Munros, Glens & Trossachs: a week in the Scottish Highlands

UPDATE (23rd JULY): All spaces in the hostel are now taken. However, you’re still welcome to sign up if you wish to be added to a waiting list, or find your own accommodation nearby.

For this trip, we will be heading to the southern edge of the Scottish Highlands, just north of Loch Lomond. Based in the village of Crianlarich in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park, we’ll be in the midst of an impressive array of mountains (including the southernmost of the Munros) and also well placed for less strenuous routes through the glens and around Loch Lomond itself, including parts of the West Highland Way.

The trip organiser is likely to focus on leading mountain walks if the weather permits, with some gentler days in between. There should also be plenty of options in the area and other leaders are welcome and encouraged to offer alternative walks (either in advance, so others will know they’re on offer – please contact the organiser – or impromptu during the trip).

Although it’s worth bearing in mind that the mountain walks at least will be more strenuous than most of what we do in Berkshire, previous mountain experience is not assumed, and you’re very welcome on the trip whatever your level of experience and however long you’ve been a member!

Please sign up if you’d like to come (especially if you’d like space in the hostel, these may fill up!) If you have any questions before or after you sign up, please contact the organiser. As with all our trips away, you do need to be a Ramblers member to take part, but members of other groups are welcome to join us.

Accommodation

We have booked a set of rooms in Crianlarich Youth Hostel for the group, with a total of 14 beds (including the organiser).

• You’ll be in either a 3-bed or 4-bed room shared with other members of our group, which may be either single-sex or mixed depending on your preferences. (It’s possible some places might end up in a 6-bed room if the trip proves especially popular and we expand.)
• The final cost for hostel accommodation will be between £180 and £230 per person for the week, depending how many spaces we fill.
• A deposit of £80 per person will be required to confirm your space in the hostel once you sign up, with the balance due in early July.
• If you, or you and one other person, wish to pay for the extra space(s) in one of the 3-bed rooms to have it to yourselves, that’s an option subject to availability.
• Please sign up as soon as possible to be sure of a space in the hostel, and by 9th July at the lastest!

You are also welcome to book your own accommodation – there are a number of options either in Crianlarich itself or a short drive away. Please do still complete the sign-up form though, so that the organiser knows you’re coming.

For those staying in the hostel, we’ll be organising to cook and eat together as on previous such trips (volunteers will be very welcome for this!) and costs will be shared amongst those involved (likely to be around £15–£20 each for a trip of this length). We’ll try to have at least one evening out during the trip as well if we can find a suitable venue, giving an opportunity for those at the hostel and elsewhere to eat and socialise together.

Travel

Journey time from Reading is about 9 hours by train (fastest route via London and Edinburgh), or a 450-mile drive (Google estimates about 7–9 hours but that may be optimistic!). There’s also the option of the overnight sleeper train (the Fort William branch of the highland service calls at Crianlarich) or flying to Glasgow and hiring a car / taking the train from there.

As mentioned above, there are a decent range of walking options either starting in Crianlarich itself, or making use of local buses and trains. If we do have enough cars to transport people to and fro during the trip, it will certainly expand the options for walks, but it’s by no means essential.

Walks and other activities

As usual for trips of this nature, specific walks for each day will be decided nearer the time depending on the group’s preferences, available transport, and the weather (which can vary widely and rapidly in the highlands). In particular, we will not be tackling mountains in conditions that would be unsafe for the group.

However, to give a flavour of what’s on offer, there are several groups of mountains nearby which we might hope to climb:

• The Crianlarich Hills (a set of seven Munros southeast of Crianlarich, typically climbed in three groups).
• The Ben Lui group or Tyndrum Hills (four Munros directly to the west, climbled either as two pairs or one long and strenuous route).
• The Arrochar Alps (a group of four Munros on the western side of Loch Lomond, usually climbed as a pair and two singles).
• The Mamlorn and Bridge of Orchy Hills are also not far away, and a few others depending on available transport.

In terms of lower-level and less strenuous walks, options include:

• Bridge of Orchy to Tyndrum via the West Highland Way (7 miles)
• Tyndrum to Crianlarich via the West Highland Way (6 miles, or combined with above for 13 miles)
• Ardleish to Crianlarich via the Falls of Falloch (9 miles)
• A variety of woodland and lochside walks, long and short, in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park
• These are just a few possibilities – there are of course many others depending on available transport, with Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park on our doorstep.

For those who’d like to spend a day doing non-walking activities, there are a variety of water-based activities and tourist attractions around Loch Lomond itself. With a bit of a drive south to Balloch, its bird of prey and sea life centres and Loch Lomond distillery are within reach, as are Inveraray Castle or the hillside Benmore Botanic Garden if you drive west. If you’re willing to travel further then a steam train on the West Highland Line from Fort William to Mallaig, or a city day in Glasgow, are also possible.

NOTE: the photos shown above are not from the exact location of this trip, but indicative and taken on one of the group’s previous visits to the Scottish Highlands.