Ben Lomond Walk report 20th April 2025
Fourteen members travelled by mini-coach to Ben Lomond. The early start and good speed on the journey meant they arrived at the Ben Lomond car park while there were still enough larger spaces to take the minibus.
The C walkers were dropped off at Balmaha and they headed north along the West Highland Way (WHW). They started with a steep pull up to Craigie Fort then made their way down to pick up the WHW, walking through the forest they heard their first Cuckoo of the year and saw bluebells, violets, wood anemones and primroses. Continuing along Loch Lomond they saw various ducks along with people on paddle boards and small boats. After lunch, they walked to Rowardennan hotel where crowds of people were enjoying the Easter Day sunshine, from here they made their way to pick up the bus at Ben Lomond carpark.
The twelve A walkers did not follow the popular path to the summit of Ben Lomond. Instead they opted to take a quieter, in parts steeper and rougher route, which gave great views and variety of terrain. They set off north from the carpark along the WHW before branching right to climb up the initially wooded, steep slopes, towards the Ptarmigan ridge via the western flank of Tom Fithich. The weather was overcast at the start with but became increasingly sunny and warm when out of the chilly south easterly wind. This had people taking off and putting on top layers throughout the day.
First break stop just after 11 (Rob would approve) on some interesting rocks just below Tom Fithich with great views of the hills and Loch Lomond to the south and west. A steep climb up to Ptarmigan and the start of the undulating ridge to the base of the steeper north west ridge of Ben Lomond. Plenty of great viewpoints with good visibility of the hills in all directions. A good game of identifying the hills kept people amused for a wee while! We could see a fair number of people descending the ridge from the top. The last part of the ascent is steep but with a stepped path to the summit. The final part is slightly scrambly and then we were on the summit - a bit of a shock to see about 60 other folk there - but to be expected on Easter Sunday. Beverly, coincidentally, met some friends from an Edinburgh club and a friendly guy (also named James) took a photo of the assembled A-Team on the summit. It was also a new Munro for Kerry - congratulations!
We then dropped down the south east ridge a bit and sat above the track for a relaxed second break and watched the folk go up and down - including a couple of girls who, it appeared, were dressed for sunny, warm Benidorm rather than sunny but very chilly, Ben Lomond!
The descent south down the broad ridge seemed quite long with a number of steeper zig zag sections on the well-made path. We finally got back to the car park - only a few minutes after our agreed time and met up with the C walkers
Despite the slightly steeper route all agreed that going up via Ptarmigan was much better than going by the tourist path - more interesting and great views.
The journey back required our driver to exercise skill and patience on the narrow road between Cashel and Drymen.
