Ben Lomond

The road is long, with many a win . . you get the picture

Gaelic meaning : Beacon Mountain
Height : 3,196 feet
Walk distance : 7.5 miles
OS Map : Loch Lomond
Difficulty rating : 2.5
Scotlands most southerly Munro sits on the east shore of Loch Lomond and lies within the Trossachs and Lomond national park.

At 3,196 feet it's not the tallest but it is none the less a challenging walk.

You starting point is from the car park just along from Rowardennen Lodge, an easily identifiable path leads you from the car park to the foot of the mountain. Follow the path through the rising wooded section until you reach the clearing where you are afforded your first full view of the mountain.



From here you can see the straight forward Sron Aonaich ridge. Follow the path over the ridge until you get to the steeper and rockier summit section.

Ben Lomond Summit from the Sron Aonaich ridge.

Once over the ridge you get your first views of the land to the north.

Stoating

The Summit is relatively steep so care should be taken, mainly in avoiding the (literally) hundreds of other hillwalkers on the path.

but once there you can't help but admire the stunning scenery including the Corries at the summit which were an unexpected surprise.

The summit was at times like standing in a bus stop on Princes Street without the fag butts and smell of Friday night pish and puke, people everywhere.

                                          Who knew the number 11 stopped at 3,000 feet!

 I found the path difficult in places with lots of loose rocks and large drop steps, I managed to go over on my ankle a couple of times on the descent so be careful on your way down. The walk was not one I enjoyed all that much, it was very busy and a lot more demanding than I expected taking the best part of 5 hours, so take plenty of supplies. But the views are quite something

The Arrochar Alps

Here's the profile of the route :

And the route itself :

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Useful links

Confused ? Don't know where to start ? Here's some useful links I use for all things hillwalking :

• Munro Magic - Has a database of all Munros, Corbetts and Grahams with useful routes and info from walkers, also details hazards each mountain might throw at you. All hills are shown on an interactive map which is really easy to use, a great site if you plan on Munro bagging. 

• Walk highlands - Similar to Munro Magic but not quite as easy to use. I use it for planning my journey as you can chose the Munro you want to climb, enter your postcode and it will give you a map of how to get there. Really useful when you consider Munro's don't have postcodes!

• Cotswolds - Everything you need for walking, climbing or general outdoorsness. I find the staff really helpful and extremely knowledgeable. A great store.

• Weather Forecast - For the all important weather forecast.

• Julie Fowlis - Want to really get into the spirit of the Highlands, listen to Julie Fowlis. 

• Visit Scotland - Some fantastic walks here, not just Munro's but short - long distance, coastal walks, themed walks etc.

Fife Coastal Trail

The Fife Coastal path was created in 2002 and runs from North Queensferry (nr Edinburgh) to Tayport, at a total of 82 miles it's a fairly decent trek along some beautiful and historic coastline.

I have aa relative in St. Andrews who has some great views of the walk, so one day I decided to take a stroll along and see what the fuss was about. Although  it has to be said, I've only walked a small section of it from historic St. Andrews towards the small fishing village of Crail.

The Rock and Spindle formation near St.Andrews

As you can imagine it's not the toughest of walks, the rough but easy going path hugs the coastline and on occasion ventures on to sandy beach with sign post pointing the way.

Standing Stone near St.Andrews

If you're after a Sunday walk or don't fancy bagging a Munro then this could be the walk for you as it's suitable for all levels of fitness.

I do fancy taking some time out and completing the whole thing, if the weather was right this could be the walk of a lifetime.

Part of the old abandoned WW2 Coastal Defence system

The Lomond Hills

The Lomond hills, the highest points in Fife, are situated about 20 miles West of St. Andrews and consist of two peaks (East and West Lomond) and a 6.5km plateau that runs between the two. The walk itself is easy, there is a car park on East Lomond that is about 1,200 feet up so most of the climb is done. The plateau inbetween the two has a well worn and maintained path and is a height of 1,150 feet so not much drop inbetween the two. The two peaks are steep but as you only climb around 700 feet at most it's not difficult at all, but once at the top you are rewarded with grand vista's all the way from the Pentlands in the South to the Cairngorms in the North,