The walk: Glasgow’s own Ben

Distance: 7 miles/12km

Time: 5-7 hours

IT wasn’t the best day for a walk, but the bear in me had to be set free from its cage, and National Parks are as liable to suffer the excesses of the Scottish climate as anywhere. Ben Lomond is prone to such sudden blasts of weather - she raises her beacon on the very edge of the Highland Line and offers the first point of resistance to any weather systems coming in from the south-west.

While Ben Nevis is generally acknowledged as ‘The Ben’, that particular nickname, as far as Glaswegians are concerned, goes to Ben Lomond, a Munro that can be seen from the city, just as the city can be seen from Ben Lomond’s summit – on a decent day that is.

As I tramped up through the Rowardennan woods, relishing the wind surfing through the oaks, birches and larches and appreciating the well laid path, I thought of the National Trust for Scotland with gratitude rather than the scorn the charity appears to suffer from these days.

The last time I climbed this hill we had just come out of the grip of a food and mouth crisis and I clearly recall it was the NTS who brought together landowners, farmers, conservationists and outdoor recreation groups to work out a strategic Comeback Code so that the Scottish public could return to the hills. It’s easy to forget the important role the Trust played in that.

As I left the shelter of the woods it struck me that we also have the NTS to thank for the well-maintained footpath that runs up the hill from the Halfway Well, a path that marches resolutely north up the long ridge of mica-schist that falls away from the summit cone. Not everyone likes these cobbled trails but not that long ago this path was ten metres wide, a swathe of mud and peat, ever-widening as more and more walkers tried to avoid the morass in the middle.

Any notion of sterile amenity is balanced by the fact that the hill has gradually healed itself, regenerating and growing to the very edges of the path. In an amazingly short time the former muddy scar has been replaced by a narrow footpath – far preferable to what was there before.

Eventually the path zig-zags up the final slopes to reach a kilometre-long curved ridge from which cliffs fall away to the north-east. The summit cairn and view indicator lie at the north-west culmination of this ridge and in clear conditions the views are dramatic. The tops of the Arrochar Alps and Crianlarich hills appear to choke the northern end of Loch Lomond, a real jumble of peaks that clearly contrasts with the flatlands in the south - the highlands and the lowlands, with Ben Lomond acting as the Highland edge.

Most folk return to Rowardennan the way they came but a good alternative is to continue north over the summit and then down steeper slopes to the subsidiary top known as the Ptarmigan.

The descent of the Ptarmigan ridge is always a treat. The archipelago of islands at the southern end of the loch act as targets for the spotlights of sun that burst through the lowering clouds and the lower slopes of the hill were bright green against the silver-black of the rock. The woods were bursting with supressed growth and a cuckoo sang a desultory song of spring. Summer, when it finally arrives, might not be so bad after all…

Cameron McNeish

ROUTE PLANNER

Map: OS 1:50,000 Landranger Sheet 56 (Loch Lomond & Inveraray); Harveys 1:25,000 Superwalker Map, Ben Lomond & Loch Katrine.

Distance: 7 miles/12km

Time: 5-7 hours

Start/finish: Rowardennan car park (GR: NS360985)

Public transport: None to the start.

Information: National Park Centre, Balmaha, 01389 722100, info@lochlomond-trossachs.org

Route: A well signposted footpath climbs through the woods from the car park at Rowardennan. Follow this path onto the S ridge of Ben Lomond and follow the path and the ridge N to the summit. Descend N, then W to gain the Ptarmigan ridge. Follow the ridge S to the Tom Fithich burn, which is followed to the West Highland Way track. Follow the track S to Rowardennan.