Beinn Narnain / Ime & The Cobbler

I’ve had my eye on Ben Ime for a while. Having cycled round the sloy route a few times now and looking up at it’s craggy ramparts it’s fixed a spot in my memory.From Arrochar I headed onto the tourist path up to the Cobbler and turned right almost immediately to head up Ben Narnain. The path is steep taking a direct route up the slope, following the foundations of some old pylons (some relic of the hydro) it’s more or less completely straight and rugged with water running it’s whole length. At about 350m the steepness relents as you meet a traversing path, at this point I looked at the map and decided that the path was not on the same side as the view and set about the crags. A touch reckless at points, the scramble was fun; the view down Loch long was worth the extra effort, with such clear weather I could see as far as Ailsa Craig. Now on the south western side of Ben Narnain the Cobbler came into view and it looked resplendent, like an evil villains lair, it’s shape is iconic and intimidating giving a deceptive sense of scale and severity. Through patches of snow I found my way back to the path and soon came upon ‘The Spearhead’ – a series of boulder fields and steep narrow crags this turned out to be the best walking of the whole trip. From exposed terraced faces to confined gashes, the clamber to the summit is brilliant and one of the coolest places I’ve been in a long time. On the top there was a good deal of snow and I scrabbled out on a few pillars to take in the view. Over the flat top and onto the descent to Ime the wind was biting and it was clear you were exposed to the North. The descent was icy but pretty easy, looking across at Ben Ime I was pretty disappointed it looked squat and ugly compared to my elevated expectations, still a hill is a hill and i’m aware of the infinite perspectives that are at play. The walk up was pretty mundane, wet and un-eventfull although the views at the summit were fantastic, it seemed that you could see most of south western Scotland, an enormous vista that turned the cities and towns into insignificant patches of spotted reflective grey – i imagined that at night their presence would be more intrusive. After a bit of summit identification with some other walkers at the top, I fueled up and set off across the bog for the Cobbler.Heading up the shawdowy north side, the well crated steps made it light work, before I knew it I was at the north summit. This mountain certainly looks bigger than it feels, the spikes and chasms play with your sense of scale which in no way takes away from the visual impact of this place, it is magical like a scene from the lord of the rings. I leave the summit quickly, it is thronging with course weegies and make off round Arthurs seat. This bit was great, strewn with boulders it is rugged and requires a wee bit of attention in places. With the sun sinking the shadows were tall and deep the clarity of the light was exceptional and this provided the best view of the day down Loch Long. The meander beyond the summit is a bit of a boggy trudge and seemed to take ages, I was in the pain zone now, I still haven’t found a descent technique for getting down without my legs tightening and knotting in to useless haunches. Crossing the river at a wee dam I laboriously stumbled on to and down the main path longing for my bike not only to take away the pain of each step but also because the track looks ideal for a bit of gnarly shredding. Sick to the power of RAD I thought. An aristocratic elderly gentleman stopped to let me past and we had a good chat about the area, he was quite a character and had some good yarns about the hydro years.I will definetly back here, maybe to walk again – perhaps Ben Vane, up the rocky crags on the east of Ben Ime and back via Ben Narnain and A’ Chroiss – Other than that i have a fix on getting up and down the tourist path on the bike, it looks spot on for it.