Ben Lomond Bitching

Aimi is up to Glasgow visiting me at work for the first time… it only took a year to get her up here. The main attraction wasn’t spending time with me, or visiting a new city, or seeing what I’m working on. It was to climb Ben Lomond, which I’ve proclaimed widely is my favourite mountain walk in the UK to date.

This is also the last big walk that Aimi is allowed to do before the 3 Peaks Challenge she is doing next weekend. Shes in top condition, worked hard and knows the mountains, so this one shouldn’t be an issue right?

Honestly, it was all fine, and there isn’t much to put in this blog except some really nice pictures I wanted to share. 

The only notable event was about 45 mins into the walk when we popped out of the tree line and into some still air. We had left the walk late in the day to avoid the morning showers and hopefully get some clear views. We seemed to have timed it perfectly, turning up, just as the drizzle was stopping and the sun was coming out. Really trying hard not to find something to moan about on a glorious afternoon, is easier when you aren’t subject to the Scottish blight – midges.

They just got really busy on us in the humid still air. With sweat dripping down us from Aimi’s intense pace, they must have thought it was a buffet of southern sweaty Snell and hot chick Hawtin. 

This turned out to be too much for Aimi and she threw a bit of a tantrum, threatening going back to the car. It was a bit grim, but we carried on to the top of a rise and found some wind to push them away, while we had a late lunch. After that she was unstoppable, clearly she was just hangry haha!

I had hoped we would get a good view from the top like the last time I was up here. But the clouds hovered just at the peak and only allowed a peek at the view. We chose to come down the steep back side of Ben Lomond. This was really quite a challenge in places but it got us down and out of the cloud very quickly to enjoy the view again and snap some nice pictures.

Once at the bottom we came across an honesty cafe a homeowner had set up a the end of their drive. Basically they had made a bunch of cakes and packaged them individually, along with bottles of water, soda and packets of crisps! There was a money tin on the counter, and even a Paypal QR code to pay by card if you didn’t have any cash! Its the ultimate low-tech automated business reliant on the honesty of its patrons to pay for what they take. We helped ourselves to a couple cans of Irnbrew and some cakes and enjoyed the garden chairs set out for us. Leaving the rubbish in a bin that was also provided it really was a great little pocket change business!