Cracking outing on The Brack

The Brack soon comes into view

A beautiful May blue sky day forecast and an early start had us ready to begin the walk from Ardgartan. Sadly the centre is closed but the toilets are apparently open, cannot officially confirm as we did not try them. 
The Brack is a well kent steep hill when viewed from the Rest and Be Thankful.
As per the described route we started the walk turning right up the ascending forest track with good views over to The Cobbler. A little height is gained.

The climb starts here

The start of the path up the Brack is soon reached and now the hard work begins. The route is described as very steep, it is. It is also described as almost a scramble at the beginning. Well the forest section was very boggy, very slippy and was hands on a lot.
Out of the forest we cross a fence with good views of the scramble/walk ahead.
Faint path, lots of slippy gloopy mud sections, some airy views and still muddy hands on but overall good fun.

The burn

There is an interesting burn to follow particularly where the gorge narrows, it is running high considering the recent dry spell.

Thought he was getting ready to jump

However, we were in no rush and enjoyed regular stops to enjoy the magnificent views, one advantage of steep ascents.

Steep climbing at times

 We took a break and had a magnificent panorama back down to the Rest & Be Thankful road as well as Arrochar hills including The Cobbler, Ime etc. 
Who wants to be at work?

Get a rest at the big boulder ahead

As the route described we stayed left of the crags and reached the small lochan. 

Lochan

The views have opened up spectacularly, too many to mention in full but included Ben Lomond, the Luss Hills and doon the water all the way to Ailsa Craig.
Looking up we spot a walker on the top. Heads down we follow the winding trail up through the crags finally reaching the trig. 2 hours 30 but as said we were enjoying the walk in these glorious conditions. The views had expanded magnificently in this light, was that Ben Lui with snow on the ridge? Arran tops can be seen, which I will be climbing at the weekend, wow what a week if the weather holds.

Think that might be Ben Lui in the distance

After a good look around we descended via the Coilessan glen route.
The GPS was used to follow the Walkhighlands track which was fine but at one point would have taken us right over a steep crag so just as well visibility was good. The descent is on grassy slopes without the steepness of the ascent route.

On the descent Cnoc Coinnich ahead

Good views of Ben Donich and also when we turned Cnoc Coinnich, we actually spotted someone up top there as well. We had considered including this but time was against us. The terrain going down was fine, grassy slopes mainly, a bit of care needed as easy to twist an ankle here.

Head to the forest from Cowal Way cairn

We reached the Cowal Way’s small cairn and followed this steep, rocky, path back towards Loch Long and the parking area. 
The final stretch is long, a bit of a trudge really, broken up slightly down below with the loch tracks.
Overall a great walk in good company, brilliant weather and magnificent views, this is living.

Time: 5.12
Ascent: 2774ft
Distance: 8.08m