Ben Lomond on a summer's day

Back in October I climbed my first munro, and on Sunday just gone I did it again. Two munros bagged, but, errr, both the same one, lol! I don't think I'll be allowed to eventually say I've climbed 200 munros, if it's the same one over and over... However, I was kind of 'leading' this walk, going with my friend Jenny who's never done it, and so I wanted to stick to somewhere I knew I didn't need to worry about map and compass for. Ben Lomond has a clear, well worn path, it would be pretty difficult to get lost. So, second verse, same at the first... :)

Totally different weather to October, I knew it was going to be a hot one, so I packed my bag accordingly. I froze a couple of 500ml bottles of water, to carry one in each side pocked of my bag, so they would stay cold as they melted on the walk. This worked brilliantly. :) I knew, though, there was a strong chance it would be cold higher up the hill, so packed a hoody and then a few 'just in case, but nae chance I'll actually need them' things went in the bag, such as a rolled up rain mac, first aid kit, foil blankets, etc. Finished it off with a packed lunch in a small coolbag, and a sun visor, buff, and bottles of suncream and midge deterrent - I was ready to go! I wore my boots, after umming and ahhing for weeks wehther trainers with decent grip would be better if it was going to be hot, but it turned out to be absolutely the right decision, as the past few weeks of hot, dry weather had left a lot of dry earth and probably more loose rocks and gravel than usual.

I picked up Jenny and we headed to Rowardennan - she's walking in the Himalayas later in the year, and hasn't done any proper hillwalking for many, many years, so she wanted to test her equipment, and came laden down with maybe a bit bigger bag than you'd need for a trip up Ben Lomond. :) We got parked easily enough, at around 9:15am, then after a quick trip to the loo, off we went.

It was warm, but not hot, when we started and there were a few midges around, but not too bad. It gets steep quite quickly, and we both found ourselves breathing a bit hard and heart rates up - I didn't wear my heart rate monitor this time, which I'm a wee bit annoyed about, but never mind, I'd probably have been obsessing about it otherwise, haha. We walked slowly and steadily up the hill, stopping for quite a few 'scenery breaks' or to let other folk go past (it was busy on the hill, a summer's Sunday making it somewhat of a popular destination) and so on. Jenny was having a few issues with her hip flexor muscle as we got further up the hill, so we took things slowly and just enjoyed the walk. Halfway up, we entered a cloud, which was highly surreal. Basically we could see clearly for about 100m all around us, but after that it was just thick mist. It got a lot colder, so the long sleeve tops came out, and we carried on.

At one point, about 3 miles up, I spotted a hillrunner making his way up to us, so I stepped aside, and greeted him on his way. He stopped to exchange pleasantries, and I promised him that other folk coming down the way had assured me there was clear daylight and hot sunshine at the summit, when we came out of the cloud. He spotted my West Highland Way Race hoody and asked if I'd ran the race this year - no, no, no, I said, just crewed it. "The whole day? Wow, that's hard going - well done." - I think I have a new best friend. ;) So after a little humble blustering from me for a couple of seconds, I said I wasn't a runner like him, but I helped out where I could, like volunteering at the Fling ultra earlier in the year. "Oh, you might know my brother, John, he's the race director...." - how could I not follow that with "Yep. I shared a room with him..." - lmao!!!! We introduced ourselves, and with that, he ran off. Like, actually running, 3 miles up Ben Lomond. I turned to Jenny as he set off running: "Yeah, so that's the sort of people I hang around with these days..." - "Mad people?" "Yup." :)

So, we continued. We were on the slightly flatter bit, but I knew there was a steep climb ahead of us. The cloud was starting to thin, and soon we spotted the beginning of the climb. It was about midday by now, so I suggested as we had about another hour ahead of us at the pace we were going, maybe we should stop and have a wee bit of lunch, so we perched on a rock, and chatted briefly while I updated facebook (as you do, 3 miles up a mountain...) and we prepared ourselves mentally for the next steep climb. Then, onwards we went, taking it slowly, and stopping to greet pretty much anyone who passed by. It was quite a friendly place, haha.

At the top, having come out of the clouds and into bright blue clear skies and a hot sun, we headed along the ridge to the summit, and the wee scrambly bit just before. We reached the trig point after about 3 hrs 40, a leisurely climb but still faster than I'd done last time. I felt pretty pleased with that, and thrilled to note my legs felt generally okay. The summit was mobbed - easily 20+ folk sitting around in the bright sunshine, taking photos, eating sandwiches, that kind of thing. Jenny bumped into someone she used to live near years ago in Germany... the world is a bizarrely small place at times! We took a few snaps, enjoyed the amazing scenery, then got ready to head back down.

As with last time, I decided to give the Ptarmigan route a miss. I'd rather go back the way we came, knowing the route and so on. The Ptarmigan route is very steep off the summit, I'm told, and I didn't know if we'd be going back into a cloud, so we just went back the 'tourist path' instead. The cloud had dissipated, and we walked the whole way in bright sun. I heated up pretty quickly, so I just tried to keep moving, and drink plenty of water. I was finding that my recent hill runs etc. has helped me feel a lot more confident with descents, and I was moving relatively well. Jenny said it was like I was running, so - for a giggle - I ran a couple of dozen metres too, not ideal in my walking boots but bizarrely not as tough as I'd thought it might be, haha.

Jenny was starting to struggle a bit now - her knees were hurting, and although her hip flexor wasn't giving her as much grief on the descent, she was in a little pain, especialy over the steeper bits. She was finding, though, her new walking poles to be invaluable. I'll admit, walking poles are not something I've ever considered before, but she found they were great, keeping her a bit more upright on the ascent, and helping support her balance on the steep bits on the descent. We stopped for short breaks a few times on the way down, but the more I stopped, unless I actually sat on a rock to take the weight off my feet the more my feet felt like heavy bricks of iron, so despite my leg muscles being generally okay, I was getting slower as time went on. I stopped to wait on Jenny a few times, and help pick out her route choices over some of the wee technical sections, and we made it down to the carpark probably about 3 hours after we left the summit, to much relief.

Again, as with last time, the feeling of taking my boots off and slipping my trainers on was bliss, and after a few minutes sitting in the car, drinking ice water I'd bought from someone on a charity stall in Rowardennan carpark, we decided just to head for home. In the crazy heat, the descent had wiped out our energy, and all we could think about was getting a shower and food and falling into our respective beds. So, onto the motorway, and homewards we went. :) I was proud of Jenny for getting her first munro in the bag, but also pretty proud of myself too, as it felt like I managed a wee bit better than last time, and I'd actually enjoyed quite a lot of the walk.

Today, two days later, my calf muscles are in screaming agony, but that's the only pain I've had. I think my quad muscles are getting stronger, my shoulders are able to handle the walk more, and my hamstrings and glutes are well trained from work in the gym. I really can't complain. :) It was a lovely day - a tough walk, but a good achievement. Maybe next time I'll do a different munro.... or maybe I'll come back to Ben Lomond to challenge myself to do it in a better time. Who knows?