Kinglas and so back to the start point.

This was a beautiful walk, and a good alternate to the standard route for this Munro.

A great day - Thanks Alan.