On the north ridge of An Caisteal (Route 23), looking to Ben Lomond
Being lost or tired is not sufficient reason for calling the rescue service, and neither – in normal summer weather – is being benighted. However, team members I've talked to say not to be too shy about calling them: they greatly prefer bringing down bodies that are still alive…
There is no charge for mountain rescue in Scotland – teams are voluntary, financed by donations from the public, with a grant from the Scottish Executive. You can make donations at youth hostels, TICs and many pubs.
Maps
Some people enjoy exploring in mountains that are poorly mapped or not mapped at all. They should stay away from the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, as it has been excellently mapped – four times over. The mapping in this book is from the Ordnance Survey's Landranger series at 1:50,000. For lower-level walks this book's mapping may well be all you need. For mountain walks, however, it's advisable to have a larger map that shows escape routes (and the other glen you end up in when you come down the wrong side of the hill).
The 1:50,000 Landranger mapping covers the area on sheets 56 (Loch Lomond), 57 (Stirling & Trossachs), 50 (Glen Orchy) and 51 (Loch Tay). The Crianlarich Hills (Parts 3 and 4) are awkwardly on the shared corner of all four maps.
For detailed exploration of crags and corries and pathless boulder slopes you will be helped by the extra contour detail at 1:25,000 scale. The Harvey maps are ideal; they are beautifully clear and legible, mark paths where they actually exist on the ground, and do not disintegrate when damp. They also overlap conveniently. Five Harvey sheets – Arrochar Alps, Crianlarich, Ben Lomond, Ben Ledi, Ben Venue – cover the national park apart from Cowal (Walks 70 to 73) and the Luss Hills (Walks 47 and 48).
The Harvey maps mark fences and walls on the open hill, but not on the lower ground; so if you're planning complicated valley walks you may prefer the Explorer maps, also at 1:25,000 scale. They are bulkier and less robust than the Harvey ones, and the contour lines are less legible, but if Harvey hadn't done it better, they'd be excellent maps. Sheets 364 (Loch Lomond North) and 365 (Trossachs) cover most of the ground, with 347, 360 and 363 for outlying western and southern walks.
Harvey also offers the British Mountain Map: Southern Highlands, covering the national park apart from Cowal at 1:40,000 scale; also the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Outdoor Atlas at 1:40,000 scale. It's spiral bound to fit into a map pocket, and has useful overlap between the pages. Not everybody will like it, but I used it for researching and walking the routes in this book.
The relevant maps (LR = Landranger; Expl = Explorer) are listed in the information box which appears at the start of each route.
In good winter conditions Ben Lui is the best. The south ridge (Route 33) with Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps behind.
Compass and GPS
A compass is a very useful aid in mist, even if your skills only extend to ‘northwest, southeast’ rather than precision bearings. Magnetic deviation is about 1° West (2018): this can usually be ignored. The crystals of magnetite found on Cruach Tairbeirt (see Appendix A) are too small to affect navigation: it's you that's wrong, not the compass!
GPS receivers should be set to the British National Grid (known variously as British Grid, Ord Srvy GB, BNG or OSGB GRB36). GPS readings are normally good within 10m, and I have given 8-digit (10m accuracy) grid references at various tricky points such as where you turn down off a ridge. I have recorded these on the hill, checking for plausibility against a 1:25,000 map afterwards. I have found GPS less reliable on steep slopes, such as the corrie of Ben Lui, with a smaller sky in sight, and hopeless in Loch Lomond's woods; so such readings should be regarded with some caution. Somewhere on the device, if you press the correct buttons, you can find the degree of inaccuracy. The GPS readings are supplementary; the book is designed for use without a GPS receiver.
In midsummer you either keep moving or wear a midge net. Marshalls on the West Highland Way Race at Beinglas campsite
What's in this book
This book suggests the most straightforward routes to each of the area's 21 Munro summits of 3000ft (910m) and over, but seeks out also the wilder and less walked-on ways around the back. It covers the slightly smaller but equally worthwhile hills in which this area is especially rich, from the Cobbler to the Luss Hills and Ben Ledi. For days of storm and wind, for snowy ones when you didn't bring your ice axe, for when you just don't feel like dragging your legs up another 600m ascent, here too are the walks of the woods and watersides.
A walker reaches her final Munro summit on Stuc a' Chroin above Loch Earn (Route 21)
Each of the Munros has its well-worn ‘standard route'. That will be the quickest and most convenient – and fairly straightforward – way up, but usually not the most interesting. I have pointed out those routes in the preambles, and they are listed in several guidebooks, including Steve Kew's Walking the Munros Vol 1 (Cicerone – see Appendix D). However, I've concentrated on what I consider the most rewarding routes for each hill. These may also be a little more demanding, as they seek out the steeper scenery and avoid the flat Landrover track.
Among less-high hills, here are routes up all but three of the area's 20 Corbetts (2500–2999ft/762–914m) as well as Meall an Fhudair, outside the boundary by 400 metres. Some of the Grahams (2000–2499ft/610–761m) are rough and comparatively unrewarding. Here are walks onto just 13 of the available 27, including Ben Venue, five of the Luss Hills, and Beinn Mhor of Cowal.
For the very finest hills I have left the choice to you. Ben Lui, the Arrochar Alps, the Cobbler: these are hills you will want to ascend lots of times, by many different routes, or ranges where only you can decide how much, once you're up, to do. For these I have given a ‘summit summary', with the standard route and the adventure around the back, the slightly rocky scramble and the long, long walk in from somewhere else altogether. Ben Ledi's various routes are spread between two sections of the book, but there's a Ben Ledi summary map in Part 1.
Camp in Coire an Lochain of Ben Lui. Such lightweight, traceless wild camping is now a legal right in Scotland
There are no icons for difficulty and length with those routes – they are all mountain routes requiring appropriate skill and care.
How to use this book
The headers at the start of each route should be self-explanatory. The walk-type icons are shown in the panel to the left; the difficulty ratings are explained below. The length ratings correspond with the approximate times in the main headers: one square indicates a route that could take up to 2.5 hours, two squares up to 4 hours, with the full five squares for walks of over 8 hours. The approximate times are based on 1 hour for 4 horizontal km or for 400m of height gained, with extra time where the ground is particularly steep or rough. They'll be about right, including brief snack stops, for a moderately paced party. There are no length squares in the Summit Summary routes as these are only half routes
