Over The Hill

Pulling into the car park at Rowardennan on a wet grey morning you might well expect to find it empty, but such is the draw of the hills, and Ben Lomond in particular, we actually had to drive around to the overflow to find ourselves a parking space. It is interesting to watch others depart as you get yourself ready, which route are they on, those leaving right via the visitor centre heading for the "tourist path" while those leaving left via the memorial and heading for Ptarmigan Ridge, and of course the WHW walkers, easily identifiable by the oversized packs and, generally, slower stroll.

We were off left along the track for the short walk to Ben Lomond Cottage at Rowchnock before leaving the forest track and taking to the narrow, but well defined path leading up through the old woodland and onto the open hillside for the steep and relentless climb up the path as it zigzags, twists and turns towards the boundary fenceline below the minor top of Tom Fithich. The cloud base was low, at around 500m, but during the early part of the climb we still had some wonderful views south over Loch Lomond with the islands gradually disappearing into the murk and drizzle that, apart from a few short periods, was to stay with us for the remainder of the day.

Although it is a long, hard climb, we made good progress, and were soon alongside the first, and largest, of the lochans that lie just below the actual summit of Ptarmigan, by which time we were encountering quite a strong wind accompanied by heavy rain, much as the forecast had predicted, so no surprises there then! We took shelter among a few of the rocks just below the 778m top and had ourselves a very welcome short break. (Quiz question for today - "How easy is it to walk passed six of your walking partners and disappear along the path into the mist?" - Answer - "Very easy if your blonde hair's blowing in the wind" - Guess that rules me out then!).

Our short break over, we crossed the Bealach Buidhe and left the Ptarmigan path as it swings southwest for that final climb for those tackling Ben Lomond, and we continued heading generally north over the now pathless hillside on the steady descent over Gualann Caorainn Achaidh. It was quite a pleasant surprise to find that the wind was considerably less on this side of the ridge, and the rain had become an intermittent drizzle, we even had a few periods of brighter skies which at least offered us views of the Cailness Burn below, and Cruinn a'Bheinn, our objective ahead.

We crossed the peat hags down in the Bealach Cruinn a'Bheinn and then started the very steep ascent of the southern slopes of Cruinn a'Bheinn which eventually bring you onto the broad flat top upon which sits three easily identifiable markers, firstly a large deer fence which suddenly appears from the craggy east ridge, secondly a small lochan, and thirdly, probably one of the least impressive cairns on any hilltop which marks the actual summit area. With better weather we may have lingered a little longer on the summit, but as it was we took the obligatory summit photos and headed off along the fence line to descend northwest down the grassy slopes en route to the Cailness Burn, our next reference point.

There is one point of interest along the fence line, at about the 470m height, where there is the remains of a once very solid timber construction which looks very like some sort of loading ramp but without any other indications of tracks or diggings which may be associated with such a structure, It was a topic of some discussion and conjecture, but none of us could come up with what it actually was used for. How long has it been there? - Well, when Alan first walked this way, as a boy in the company of St Kessog, he remembers the structure as having the cross members of the ramp in place, although they now seem to have rotted or been used for some other purpose. I have included a picture opposite, and if anyone has any further information, then we would welcome your thoughts on the matter.

Leaving the "enigma" behind, we headed off towards the Cailness Burn and found ourselves a good spot at which to cross over onto the southern side of the burn and contoured around the slopes above the deep gully into which the burn flows as it tumbles downwards towards Loch Lomond, as we did in a similar manner only staying on the high edge of the gully until we reached the WHW footpath on the lochside.

All that remained now was for us to take a very leisurely, but long walk, back along the WHW, with one minor detour, onto the old WHW footpath to take us to the bothy at Rowchoish where we were grateful for a dry and sheltered spot for our afternoon break. The bothy had a very "earthy" atmosphere, which someone likened to being in The Drovers Inn, a little unkind I thought - as the bothy was much nicer!

Before driving home, we took our customary refreshments in the Rowardennan Hotel, which was busy with the usual Ben Lomond and WHW walkers, one group of which struck quite a pose in their kilted regalia, a picture of which I just had to include.

Another great walk with marvelous company - Thanks Lawrie