Ben Vrackie Wow the views

I was staying in Pitlochry for a few days so I decided to take the opportunity to climb Ben Vrackie ( a Corbett). I have frequently looked a the hill from Pitlochry but for one reason or another never got around to climbing it. Well today was the day. I was staying in the nice Dundarach Hotel in Pitlochry and I made the decision to walk from the hotel rather than drive up to the mountain parking area, which is just past the village of Moulin, this would give me the full height of the climb from sea level. It was a splendid morning with not a cloud in the sky, has summer arrived, was it going to be too warm, see later? I had enjoyed a full Scottish breakfast so at 9.10 I was on my way. A short stroll into Pitlochry then up the road to Moulin.

You can see the top of Vrackie from Pitlochry as the picture shows, doesn't look too intimidating from here. When I reached the car park starting point there were already 3 cars in situ so some other early starters were already on the hill. The car park sits around the 200 metre mark saving some climbing effort. The start  from here follows a path through some woods before breaking out into the clear heather and bracken countryside after 20 minutes or so. Whilst on this path I stopped and chatted to an elderly gent out with his 3 dogs. He was a local fisherman so we passed 5 minutes discussing fly fishing in our respective areas. A bit further on I heard dogs yelping, barking and male(s) shouting and reckoned of the old boys dogs had got into the nearby field which contained sheep. However, a couple of minutes later a dog walker arrived, Gibby was his name, with a spaniel that had been dusted up by the old guys 3 dogs but no damage done. We had a good natter walking up the path to the extent that Gibby went further than he planned for himself and buddied me up to Loch Choire. 

Ben Vrackie just before you turn into Loch Choire

This was a good walk for him today as this loch is at the 500 metres level. They say that there are wild brown trout in here but I didn't see any movement. To get here the path is in good nick and it is a fairly straightforward haul upwards, a reasonably fit person should cope with this ok. Very little bird-life around, a family gathering of half a dozen song thrushes in the woods along with the usual suspects of the tit family, chaffinches etc. but on the hill only meadow pipits were jumping out of the heather whenever we got too close to their nesting bush.

Loch Choire

If you don't want to take the climb to the Vrackie summit from the loch you can head along a hill path leading to Craigower & then Killiecrankie (see other blogs for both of these).
But I was going up Vrackie and this is where the hard work starts. From the loch there is now a relentless climb of  341 metres straight to the summit. There is a rocky made path which in some respects makes it easier but personally I would rather have a hard packed path rather than the rocks & stones. The weather was now cooler with a fresh breeze so time for another layer, a light windproof jacket did the trick, comfortable again. There is little respite on this climb now unless you stop on the path and take in the views, which is recommended as they are stunning. About 2/3rds of the way up I met up with a couple who I would say were in their 70's. The lady noticed my binos round my neck and asked if I had seen the ringed ouzel. My reply was no as I told her, that for the last 20 minutes I was in the mode of one foot at a time, head down, sweat dripping, just wanting to get up the hill as the climb was getting tough.

Steep hillside now, Loch Choire below

She then admitted she had not seen it only heard it. My visual sighting of birds is ok but I did not have a clue what an ringed ouzel sounded like but I didn't think I had heard anything apart from my thumping heart. The top was now in sight, a couple of minor false tops and then I was there. Looked at my watch and only 2 hours 10 minutes from setting off, delighted with that. The views were every bit as good as I hoped for. The summit of Vrackie is 841 metres but its real advantage is that it stands alone so little gets in the way of the view. I had a great view of Schiehallion and out towards Rannoch Moor. Straight north up the glen were the Cairngorm summits many still with snow showing brightly.
To the south you follow the meandering River Tummel, Ben Lawers to the side, magnificent. A couple of French guys arrived so we all took photos of each other at the main trig point, there are two on the summit, and just then the older couple arrived, well done to them.

Small trig looking North

From summit looking down to Loch Choire and the trail 

Main trig

After 10 minutes of taking in the panorama and sending some boasting texts, the clouds were now around in force, no more clear blue skies and they were getting quite black promoting potential rain. This is summer in Scotland after all.  We all decided to head off downhill for some shelter. After only a couple of minutes on the descent I heard a bird calling and as I looked up, yes you guessed, the ringed ouzel was flying past, my first ever sighting so another bonus. I called to the old couple who were behind me, their concentration looking downwards on the path and to my delight both saw the bird and I got the thumbs up for alerting them. 
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/ringouzel/index.aspx
Descending I was now taking more care as more accidents happen on the descent that the ascent, but even being cautious I still made good time and I soon reached the loch. I passed another 4 parties heading up the hill but I was glad I climbed earlier as the summit was now dark and foreboding, the views would not be so good. One of the guys had a fly rod attached to his rucksack so maybe grilled trout for lunch!!
One final bonus, as I walked through the car park a rare red squirrel moved between the cars back into the woods.
That was as good a morning as I have had. Magic.