Pronunciation/Translation: Ben Vorlich - Byn Voarlick (Hill of the Bay)
When Shona and I climbed Ben Vorlich last autumn we attacked it from Ardlui and came back down the same way. I noticed that the guys from GHWC were planning on taking the Inveruglas ascent and Ardlui descent, I thought it would be nice to climb it again,this time from the other side.
Poor Alfie got left at home for this one, for two reasons really... car logistics between start and finish points, other folks aren't as keen to transport you back to your car with a muddy dog in tow. Also there was someone else taking their Boxer, and you can't always tell how the K9s are going to get along. Not to worry, Alfie has this one chalked up already anyway.
The start point for the walk was at the carpark just after the Inveruglas Power Station. Several of the group transferred their cars up to the Ardlui Hotel carpark where we were due to end the hike. Once all the motoring technicalities had been ironed out, we began the short walk along the road to the dam service track on the western side of the railway. The trail follows roughly the line of Inveruglas water all the way up to the dam wall at Loch Sloy. There are nice views to the west of Ben Vane, once you have passed the electrical pylon terminal on the left.
The weather was a bit mixed, reports had said it was going to be bright and sunny. Sadly, the clouds were proving slow to shift and it was still feeling quite cold and damp by the time we reached the Lag Dubh. It was here that we left the service track and began ascending steep and northeasterly to the col at just over 750m. Not long into this part of the route, two of the party and their dog decided to retreat back down to the service track and head back to the start. The rest of us plodded our way up the wet, grassy slope, finding traces of feint paths here and there.
By around 600m we were entering cloud cover. Not blindingly thick, but just enough to make navigating our way up that little bit trickier. At the col we turned right and made for the south peak above Coire nan Each a short distance away. Here we could see all that were still ascending to the col, thus keeping the group together before pushing northwesterly up the ridge to Vorlich's main summit (943m).
A few minutes rest were had and some grabbed the obligatory bite to eat, but with the chilly temperature and fierce wind whipping over the summit ridge, the break was short lived. We moved on northwards and every now and then were treated to the sun breaking through the clouds. Eventually we dropped into full visibility again on the lower north slopes of the hill. Handy for us now to navigate around the crags guarding Coire Creagach. Once down past the trickier steep area we moved east then northeast onto easy gentle valley sides that drew us in the direction of Railway Cottage a little south of Ardlui.
With the finish line in sight everyone sauntered along fairly spread out and made it to the main road at various intervals. Not far up the road we all met up at the Ardlui Hotel and sorted out the end of hike car logistics before enjoying a refreshing Shandy in the bar.
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