Ben Vorlich by Loch Lomond

On Saturday I climbed Ben Vorlich, which overlooks Loch Lomond. I was hoping to find more Purple Saxifrage. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we ascended by the east ridge. On the way up we had excellent views to A'Chrois and Ben Narnain to the south...

to Loch Katrine and Loch Arklet to the east, with Ben Ledi on the horizon to the left and Ben Venue (which I climbed last week) in the centre...

and to the Loch Sloy dam to the south-west.

As we climbed higher, we saw the summit of Ben Vorlich itself ahead.

To the south-east we had views across to Ben Lomond, which I also climbed last week.

Near the summit, we came through a wide gap between rocky outcrops.

I recognised this as the subject of a photo I took under very different conditions in December 1973. Later I painted a watercolour from this photo.

Close to this point, I managed to find quite a lot of purple saxifrage.

From the summit cairn we had a new view to the north, to Beinn a'Chleibh, Ben Lui, Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig.

We descended by a steeper but more direct route towards Loch Sloy.