BEN LOMOND above the WEST HIGHLAND WAY

Title:
BEN LOMOND above the WEST HIGHLAND WAY

Description:
The "Beacon Hill" is Scotland's most southerly Munro and an ascent can be made from Rowardennan on the West Highland Way where beneath Ben Lomond the Loch is at it narrowest and deepest. *For Loch Ard views of the Ben watch the Ben Venue video. As usual, with anything to do with the Trossachs, Sir Walter Scott has the verse: - - "Right up Ben Lomond could he press, And not a sob his toil confess. His form accorded with a mind Lively and ardent, frank and kind;" Scott also made reference to Inchailloch Island (located just off Balmaha on the West Highland Way) 'The island of the old woman or of the nun': - "The shafts and limbs were rods of yew, Whose fellows in Inch Cailliach wave, Their shadows o'er Clan Alpin's grave, And, answering Lomond's breezes deep, Soothe many a chieftains's endless sleep". From the summit there are great views over Loch Lomond about which Tobias Smollet (1721-1771) remarked " I have seen the Lago di Garda, Albana, De Vico, Bolsetta and Geneva, and upon my honour, I prefer Loch Lomond to them all, a preference which is certainly owing to the verdant islands that seem to float upon its surface". After the initial steep ascent the plateau is soon reached and, upon looking back, the islands of Loch Lomond are revealed. Geoffrey of Monmouth who died in 1154, detailed how King Arthur pursued his enemies up Loch Lomond and all but exterminated them on the islands and consequently overthrew an Irish army that came to their relief - and it was in 1263 that Olaf of Man with sixty ships from the fleet in Millport Bay headed up Loch Long then dragged the ships over that two-mile rise into Loch Lomond and swept the islands with sword and fire. The first steamer to be placed in Loch Lomond was the 'Marion' in 1817 by the enterprising David Napier who had it named after his wife. The entire area from Drymen to Inversnaid on the West Highland Way and so much more was the domain of Rob Roy and it was Scott who wrote in 'MacGregors Gathering': - "Through the depths of Loch Katrine the steed shall career, O'er the peak of Ben Lomond the galley shall steer, And the rocks of Craig-Royston like icicles melt, Ere our wrongs be forgot or our vengeance unfelt!"

Author:
roddymck

Tags:
roddymck, Scotland, West, Highland, Way, Rowardennan, Munro, Ben, Lomond, Loch, outdoors, mountains, Highlands, hillwalking, walks,