Ben Vane (Munro) 915m - 15/06/2018
DIstance 11km (+5km cycling detour); Ascent (930m); Time 5h (including the detour)
We stayed over at Arrochar en route from Cumbria to Mull. The plan was to do one of the remaining two of the Arrochar Munros - Ben Vane. The weather was wet with rain but the visibility was OK. The first part of the route was on tarmac - lending itself to a bike-in; and Alison's knee was a bit dodgy. So we stopped for lunch at the village inn at Arrochar (where we also stayed the night). After lunch Alison stayed at the inn and had a quiet afternoon reading and I drove the short distance to the start of the walk at the Inveruglas visitor centre on Loch Lomond. The bike in was straightforward as far as Coiregrogain, although with 120m of ascent I found it quite strenuous. Unfortunately, at this point I turned left to soon (onto the 3 Lochs way). I thought I was probably going wrong but this was proper mountain bike territory and I was having fun so continued for far longer than i would have done on foot. Eventually I turned around when I could see Loch Long ahead of me. The intended left turn was just a few 100m on from Coiregrogain. Once at the start of the, initially boggy, track up Ben Vane I dismounted and switched to hiking gear. My trainers and inner socks were saturated from cycling through puddles in the rain - so it was comforting to put on dry outer socks and boots - they didn't stay that way for long though. The ascent was unremittingly steep and for nearly the entire way unremittingly rainy. I met two (separate) people coming down, both of whom warned me of the slippery rocks on the scramble at the summit. About 100m (altitude) from the top it stopped raining for a while and there were some splendid rainbows to enjoy as well as the views of Loch Lomond and the surrounding hills. I took the scrambling section with due care, but it presented no real difficulties. Descent back to the bike was fairly swift and once on the bike extremely swift back to the car.