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Walked up Ben Narnain and Ben Ime on Sunday. Great day for walking and some tremendous views at the tops of them.

And an added "bonus" of bumping into Fred McAulay at the top of Narnain. I wanted to try for Ben Vane as well as the weather was so good but we had a new guy with us and he wasn't realy up for three hills, he did well to walk up two though and he got great weather and great views for his first ever walks.

And then we went to the Drovers for a couple of pints and some Haggis :lol:

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Walked up Ben Narnain and Ben Ime on Sunday. Great day for walking and some tremendous views at the tops of them.

And an added "bonus" of bumping into Fred McAulay at the top of Narnain. I wanted to try for Ben Vane as well as the weather was so good but we had a new guy with us and he wasn't realy up for three hills, he did well to walk up two though and he got great weather and great views for his first ever walks.

And then we went to the Drovers for a couple of pints and some Haggis :lol:

I got great views from Narnain when I went up but Ben Ime was covered in cloud when I tried that.

Anyone else going out on Easter Monday? I never made it to Crianlarich the other week. Thinking of doing Benvane over Callander which is a corbett but quite a long walk from what I can see. Made a failed attempt to get up there last year.

It's either that or Ben Vorlich over Loch Lomond.

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I got great views from Narnain when I went up but Ben Ime was covered in cloud when I tried that.

Anyone else going out on Easter Monday? I never made it to Crianlarich the other week. Thinking of doing Benvane over Callander which is a corbett but quite a long walk from what I can see. Made a failed attempt to get up there last year.

It's either that or Ben Vorlich over Loch Lomond.

Do that one either from the farm(I can't remember the name of) or from the south side(no path) but you get the best view of it's brilliant big corrie from there and you get brilliant views across the other hills on the way up. The path from the Loch Sloy side is rubbish and the views are rubbish that side too. All the action is from the other side.

It was one of my favourite hills.

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Do that one either from the farm(I can't remember the name of) or from the south side(no path) but you get the best view of it's brilliant big corrie from there and you get brilliant views across the other hills on the way up. The path from the Loch Sloy side is rubbish and the views are rubbish that side too. All the action is from the other side.

It was one of my favourite hills.

Thanks reynard is this the route that takes you over the "little hills" I take it? THis was the way I was hoping to go. Only got Ben Vorlich and Ben Bhuidhe to do in that area but the walk in for the last one is making me think I'd be better taking a mountain bike some of the way.

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Going up near Oban tomorrow to do the Ben Cruachan / Stob Diamh ridge walk. Anyone else done it?

Well, that was probably the most miserable day I've ever had hillwalking.

A guy on the Scottish Hills website claims that this can be done in four hours. We planned on taking it easy and doing it in six.

Utter pish I say. It's over twenty kilometres - I could only just walk twenty kilometres in four hours on flat pavements, and I'm a fast walker and run fifty miles a week.

Anyway, we parked at a layby next to the Visitor Centre for Cruachan Power Station and meandered up. Took us about forty-five minutes to reach the dam and reservoir. From there we followed the track round the West side of the reservoir and began the ascent up Ben Cruachan.

There was cloud cover over everything about four hundred metres. MWIS had said that the clouds were due to lift. They were wrong :(

From four hundred metres to the summit of Ben Cruachan (1,126m) visibility was about twenty metres. We actually reached the summit of Ben Cruachan in decent time, but the ridge along to Stob Diamh (998m) was very difficult with the poor visibility and the snow.

About an hour later we reached Stob Diamh. Now, if anyone's going to climb this, pay attention - there is no cairn on top of Stob Diamh, just some small rocks on top of a big rock. Ah! but you say. That's what a cairn is! Well, yes, but the summit is only about four feet wide (not big enough for a proper cairn) and the entire ridge between Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh is made up of small rocks on top of big rocks.

We ended up walking straight past the summit and continuing East, only stopping an hour later when we realised we were in completely the wrong area. So, we trekked back up to Stob Diamh, found the summit (again) and found the path that took us up to Stob Garbh and eventually back down to the reservoir.

When we were leaving the summit of Stob Diamh the rain, snow and hail came on. It took us three and a half hours to walk from Stob Diamh to Stob Garbh to the reservoir to the dam and back to the car.

Left the car at 10am, arrived back at 7pm. Nine fucking hours.

Totally scunnered with hillwalking for now, a break for a good few weeks. What a fucking miserable day.

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While it's not hillwalking, a few of my mates who are teachers wanted to go hiking on Wednesday because they're on holiday. So Neil, the Canadian, planned a trek from Bowling to Balloch, and we all followed on. Try to picture us all in our hiking gear... walking boots, waterproofs, poles, the lot. Neil's "hike" turned out to be a cycle path. Through housing schemes. There we are, marching down some dodgy street dressed as if we're going to conquer Kilimanjaro. To add insult to injury, the only time it rained the whole day was the half hour when we sat down to have some lunch. Nonetheless, a (completely pointless) fun time was had by all, and we had a few jars in Balloch then headed back to Glasgow and got jaked watching Liverpool Chelsea.

The moral of the story - don't let a Canadian plan a hike in Scotland.

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Anybody been up Ben Chonzie before? Me and a mate are heading there tomorrow for a wee trek. We've climbed all the Munros up round my way (Glen Doll and Glen Clova) so we're looking slightly further afield. Just looking for a wee bit of general advice from people on here to see if it's possible to combine it with another couple of munros.

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Anybody been up Ben Chonzie before? Me and a mate are heading there tomorrow for a wee trek. We've climbed all the Munros up round my way (Glen Doll and Glen Clova) so we're looking slightly further afield. Just looking for a wee bit of general advice from people on here to see if it's possible to combine it with another couple of munros.

Ben Chonzie is one of the easiest munros you'll do but it stands alone in terms of munros. It's part of a long ridge and you could try walking further along the ridge than you need to but from what I've seen there's nothing next to it you could combine it with.

Steven and me did it earlier this year and despite the ice and snow we made reasonably good time (think it took around 5 hours including loads of photo/playing in snow stops.

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Thanks reynard is this the route that takes you over the "little hills" I take it? THis was the way I was hoping to go. Only got Ben Vorlich and Ben Bhuidhe to do in that area but the walk in for the last one is making me think I'd be better taking a mountain bike some of the way.

The route from the farm takes you over the little hills. You come in at the top side of the corrie there. We came in from roughly the south side. It looked quite a good wal from that other side too but we had parked elsewhere.

I wanted to get Ben Vane walked on Sunday but was outvoted. So that's the only Munro left in that area for us. There's other decent looking mountains in that area too that looked like a good climb. And I want to try the Cobbler from a different way too.

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The route from the farm takes you over the little hills. You come in at the top side of the corrie there. We came in from roughly the south side. It looked quite a good wal from that other side too but we had parked elsewhere.

I wanted to get Ben Vane walked on Sunday but was outvoted. So that's the only Munro left in that area for us. There's other decent looking mountains in that area too that looked like a good climb. And I want to try the Cobbler from a different way too.

What way have you not tried the Cobbler from? I've been up via the stream/path and up the big stone staircase at the back of it.

Hopefully I'll get Ben Vorlich done on Monday but there's still one more in that area I need to do then I'll start again on the Crianlarich and Tyndrum hills. Booked 2 weeks off in September for hill walking. :D

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Not exactlty hillwalking, but I'm doing the Rob Roy Way and Great Glen Way with only a days rest in between, then going to Skye to do all the Cullins immediately afterwards.

150 miles walking then 12 Munros in about 16 days. I really haven't though this through :ph34r:

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What way have you not tried the Cobbler from? I've been up via the stream/path and up the big stone staircase at the back of it.

Hopefully I'll get Ben Vorlich done on Monday but there's still one more in that area I need to do then I'll start again on the Crianlarich and Tyndrum hills. Booked 2 weeks off in September for hill walking. :D

I want to cut straight across at that wee dam thing and head up over the long ridge. I see a few folk doing it that way. I like the Cobbler because it's a cool looking mountain and I want to see it from a few different angles.

Ben Lui was another one that we wanted to try from the Cononish river way as the view of the mountain is so much better. There's quicker ways to do most mountains but that's ok if you are just ticking off Munros or whatever. I don't get out that often so I try to make it an event :lol:

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Spent most of last summer in Italy and I've had a few injuries lately (fractured heel, pulled tendon) but I'm hoping to make my come back (11 months since I made a summit) this week some time.

Haven't decided between Beinn Dorain/Beinn an' Dothaidh or Beinn Chaorach/Cam Creag.

Two munros with no walk in or two corbetts with a longer walk in, hmmmm?

Alternatively I could try Am Bodach/Meall Dearg in Glen Coe but maybe I need to get my hill fitness up a bit before I try them.

Usually I end up doing the hardest option through some kind of maschocism.

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Spent most of last summer in Italy and I've had a few injuries lately (fractured heel, pulled tendon) but I'm hoping to make my come back (11 months since I made a summit) this week some time.

Haven't decided between Beinn Dorain/Beinn an' Dothaidh or Beinn Chaorach/Cam Creag.

Two munros with no walk in or two corbetts with a longer walk in, hmmmm?

Alternatively I could try Am Bodach/Meall Dearg in Glen Coe but maybe I need to get my hill fitness up a bit before I try them.

Usually I end up doing the hardest option through some kind of maschocism.

There's a decent walk in to Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothiadh from the Bridge of Orchy hotel to the bealach in between them.

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Ben Chonzie is one of the easiest munros you'll do but it stands alone in terms of munros. It's part of a long ridge and you could try walking further along the ridge than you need to but from what I've seen there's nothing next to it you could combine it with.

You're right. Chonzie was a piece of piss. Up and down within 3 and a half hours and that included a good half hour for lunch. I can see why people find it a bit dull but because of the superb weather i'll only have fond memories of it. Stopped off in Dunkeld for a pint in the beer garden on the way home as well. Sheer bliss :D

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Our trip up Ben Vorlich was an absolute disaster, didn't even make it up the first little hill due to a seriously upset stomach. Things were only ever going to get worse so we decided to leave it until another day (hopefully next Sunday). Looked like a really nice walk as well and we found the starting point without any bother.

I hate days like this, you always end up looking back and thinking "Could we have made it?". Really really frustrated. :(

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Thanks reynard is this the route that takes you over the "little hills" I take it? THis was the way I was hoping to go. Only got Ben Vorlich and Ben Bhuidhe to do in that area but the walk in for the last one is making me think I'd be better taking a mountain bike some of the way.

I have 5 "Region 1" Munros to go, and I reckon that Beinn Bhuidhe will be the last one I tick off, simply because no-one else I walk with wants to do it on account of the lengthy walk in - conversely I'd prefer not to go solo on this one simply because it's such a long day and would be rather boring.

I hope to cover the other 4 by only using up 2 days, Dubhcraig and Oss together and Lui and a' Chleibh on another day. Lui may have to wait until all of the snow has cleared. ;)

However, plenty of others I can do futher north until then.

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I have 5 "Region 1" Munros to go, and I reckon that Beinn Bhuidhe will be the last one I tick off, simply because no-one else I walk with wants to do it on account of the lengthy walk in - conversely I'd prefer not to go solo on this one simply because it's such a long day and would be rather boring.

I hope to cover the other 4 by only using up 2 days, Dubhcraig and Oss together and Lui and a' Chleibh on another day. Lui may have to wait until all of the snow has cleared. ;)

However, plenty of others I can do futher north until then.

The walk along the Cononish to Ben Lui is long. Especially on the way back to the car. The three of us were practically in tears as it just seemed to go on and on and on. :lol: The banter had stopped completely by that point as we traipsed back in complete silence. The view of the hill is stunning form there though but most folk seem to do it the short(sensible) route.

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I want to cut straight across at that wee dam thing and head up over the long ridge. I see a few folk doing it that way. I like the Cobbler because it's a cool looking mountain and I want to see it from a few different angles.

Ben Lui was another one that we wanted to try from the Cononish river way as the view of the mountain is so much better. There's quicker ways to do most mountains but that's ok if you are just ticking off Munros or whatever. I don't get out that often so I try to make it an event :lol:

I've just done my first three Munros but don't intend to go round ticking them off a list; I just want to cherry-pick some interesting ones. I was on Ben Lomond on Sunday, up the slog and down the more interesting Ptarmigan and liked the look of Ben Arthur (Cobblers to you :P ) but I read a couple of articles that suggested it's a wee bit tricky up top. Is that true? Also it seems to have three peaks. Is there a main one or do you have to do all three to have done it properly?

Edit - I know it's not a Munro but that's not important to me.

Edited by th1stleandr0se
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