Back To The Mountains

Back to the mountains for this weeks adventure as we tackle Ben Lui in Argyll.

Ben Lui is the highest and most famous of a group of four Munros that lie south of Glen Lochy, and about 10 km north of the top end of Loch Lomond. Having seen various images of its range of peaks we have been looking forward to conquer this one for some time.

It is early o’clock when we set of up the A82 towards Tyndrum where we turn left on to the Oban road for 10 or so miles to reach the well used car park at the foot of the climb in Glen Lochy. Recognising that it has been some time since we climbed a Munro, we set of in some trepidation as to the pain our thigh muscles may have to endure on the return down the 3703ft. It is not long before we meet our first obstacle in the shape of the free flowing River Lochy which thankfully is not in spate (we have heard stories of attempts on Ben Lui failing at this early hurdle). Managing to keep our feet dry we hop across some well placed stepping stones, this fine effort at even weight distribution to keep our pedis dry proves to be a complete waste of time as we immediately enter a forest with underfoot conditions that could only be traversed comfortably in fisherman’s waders.

After an hour trekking through the dense forest we break free of its confined enclosure and welcome our first view of the cloud covered summit above us. Hopeful that the summit will clear as forecast we press on up to the saddle which links Ben Lui with Bein a’Chleibh. From here we turn left and climb north east towards the summit. This part really does require the leg muscles and lungs to work in harmony as the ascent becomes increasingly vertical. As we reach the final plateau it becomes clear that there are in fact two summits to this mountain. There is a cairn marking the northwest summit, with the (true and the one most seen on film) southeast summit a short distance further across a dip.

Sadly the weather forecaster’s predictions turn out to be inaccurate as the clouds still remain at the summit and offer us only a brief glimpse of the beauty that spreads below us through intermittent breaks in the low cloud base. We decide to hunker down for 30 minutes in the hope that the cloud will disperse but depressingly the cloud cover becomes increasingly thicker and we decide to trek back down the mountain knowing the variances of the Scottish weather that the cloud will be clear and the sky deep blue by the time we reach ground level.

Coming back down our feet begin to dry off in time for us to re-enter the forest and get them reacquainted with the boggy conditions yet again and yes when we reach the car and look back at our conquered mountain we feel its inner smile as its tops are completely cloud free.

We may have straddled its peaks but its honour remains intact.