Clyde Hillwalkers head for Ben Lomond

It was a murky start for Lenzie Scouts leaving Rowardennan on Saturday morning to climb Ben Lomond with 150th Glasgow and mountain leaders Niall Archibald and Tim Clarke under the auspices of Clyde Region Scouts.

The 150th from Cambuslang had camped overnight at Auchengillan whilst Euan, Ewan and Stuart from the 12th Glasgow set off early from the Lenzie Scout Hall to RV on the shores of Loch Lomond. There was much fun exploring the shoreline while waiting for the Cambuslang Scouts to pack there tents and get up to Rowardennan.

The cloud was down to 200m and the forecast was for showers and winds of 20 to 25 mph. But the weather was set to improve into the afternoon so there was a chance of some good views, at least on the descent of Ptarmigan ridge.

After a wet, windy and cloudy gathering at the summit Trig Point, the views over the islands of Loch Lomond on the way down were fantastic. Beyond the southern shore of Loch Lomond can be seen another sliver of water, the River Clyde, dissected by what could only be Dumbarton Rock.

This was a pretty stiff test for the Scouts, navigating in cloud and ascending 974 metres from Loch Lomond which is only 17 feet above sea level. The descent was very steep initially, coming down the NW spur from the summit and negotiating some tricky ground before arriving back on the bonnie banks.