The great advantage of working part-time (or semi-retired) and having flexible working means I can pick which days to work and thus I don’t work if the WX looks excellent. However, with a customer support issue I was actually working (Teams/email support) at 6.00an with the team in India whilst I waited for a diabetic drug to work. Then breakfast then away to the Cowal Peninsula which is all the way around Loch Lomond and down the banks of Loch Long. Of course despite an early start the M8 traffic was a nightmare and I was stop/start crawling for 20mins but after that everything was clear sailing. I can’t say the same for those going East, a big crash in the tunnels just after the Kingston Bridge and the Eastbound carriageway was closed. I got fed up measuring the Eastbound tailbacks when I got to 5 miles 
8.35am into Glenloin Car Park just past Arrochar. This used to be a smart car park, number plate recognition noted when you arrived and you paid on exit either by app or card. Now it was pay & display, cheaper technology and the council make more. So at 8.37 I was £9 lighter. Nine pounds 
Hey, the car park is opposite the path starting point and is super convenient so it could be worse. Boots on, extra water as it was meant to be a warm day and I was off at 9.01am
The path climbs in a forest up some switchbacks or zig-zags. I think there 26 bends greater than 90deg to the end of the forest but the path is really easy walking rock/stones/hardcore. You gain height quickly, start at 14m ASL and then you exit into the sun at 325m and I think it took about 50mins-1hr. Then the views start. Now I already knew it was meant to a sunny day and warm but it was chilly at about 5C. It was also meant to be very windy but there was hardly a breeze here.
And as you exit the forest you get the first of many visual overloads. This is after 1hr15 walking and The Cobbler GM/SS-020 on the left and the rocky top of Beinn Narnain GM/SS-016 on the right. You can see the excellent path which is this good 75% of the way. It needs to be with the number of boots on the ground here. And yes, this is Scotland and the sky was that blue with no clouds at all. Unreal.
Here’s Beinn Narnain GM/SS-016, the true summit is the left hand one atop the rocks. There is a specific path off my path to Beinn Narnain. Just like there are 3 paths off this one to The Cobbler.
As you continue to climb you come to the Narnain Boulders, many large boulders the size of small buildings. Very impressive to walk amongst and for some reason I don’t know I didn’t photograph them However, I can say that sat out of the wind on my return I had 15mins rest and a big drink of water and had an excellent 4G signal and caught up on reflector happenings!
After the boulders finish there’s a big wood pole that marks the start to the Southern path up The Cobbler and a very obvious path and stone staircase can be seen. Still no clouds or wind on the way up.
I just continued climbing and climbing and climbing and finally the slope tails off, you pass the post marking the Northern path up The Cobbler and eventually the path up Beinn Narnain. This was taken at the second Cobbler path and about 300m before the Narnain path. I started at 14m ASL and now I’m at 640m +/- What!!! Yes I have now climbed more than 2 whole Scald Law’s of ascent and it the first time you get a really good look at the target. I also got a sinking feeling that there is nearly 400m more climbing to do. That’s another Scald Law and a third. But oh does Beinn Ime look good and whilst the path can be seen, foreshortening means it will not be as steep as it looks.
Zoom on the summits. The left peak is the true top. It does look good! But it has taken 2hrs non-stop walking to get here. Gulp!
It’s reasonably easy walking, lots of stone steps and not really any boggy bits. Of course we have had a very dry March so maybe it’s horrible normally but it was OK this time. But … yes but… as I neared the right summit and reached the final steeper bit I was flagging. I realised that I would not be doing either of the other summits. More than I can manage and anyone who has done all three has my respect. Anyway there was a child, well 26 yr old who caught up with me just as we crested the path on the left of the right hand peak. We chatted, don’t know where I got the energy to do that, but like some kind of “life-force vampire” I sucked the youthful energy he possessed out of him into my legs and lungs and we sailed up the final slope out onto the summit. Photos taken of him, pleasantries exchanged and he was off to the next summit. Oh to be young again!
Now the wind appeared at the bottom of Beinn Ime, strong, gusty and damn cold and it was quite wild on the summit. I found a place that was a bit sheltered to setup. But I was breathless, not from the ascent, no that was endorphin trip time after 3hr8m of climbing. It was the views. Just beyond awesome.
This is looking down Glen Kinglas to Loch Ffyne. There’s nothing for scale so it doesn’t really look like the loch is a kilometre below me. The hill on the left is Stob Choire Creagach GM/SS-032. Still no clouds, just haziness on the horizon.
This is Beinn Chorranach and it just cries out “come and climb me” except few people do because it’s not on anybody’s list of summits
An endorphin tripping MM0FMF, summit of Beinn Ime GM/SS-006. Endorphins and chocolate, a great mix. The wind was still gusting a lot and was damn cold. So hat, Buff underneath hat, single fleece and this was just before the Hagloffs Belay jacket was broken out of the bag and worn. Having dropped the coat 1/3 of the way down Scald Law the other week I kept a very firm grip on it this time!
With some difficulty due to the gusts, I got the 5m pole and EFHW setup. I added visual warnings to the wire to stop people walking into it as the top is at 4.7m and the bottom at 1m. The visual warnings stand out and were like lights to a moth, every other walker came over to ask what was happening ! Still no clouds.
Wow, the Cruachan group, Ben Cruachan GM/WS-013, Beinn a’Bhuiridh GM/WS-115, Beinn a’Chochuill GM/WS-071 and Beinn Eunaich GM/WS-065.
It took me ages and ages to figure out which summit this was. I have never seen it from here and so I was thinking was it something like Ben Starav. But no, it’s one of Brian’s @g8add favourites, Ben Lui GM/SS-003. Gerald @G4OIG, that’s what it looks like from the side you climbed.
Zoomed out it was cortex overload. Beinn a’Cleibh, Ben Lui GM/SS-003, Beinn Oss GM/SS-005, Beinn Duchcraig GM/SS-009 and lost in the murkiness, Fiarach GM/SS-093.
There was something amazing about these views which I’ve not seen before as I don’t normally walk this far West. Just a whole new set of vistas and with colours and blue sky, I felt I was 1000’s of miles from Scotland.
Looking North East we have An Caisteal GM/SS-007, Cruach Ardrain GM/SS-004, Stob Binnein GM/SS-002 and Ben More GM/SS-001 in the distance. Coming closer is Ben Vorlich GM/SS-013 and then Ben Vane GM/SS-017. Hidden between Vorlich and Vane is Loch Sloy, the very large pumped-storage hydro power scheme.
I set up essentially looking at Ben Lui. That visual treat kept my mind off the walk back to the car. Operation started with my normal plan on 15m CW then 40m SSB. 13 QSOs on 15m and 8 on 40m. After that I tried 10m and worked US3LX. I had perfect 4G coverage and could keep an eye on SOTAwatch. So propagation on 10m existed but US3LX was the only caller. After a few mins it was 17m and I worked 4 but then it went quiet. OK, let’s try 20m. That’s odd the SWR during tune up started at 99:1 on the KX2 and after some considerable effort a 1.6:1 match was achieved. I called and called and checked SOTAwatch and no RBNhole spots. Some more faffing and I tuned to FT8 frequencies and zilch. Hang on the band is dead, has there been some massive flare? No numbnuts here and leant back on the coax from the 49:1 match and pulled it and the antenna had come out of its socket 
Re-connecting it and we were back in business. 20 more CW QSOs worked including ODX with AC6ZQ in Maine. I did confirm the state because a 6 call got me all excited. It was still a nice QSO even if it wasn’t California.
I’d decided no way can I do another summit and at 1405 I shutdown, had some more chocolate, finished off bottle #1 of water, had a good slurp from bottle #2, packed up and took more photos before retying boot laces and heading down. In the strong winds I had lost my “noodle”. I’ve taken to carrying a 50cm piece of split foam waterpipe lagging, the kind you can just push over pipes already installed. Why? Well it’s ideal for putting over barbed wire when you have to cross a fence and I was fed up with ripping trousers. It must weigh a stunning 5g. Sadly a gust had carried it away. Probably on its way to the USA now ready to be tagged with a 10% tariff on arrival 
Beinn an Lochain GM/SS-018 just across from the Rest and Be Thankful.Another hill that screams out “climb me”.
Zoomed out shot to Cruachan. Cruchan Group in the far distance. Next obvious ridge with a good peak is Beinn Bhuidhe GM/SS-012 and in the foreground the full majesty of the long ridge of Stob Choire Creagach (Beinnein an Fhiddleir) GM/SS-032.
Summit Beinn Ime GM/SS-006 with one of the 20 or so visitors whilst I was there.
I’ve saved one of the best till last. Ask a child to draw a mountain and they draw you Ben Lomond GM/SS-011 even if they have never heard of it. What a stunning shape and it’s promoting itself up my list of 2025 summits quickly. Eye-watering car park charges though. Up close we have Beinn Narnain on the right with its fine cliffs and another of those seldom climbed hills, A’Chrois. It looks good but as it’s only 140m descent to its col with Beinn Narnain, it’s not on any lists. Looks good though.
A zoom on Ben Lomond and A’Chrois
Finally the back of The Cobbler GM/SS-020
Return was the reverse of the route up. I did look carefully at the route up Beinn Narnain and The Cobbler as I passed them and thought “another day”. I’m not sure if I can do both in one day and at £9/day car parking, I’ll be poor if I keep activating these popular summits.
But wow oh wow, Cowal summits look even more impressive than Luss summits and quite a few are like these Arrochar Alps were you start from sea level. The walk out did seem to drag on and on despite ignoring the 15mins break I had at the boulders.
Total walk was 15.5km and a total ascent of 1140m which explains why I was so pleased to sit in the car when I got back. It was really quite cold in the gales at the summit but it was 14-15C and breeze-less back at the car. After the M8 traffic going home last time, I took the longer route via A roads and Stirling. 25 miles further but I was able to just chug along with no queues.
One of those days when you are glad you got out and did something to justify the WX conditions. The problem being many summits may seem anti-climatic after this.
