Ben Vorlich

M165 | 985 m. | 3232 ft.
Translation: Hill of the bay
Pronuncation: byn vorlich

The second day of our 2011 hill walking holiday started with a very short drive from the Lochearnhead Hotel to the south shore of Loch Earn. The roadside at Ardvorlich was quite busy with cars. Some of them obviously hill walkers’ cars but many of them belonged to guys with fishing rods. Well, it was a Saturday and the weather was fine. Frank and I chose the usual path up Glen Vorlich, passing Ardvorlich House first, then climbing gradually up this nice glen. Where the landrover track ends we continued up the highway/path that climbs the north-east ridge of Ben Vorlich. Steady climbing brought us to the spot/small cairn which marks the end of the return path from Stuc a’Chroin. From that point it was another 300m of climbing first steep, then moderate and then steep ground again to the summit. Reaching the west top and thus the Munro (Cord’s No 200!) gave us some time for a break and a good look around. A nice place indeed.

After ten minutes we continued our walk descending the south-west ridge to the beallach between the two hills, Beallach an Dubh Choirein. From the beallach the Prow of the Stuc is quite impressive and we looked for the path described by Storer in his Southern Highlands book. However the description he gives is obviously wrong since he speaks of the bypass path (not to be confused with the return path) being on the right of the Prow. The very steep and gritty path, however is to the left of the Prow and cimbs a very steep grassy gully before it ends on the ridge above close to the top of the Prow. From the end of the climb it was a short walk to the summit of Stuc a’Chroin and a well-deserved break by the cairn where we enjoyed the views to the south.

The return started by retracing our steps and then descending the north-west ridge to the spot where a steep path on loose ground drops into the corrie below the Beallach an Dubh Choirein. Once on flatter terrain we contoured below the beallach, crossed the north-west ridge of Beinn Vorlich, again contoured the north-west corrie of the hill – all on an easy-to-follow but sometimes boggy path – and rejoined the route of ascent at the spot on the north-east ridge of Beinn Vorlich mentioned earlier. From there it was a pleaseant walk/stroll back to the car at Ardvorlich reversing the route of ascent taken a few hours earlier.

This was good sunny and dry day on two well-known Munros. A satisfying walk, the last 15 minutes of which were spent in the company of three Scottish ladies one of whom spoke good German which she had learned at school. Surprise, Surprise.

 

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