Ben Vorlich (@ Loch Lomond)

Ben Vorlich on the north western side of Loch Lomond was my next choice for a hillwalk due to the more favourable weather conditions in the south of the region where I was staying.
I would love to have done the ascent from Ardlui but due to the lack of parking facilities because of bridge maintenance and traffic lights on the A82 road, the parking space at Ardlui railway station was inappropriate. With hindsight, it may have been better to retrace my steps and attempt the climb from north of the village using the North east ridge or Strath Dubh-uisage route. As I was facing south, I carried on, for option B, to the well known tourist spot of Inveruglas famous for it's northern aspect views of Loch Lomond, boat cruise pick up point and ....  a hydro electric power station with it's 4 massive pipes stretching down the hillside.
On leaving the car, I circumnavigated the mountain and climbed the south east ridge as detailed in an old Trail magazine I had, advising me on 7 alternative "routes to the top". Due to the lack of a proper footpath, this was rough countryside, partial sheep tracks, bracken, tricky navigation at times to avoid crags and always an element of wondering whether I had missed a turning to the right....

It was nice to stop and catch a breather whilst admiring the view............

Sheep twins

The views from this approach were very rewarding of Loch Arklet (above..... to the east) with Loch Katrine (Trossachs) in the background and Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond (below...to the south)

Eventually I reached the summit and a selfie thanks to my portable tripod that lives permanently in my walking rucksack.

The way Down !!

After lunch I headed down the more conventional, albeit steeper route to the west where the reservoir at Loch Sloy holds the water for the power station on the other side of the mountain..

The descent took a bit longer than I thought as there is no let up in the gradient and I'm probably more used to the smaller mountains in the Lake District. The road from the reservoir that I joined to take me back had some unusual features....

Rock Face

Eventually I reached the spot where earlier in the day I left the path at the substation to do the epic wild ascent. The lane down to the Loch is easy under foot and the sun was still shining when I arrived.

Lastly, despite suffering the tough ascent and the steep descent, it was more dangerous trying to cross the A82 road to get to the car park !!!

Up to Scotland (Luss & Loch Lomond)

I planned a week of tourism and hill walking in the Southern Highlands of Scotland earlier in the year during May, but could not get accommodation at such short notice. I found a great place to stay (my next post to be published) and negotiated some holiday from work to enable me to visit this area.
As I was driving north on the A82 road, I noticed several views of Loch Lomond through the trees, so I thought I would try and find a place to park and re-connect with a village that I had not seen since I was a child.... from the back seat of my parents car.

Loch Lomond seems to be one of the more well known Scottish Lochs made famous by a song and is one of the largest with a distance of 24 miles by 5 miles at its widest point. For the record, it has 38 islands including a hotel on one and some of the others are inhabited by a few people. It will come as no surprise from what you have observed so far that there are quite a few boats around.

Boat tours on the Loch are quite popular to see the various islands including the back drop of the mountain Ben Lomond. The people on the pier (below) seem to be quite patient waiting for the boat as they can enjoy the peace and tranquility of the view (above)......

......... although I'm not quite sure if this traveller was looking forward to the experience as the owner was purchasing some tickets for the boat and seemed more interested in something on the Loch shore.

Luss village had a street of cottages built in the 18th and 19th century for the slate and cotton workers of that time. Nowadays they still have local people living in them and they are the subject of artists and a magnet for tourists !!
Historically, the village originally had a name of Clachan Dubh which meant "dark village" due to the lack of daylight because of the surrounding hills particularly in winter. I was certainly struggling with the light for the camera today due to the amount of threatening clouds at times.

Lastly, It's sad that the hunters of Scottish wildlife who no doubt braved the cold, wet and windy moors see the remains of their work ending up outside a tourist shop by the pier ... as coat hangers !!