Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Ascent: 795 metres
Distance: 6 kilometres
Time: 2hrs 40mins
c Ben Ledi 879m 1hr 12mins
I had breakfasted early and was ready to go for a walk but the promised clear day did not materialise and cloud levels remained low. My initial thoughts of catching a train to Roy Bridge, climbing a couple of munros and returning on the train in the evening were ditched. At lunchtime I was still itching to get out so packed a rucksack and headed over the Duke's Pass to climb Ben Venue. Unfortunately the road was temporarily closed for forest operations and by the time I got through I discovered that the car park was closed and being used by the timber contractors. I decided to carry on and arrived at the foot of Ben Ledi but by this time it was 3:15pm and already the light was fast fading.
I had not been up Ben Ledi for about three years, although it is probably my most climbed hill in Scotland. It is located just above the former cottage of my in-laws and was probably climbed twenty or so times from 1977 onwards, usually from the grounds of the cottage and up the Milton Burn. I was now forced back to the old familiar route from the Stank. There is limited parking across the bridge from the A84 above the Falls of Leny and immediately a steep path climbing diagonally through the forestry plantations, although these had been recently harvested. The route has no respite and after crossing a forestry road it meanders through less mature forest and scrubland. The path becomes a lot rougher after crossing a stile and it follows a burn to reach the ridge at about 650 metres. It was barely light in the late afternoon and once on the ridge the path was in cloud. From here it is a mile trek across peat hags with an occasional mound of scree as the summit approaches.
As I reached the trig point, the light had finally faded and it was time to dig out my head torch for the descent. It was not the place to take a first selfie but there was not much else to be seen in the fog tinted darkness. The head torch was not much use in the cloud and I slipped and slithered down the ridge over wet rocks and through peat bogs. The descent took longer than the walk up, not helped by losing the path at the point where the descent from the ridge began and then trying to keep to it as the burn and the path competed for precedence. As I emerged at the foot of the path, a car with 4 walkers pulled up next to me and asked me what the conditions on the top were like - not wanting to spoil their expedition, I told them it was dark.
Ascent: 795 metres
Distance: 6 kilometres
Time: 2hrs 40mins
c Ben Ledi 879m 1hr 12mins
I had breakfasted early and was ready to go for a walk but the promised clear day did not materialise and cloud levels remained low. My initial thoughts of catching a train to Roy Bridge, climbing a couple of munros and returning on the train in the evening were ditched. At lunchtime I was still itching to get out so packed a rucksack and headed over the Duke's Pass to climb Ben Venue. Unfortunately the road was temporarily closed for forest operations and by the time I got through I discovered that the car park was closed and being used by the timber contractors. I decided to carry on and arrived at the foot of Ben Ledi but by this time it was 3:15pm and already the light was fast fading.
I had not been up Ben Ledi for about three years, although it is probably my most climbed hill in Scotland. It is located just above the former cottage of my in-laws and was probably climbed twenty or so times from 1977 onwards, usually from the grounds of the cottage and up the Milton Burn. I was now forced back to the old familiar route from the Stank. There is limited parking across the bridge from the A84 above the Falls of Leny and immediately a steep path climbing diagonally through the forestry plantations, although these had been recently harvested. The route has no respite and after crossing a forestry road it meanders through less mature forest and scrubland. The path becomes a lot rougher after crossing a stile and it follows a burn to reach the ridge at about 650 metres. It was barely light in the late afternoon and once on the ridge the path was in cloud. From here it is a mile trek across peat hags with an occasional mound of scree as the summit approaches.
As I reached the trig point, the light had finally faded and it was time to dig out my head torch for the descent. It was not the place to take a first selfie but there was not much else to be seen in the fog tinted darkness. The head torch was not much use in the cloud and I slipped and slithered down the ridge over wet rocks and through peat bogs. The descent took longer than the walk up, not helped by losing the path at the point where the descent from the ridge began and then trying to keep to it as the burn and the path competed for precedence. As I emerged at the foot of the path, a car with 4 walkers pulled up next to me and asked me what the conditions on the top were like - not wanting to spoil their expedition, I told them it was dark.
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| A first selfie |
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