Easter 2025 - Argyll & Bute

April 18 & 19

After a long drive up and a busy ferry crossing to Dunoon, we arrived at Ormidale House in light rain.  The first evening was unpacking, cooking and catching up with the group (41 of us in various houses).  The next day was forecast to be wet so we planned some sightseeing on Bute.  In the end the weather wasn’t too bad and I managed a very brief stroll up St Blane’s Hill with a great view of Arran.

Arran from St Blane's Hill, Bute

April 20

The kitchen was busy with people making packed lunches, the Dutch lads looming especially large (at 20 something they were all over 6’).  Various cars departed and 50 minutes later we arrived at Arrochar, at the head of Loch Long.  Our first objective was Beinn Narnain, and the sketchy path started climbing very steeply immediately, which was handy for warming us up in the cold morning air.  It continued steep and went on and on.

Resting on the way up Beinn Narnain, looking to Loch Long

The Cobbler from Beinn Narnain

The sun came out and the gradient eased momentarily, giving us a good view to the Cobbler.  Shortly after that we were faced with the formidable crags of the Spearhead, something I hadn’t anticipated despite reading about the ascent.  Dark rocks towered over us, sharp-cornered like piles of black boxes.  There was a scrambly path at first then a steep, mini-Lord’s Rake below the crowing crag of the Spearhead itself.  The summit of the hill was rounded and rocky, the views bounding out all around us.  Ben Lomond, just about clear of cloud, was especially prominent.

Approaching the Spearhead

Scramble by the Spearhead

Beinn Narnain

There was a cold wind so we made our way rather unpleasantly down to the bealach before joining the well-made and gentle, but busier, path to Beinn Ime.  The views were a little hazy but we could see the Mull hills and even Ailsa Craig to the south.  A hollow below the summit out of the wind was clearly used for more than shelter.  ‘Jobbie Valley,’ one of our team dubbed it.

Views to Ben Lomond from Beinn Ime

Views from Beinn Ime to Loch Fyne

The long path out was easy going and increasingly warm.  Towards the bottom, through the woods, it zigged one way then zagged the other interminably before eventually disgorging us by the still busy car park.  Just the Creggans Inn at Strachur before reaching the house, where we found there was no hot water as the heating oil hadn’t been delivered.  Luckily there were some electric showers.

April 21

Another wet day was forecast so, once I had set the smoke alarm off grilling bacon and waking the entire house, we left for more sightseeing at Inverary.  Coffee, a stroll in the light rain, buying presents (the Longrow whisky was for myself), then a fabulous lunch of oysters and langoustines at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar before a pint or two at the Fyne Ales taproom.  A decent use of the day.

April 22

Another big group day out, this time a little further on to Inveruglas on Loch Lomond.  The weather got a bit greyer the further east we went and the tops were all in cloud.  We just had to trust the forecast.

Beyond the hydro power station, the service road climbed steadily, the twin Bens of Vane and Vorlich hulking either side of us.  We turned left towards Vane and hit its steep eastern slopes.  Keeping the group together meant taking it steadily and this became even slower as we hit a long series of scrambles, all of which were pretty entertaining, though I chose the wrong line near the top and had a sketchy time on some wet, downward-sloping slabs.  The others went a more sensible way.

Getting steep on Ben Vane

Our group queuing for one of the scrambles

Great views from Ben Vane

Scrambling back down again

By the time we got to the top the cloud had largely lifted and we could at least see the local views and we spent quite some time eating lunch and staring about us.  Our return was back the same way, the downclimbs actually feeling easier than I had anticipated they would be on the way up.  It grew warmer all the way down and we sat reasonably happily outside the Creggans on the way back.

April 23

My preference had been to complete the twin peaks and visit Vorlich, but a large group were heading to the Cobbler so I chose the more social option.  It was properly warm at the bottom with plenty of the gang wearing shorts.  Again we took a steady pace up the zigzags through the woods in order to keep the group together.  The Cobbler looked impressive from the approach, the twisted shapes reminding me of Icelandic hills like Einhryningur.  We circled around the hill towards the bealach between Beinns Narnain and Ime before heading left up engineered steps (some of the way at least).  The wind was a little chilly at this altitude.

Approaching the Cobbler

At the summit col a few of us turned left for the northern peak, with gave terrific views of the rest of the crags and out along the lochs.  Over on the real summit I had a look at the very top but chickened out, though one of our group threaded the needle and scrambled up there.

Summit of the Cobbler

The needle or window is the way to the very top

Show-off

The steadier members of the party returned the same way we has ascended while a few of us took the more direct route.  This was much busier, so we dubbed it the Tiktok Path.  There was even one (English) bloke I spoke to who was only going to walk to the col and not bother with the summit.  Go figure.

Being less tired, the endless zigzags through the woods didn’t feel so bad this day.

April 24

In the evening we had had long discussions about routes on Ben Vorlich.  The standard route was pretty steep and people remembered it as being something of a mess too.  I favoured the route from Ardlui while another argued for the south-east ridge.  In the end we decided to go up the standard route and down the south-east ridge.

Arriving back at Inveruglas, the clag was down so that ruled out ridges on the way up anyway.  The steep path up actually turned out to be less bad than feared.  A lot of it was engineered and it just required a steady plod.  Over 800m we hit the cloud and it got cold in the crosswind.  We made our way along the clear path, careful to check when we had got to the true summit.  There were no views and it was cold (we were basically wearing everything we had brought), so we turned about and headed down the same way we came up.  As we got lower, the cloud started to lift and once we were back on the service road it had turned into a lovely day.  It was early and one of our party wanted to go to Ben Vane, as he had missed out the previous day (he’s an ultrarunner), but he didn’t have his own car and we were all going to the Creggans, so he had to miss out.

Didn't take many pictures on the way up Ben Vorlich

Weather improving on the way down (note how we're dressed)

Loch Sloy

Loch Lomond

April 25

My travelling companion and I wanted an early start as there was a rugby fixture to attend that evening, so we bid farewell and hit the road (and ferry).  It had been a great week, blessed with good weather and lovely company.  The walks had been entertaining and had left me with a sense of achievement – four more Munros ticked off – without leaving me completely done in.  Success all round.