Cloudy but atmospheric Ben Donich

Hill: Ben Donich

Category: Corbett, 

Height: 847m

It was a damp cloudy start to our walk but the forecast was for a bright afternoon so off we plodded up Ben Donich. We drive past the controversial £9 a day Arrochar car park, only 3 vehicles there, how much money is being lost by the Councils greed?

Track all the way Ben Donich in cloud

We began at the beginning of the usual track but beware further on were timber logging lorries, big beasts, so no parking up there.

Ben Donich can be seen from here, at least partially as you can see from the snap above. The cloud hiding the tops.

There is a straightforward path to follow almost all the way up. The path becomes much boggier and is well eroded in places particularly as it climbs the lower slopes. 

Loch Restil

An opportunity to take have a pause and look back where are good views back over the Rest and Be Thankful to Loch Restil, with Beinn an Lochain towering above it.

Muddy track summit still in cloud

Still cloudy ahead as the path takes a winding route up the grassy slopes. Here there are many more rocky slabs which are greasy so care needs to be taken. Walkhighlands warns of rocky fissures - narrow slit-like openings in the ground, some of which are very deep and indeed they are. Although easily avoided in summer they could cause a hazard if hidden by snow or just a loss of concentration.

Looking back to the short scramble

We have now reached the short downwards scramble, again care is taken as the rock is wet and slippy, harder to descend than ascend on the way back. 

After this there is a steep section of path which climbs up another grassy slope to reach the beginning of the summit plateau.

Sunlight at Loch Long

No views ahead as the misty conditions only let us see the tops from time to time but no long distance high views but the light on the hills near Loch Long is stunning..

Trig appears

Easier walking and before you know it the trig appears out of the gloom. 1 hour 53 min from the car.

Only a brief stop up here as it is too windy and nae views.

The Brack

We retreat a little to have some food and luckily the clouds come and go giving us glimpses of the neighbouring Corbett’s, The Brack and Cnoc Coinnich. A pair of ravens swirl above but no extras for them. The temperature suddenly drops and fingers become very painful, time for gloves on.

As we descend you can see how close to the edge one of the paths is as it meanders.

Beinn Ime behind Luibhean

Ahead of us we get our first sightings of the summit of Beinn Luibhean in the foreground and behind Beinn Ime which has a dusting of snow and The Cobbler shows itself.

The descent gives us a full view of Beinn an Lochain, we will be there soon, trying to work out a descent route to the Rest and be thankful. Of which the landslip repair work is still ongoing, not sure where the reputed £100m has been spent.

A good short walk for a winter's day.

Wildlife: just the ravens.

Time: 3.58

Ascent: 651m

Distance: 7.9km

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