20 July Luss Hills Once More

Allan, Davie, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul & Robert

We are beginning to think somebody up there has it in for us for after such a super day on Arran, the situation reverted to the norm for this year. The best that can be said for it today was that at least the rain had gone when we gathered in Luss. Not so the midges though and the wee blighters bit ravenously as we changed into walking gear. How the boys with shorts suffered, we can only guess.

The intention of the day was to travel to the Bonnie Banks and do the Luss horseshoe that we have done a couple of times before, both in conditions completely different from each other, and from today. Despite the overcast conditions and the fog hanging down the hill to around the thousand contour, it was decided that since we were here, we might as well do as we intended. ‘Anyway’, said our weather man ‘it will clear up by eleven’. So off we set over the bridge that spans the main road and onto the Luss Glen road.

A style lifted us off the tarmac and over the fence onto the open flank of Craig an t-Sailich, our first top, if top you would call it. The climb started almost immediately. Though the hill wasn’t as steep as some remembered, it was sufficiently so for the slope to combine with the humidity in the warm air to give an uncomfortably sweaty climb. Allan struggled. Despite many ‘view stops’ and words of encouragement, he continued to struggle as the slope steepened and climbed towards the fog.

No doubt there is a superb view from the ridge that runs round to the top of Luss Glen but for various reasons we have still to see it. Today was not going to give us the opportunity either. And to add to our miseries, when we stopped for coffee, the rain came. Still, it would clear around eleven. It was now five to eleven and, though the rain was brief there was no sign of the fog clearing. At this point Allan had had enough and decided to turn back. While he, probably sensibly, returned to the flat of Luss village, the rest of us sweated on upward into the clag.

The rain went but the clag stayed. We could have been on any hill anywhere for all we could see. Still we plodded upward. On top we found two chaps of our own age perched on the wee cairn that marks the summit of Beinn Dubh. They, like Allan, had had enough and were for back down the way they, and we, had come up. But we are made of stronger stuff – we would finish the horseshoe. So we left the two and walked on along the broad ridge seeing nothing but each other and the fog.

At one point there came a gap in the fog that allowed us a brief view down northward into a deep glen. But a brief view was all it was and the clag closed in again. We plodded on. Jimmy and Robert led most of the way, finding paths through bogs and across grassy slopes. We could tell only from the slight brightness that indicated where the sun was that we had turned from a westerly direction to a more southerly one. Then we turned south-easterly and found the grassy slope that took us to the top of Mid Hill, our last top for the day. (Is it not strange that in a country where all the place names are in Gaelic, only this one is named in English?)

As the ground sloped steeply away from the top of Mid Hill there came a call for lunch. Well down the slope our leaders found a wee sheltered gully out of the breeze and we settled down to take the peece. That’s when the fog cleared. Eleven o’clock, huh! Yes it cleared but only below us for the tops still held the cloud. But as it cleared, it gave us our first real view since the climb this morning. Below us Luss Glen ran down to Loch Lomond still lying slate-grey and dismal under the overcast sky. Still it was a view and we were grateful for it.

It was into this view that we descended after lunch. The slope is steep and unrelenting. We came down it, each in his own fashion; some jogged down, some walked smartly, some strolled and Davie of the dodgy knees took his own time. No matter how we came down, that slope took its toll on thigh muscles. Still, the fast waited for the slow at the fence that cuts across the hill at this point. The style was broken and it was amusing for those already over the fence to see the different techniques employed by the rest to get over. But get over they did and we continued down the slope.

The path decanted us onto tarmac at Glenmallochan farm and once again the fast waited for the slow. Now there were only a couple of miles of tarmac back to Luss. Near the village we came across a picture shop and Robert and Jimmy went for a nosy. The noise of the alarm when they opened the door reverberated up the glen. We can only hope that the pictures were worth the noise for we didn’t wait for any reaction from the house next door. While the two examined the pictures, we walked on.

There was no sign of Allan when we got to the cars. But when Jimmy and Robert came down past the school, there was Allan strolling casually along the road. ‘What was the view like from the top?’ asked Allan. ‘Wonderful’ they lied and walked on.

Thinking of the rush hour in the city, it was decided that we should return to the King’s Arms in Fenwick for FRT today.