Ben Donich. 847 metres. Rest and be Thankful. Arrochar Alps.

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With a fine day forecast last Saturday myself and Alan fancied a day in the Arrochar Alps. This is the B828 (in photo above) which leads you down through steep sided mountains on a single track road with passing places to a dead end strip of tarmac and the isolated but picturesque village of Lochgoilhead. Exactly as it appears in the name this cluster of low level houses, holiday homes and Victorian mansions sits at the head of Loch Goil and feels as isolated and remote now as it was in past centuries.
The remarkable thing about Glasgow's west coast position near the Scottish Highlands is that rugged steep sided mountains and deep fjord like sea lochs are only an hours drive away from the city centre. The compact group of peaks known as the Arrochar Alps have been the Glasgow hill walker's playground for generations and even now are little changed. Yes, this is mid January and not a drop of snow anywhere. Looks like summer, doesn't it?

We stopped briefly at the Rest and be Thankful, above; what used to be on horseback the long pull out of Glen Croe but which now is nothing in a motorcar, and reached Loch Restil (seen here) then carried on down the minor B828 to another smaller car park under Ben Donich. Both the Rest and be Thankful car park and the Ben Donich one, despite being large, were packed solid with vehicles of every description. In good sunny conditions nowadays in the highlands you have to be up early just to get a space but we managed to squeeze in. A path starts from here and leads up the ridge to the summit, handily signposted at junctions to avoid any confusion. Hill walking made easy.

Good weather and a lack of wind meant mist and low cloud in the glens but clear on the summits and we timed it just as the sun was burning some of the rising cotton wool carpets of mist away.

Very atmospheric and even better in an area like this with rugged peaks in every direction.

Alan, his faithful hound, and Ben Lomond.

The mighty Ben Cruachan, 1126 metres, and one of Scotland's notable Munros. A big memorable day out for any hill walker if you do all the summits on the ridge.

The nearby Beinn an Lochain just across the glen from our peak.

The path up Ben Donich is fairly straightforward until you come to a boulder-field and section of deep crevasses and rock fissures.Quite a few dogs have got themselves into trouble here down these holes and either went missing altogether or have had to be rescued. The path weaves through this short section with only one easy scramble down a 10 foot wall. Being a cold day with overnight temperatures around minus 5 degrees and thick mist over the slopes  the grass and rocks had a coating of ice on them which made them tricky in places. Poor old Bobby nearly slipped down a crevasse but was saved by being too fat to slide down the hole. Yeah! Obesity saves the day once again! Keep munching those crisps and biscuits- you know it makes sense.

These fissures are only really dangerous in a whiteout with obscured vision or after heavy snowfall when they can be partially buried................. or if the rocks surrounding them happen to be covered in invisible ice :o)

Although a mere Corbett and not a Munro Ben Donich is a fine hill and a relatively popular one so we encountered a steady stream of other hill-walkers on it. A fine excuse to hand out cards. Incidentally, my comedy novel about the great outdoors Autohighography features a chapter on the Arrochar Alps and takes place on a neighbouring hillside that also boasts deep fissures and several high level mountain caves where the action takes place. Namely, The Brack.
Link for that here.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autohighography-Summits-Sinners-Bob-Law-ebook/dp/B00JNAIGAO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1485622981&sr=1-1&keywords=Autohighography.+Bob+Law

And here it is in person. The Brack from Ben Donich- another fine jaggy hill with loads of character and interest including a little visited high level cave reached by a narrow traverse line. The mountains around the Arrochar Alps region are apparently the most fractured peaks in the UK caused by the type of rock there and post glacial slippage.
A fascinating and comprehensively researched account in this link below exploring their depth and complexity. Some of the cracks and deeper chasms have rock climbs in them like the ones below Beinn Narnain's summit, which I've climbed into and up decades ago, like most folk, without guessing their original creation. The unique shape of the Cobbler was probably caused by massive post glacial slippage taking away half the summit as well. Like the Whangie on a much bigger scale. An inspirational  theory is found in here behind the growth of small woods next to caves and fissures. Fantastic article and well worth a detailed read through.
http://geologyglasgow.org.uk/docs/017_283__arrocharalps_total_1383576245.pdf

The summit of Ben Donich.

A view down from the ice covered summit rocks to Loch Goil.

The high plateau on Ben Donich just before the summit.

A small sea plane flying above us.

The rugged beauty of the Arrochar Alps.

The final icy steps before the summit.

An ice dog.

Arrochar Alps panorama.

The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain.
A great day out. Around 4 to 5 hours total walk depending on pace. We took five due to ice and energy levels.

Sticking with the Frozen theme... I manged to see three new films I hadn't seen before over the Christmas- New Year period that I really enjoyed and would thoroughly recommend to anyone. The first was 'Saving Mr Banks' about Walt Disney's real life 20 year battle/efforts to persuade Mary Poppins author P. L. Travers to let him transform her book into a film.
The second was Frozen. I'm not a big fan of modern musicals or Disney cartoons generally unless they are Pixar ones like Toy Story and Finding Nemo but the excellent story-line, characters and computer generated animation in this one proved exceptional and won me over despite my reservations that it might be just for young children. I do like children's films if they are well done, like Holes, The Spiderwick Chronicles or Moonrise Kingdom and this was.

The third a few days ago was Stonehearst Asylum, a clever twisty little thriller with great turns by Ben Kingsley, Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess and Michael Caine. Unlike the other two films a mixed review by the critics for this one but I enjoyed it. Critics tend to change their mind over time anyway and hundreds of masterpieces they loudly applaud today were scorned when they first came out. Well, it's all in the word isn't it. Not saying it's a masterpiece by any means but I found it good fun and more entertaining and lively than any amount of Shakespeare, Dickens, Samuel Beckett or Alan Bennett plays.